Jason Deas - Benny James 02 - Pushed (14 page)

“I can’t believe, that
one
, you had a tracking device on your rental, and
two
, Dirk won’t tell you any more than the guy had a scraggly beard!”

“He said it was a matter of confidentiality, and he’d be sure to do the same for me.”

“Well, that’s real nice of him.”

“I honestly don’t think he knows much more. He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who keeps detailed records. He deals in cash and if someone doesn’t want to be traced, they pay extra for people to forget.”

“Do you think the Feds will get anything out of him?”

“No. I honestly don’t think there is anything to get. The tracking device could have been placed by one of two people—Brother Jim, or the Feds. My guess is it was put on by the Feds and somebody dressed how they thought Brother Jim might be dressed to throw me off in case I discovered it.”

“Sounds about right,” Rachael said. “I can’t believe Jessica was following you. It certainly shows who they think is going to solve this case. Do you think she is going to have that detail every day?”

“I don’t care if she does. Now that I know they’re following me, with the device Dirk is putting on her car and a little extra care, I can easily shake a tail.”

“So, what’s on the docket for tomorrow?”

“I’m going to drive over to Bradenton Beach and visit the first victim’s boyfriend and take a look at the Sunshine Skyway Bridge where Erin was killed. I want to see it for myself.”

“How far of a drive is that?”

“I think it’s about a hundred and eighty-five miles. Should take me less than four hours to get there.”

“I wish I could come with you, but I already made plans to meet Azim again. He found some of Breeze’s, I mean, Josephine’s personal belongings that he wants to show me. He said some of them are pretty strange.”

“Did he say what was strange about them?”

“He wouldn’t say. He said I just had to see them in person.”

“So, after I meet Erin’s boyfriend tomorrow, one of us has met with somebody close to the all the victims except for Beth,” Benny said.

“The girl that got away,” Rachael added.

“Any word on where she might be?”

“Nope. She has basically disappeared. FBI doesn’t know where she is, police don’t know, it’s weird. No family, no acquaintances.”

“She doesn’t want to be found,” Benny said.

“You’ll find her.”

Benny gassed the car up early and was ready to head toward Bradenton Beach when he got a text that Jessica’s car was within five hundred yards of him. An ingenious idea crossed his mind and he hoped Dirk was already at the office. Benny dialed Dirk’s number.

“Shoot,” Dirk answered.

“Is that how you really answer the phone?”

“Sometimes,” Dirk laughed.

“Are you at the office already?”

“Sure am.”

“Do you still have the big front end loader in your lot?”

“I do. What you gonna do with that?”

“I’m not going to do anything with it. I’m about to leave the gas station and I’m going to drive by there in about five minutes. After I go past, I immediately want you to block the road for about five minutes while I lose my tail.”

“I don’t know. I’m kind of busy.”

“I’ve got a hundred dollar bill in my pocket.”

“I’m going to crank it up now, and I’ll be ready.”

Benny finished filling up the tank and bought a cup of coffee for the trip. He slowly made his way toward Dirk’s Rentals to give him enough time to get the front end loader warmed up and ready. As he drove, he looked for Jessica in his rear view mirror, but she was pretty good at running a tail. He couldn’t spot her in the heavy traffic.

When he rounded the corner to head down the road to Dirk’s business, he saw the front end loader waiting at the edge of the lot. Large mushrooms of black smoke were puffing out of a silver exhaust pipe sticking up from the back of the tractor. Benny sped up the street, hopped out of the car, and handed Dirk the hundred dollar bill. Dirk grabbed the bill and saluted. Benny jumped back in the Trans Am and punched it down the road. When he looked in the rear view mirror, Dirk had the front end loader across the road, blocking the entire passage. He saw Dirk jump from the driver’s seat and act as though he was inspecting the giant piece of equipment. Benny laughed and sped off toward State Road 710.

As Benny traveled northwest along SR 710, his phone rang.

“You really pissed that broad off,” Dirk said.

“I would pay to see that.”

“I can probably pull some footage off the parking lot cameras. How much we talking?”

“I’m kidding, Dirk.”

“I know that.”

Benny wasn’t so sure he was.

“That girl is a looker. I wish she was chasing me. I think I would let her catch me,” Dirk said.

“I’ll see if I can arrange that.”

“Really?”

“No, Dirk, not really.”

“I knew that. Gotta go—got a customer.”

“Thanks, bud.”

Benny drove up SR 710 for about forty-five minutes before he headed west on SR 70. He was pleased with how well the Trans Am handled at seventy miles an hour. As the sun continued to rise in the Florida sky, the temperature rose as well. Benny rolled up his window and turned on the air conditioner. He didn’t mind a little sweat, but he wanted to be presentable when he met Erin’s boyfriend.

The boyfriend, a young man by the name of Robert Turner, had been hit hard with the news of his girlfriend’s murder. He’d been hospitalized with severe depression and suicidal leanings. Benny hadn’t formulated a plan to get the staff at the hospital to let him in, but he was confident he would come up with something. 

Erin’s parents lived overseas and had come home for a few weeks following the tragic event. Her father had lived in Germany for many years and her mother had joined him when Erin reached the age of eighteen. They left her with a nice condominium on the beach, and although Robert did not officially live with her, Benny learned he spent an average of six nights a week with Erin.

Erin had worked as a lifeguard on Siesta Key, not too far a drive from the Bradenton Beach condominium. She also took a few classes at a community college and led her parents to believe she wanted to pursue a degree in fashion design. Her mother taught her to sew at an early age, and Erin had always possessed a knack for making any outfit she could imagine. She enjoyed keeping sketchbooks and filling them with ideas that seemed to spill from her mind with little or no effort. Secretly, she recognized her talent and thought a degree was unnecessary, but took a light load of classes to keep the money from her parents coming.

Erin hoped to be discovered through a website she created where she modeled her designs. On the site, she had separate pages for different types of clothing and the page that got the most hits was the one dedicated to bathing suits—most probably discovered by men. Erin was made for the Florida beaches with her blonde hair, long legs, a Kim Kardashian backside, and a chest large enough to balance it all out perfectly.

Benny found a spot in the Manatee Memorial Hospital lot and checked his appearance in the rearview mirror. With his hand, he tried to push his windblown hair back down, checked that his nose was clean, and popped a Tic Tac to cover his coffee breath. Reaching into the backseat, he grabbed his sports coat and slipped it on. He always found that people were more responsive to a well dressed interrogator.

Benny decided to use one of his favorite methods of operation in which he just pretended like he was supposed to be somewhere. Most of the time, when he acted this way, people just assumed he should be there. Putting on a stern face, Benny walked right past the reception area without looking at any of the people behind the desk or giving them the chance to speak to him. He listened for a voice to call after him or the footsteps of someone in pursuit. Not hearing anything, Benny continued down the hall in search of the Behavioral Health Unit.

After a bit of hunting, Benny finally found a sign that pointed him in the right direction. Once on the ward, he employed another of his favorite tricks. With this trick, he did not ask for permission to do something, but phrased his question in a way to get a wanted response.

Instead of asking what room Robert Turner was in, Benny said, “Can’t remember what room Robbie Turner’s in.”

Who you asked also made a huge difference. Benny made sure in this case to ask the youngest, least experienced looking person he could find.”

“Um, room thirty-five,” the green nurse answered, with only the slightest bit of hesitation.

“That’s right,” Benny said. “Thanks.”

Benny tapped lightly and pushed the door open. A tall, skinny man stood looking out the window with his back to Benny. He didn’t move or turn to see who had entered the room. Benny shut the door behind him.

“Am I late for group again?” Robert asked as he continued to peer out the window.

“I hope not,” Benny said. He decided to switch to a new strategy that some found refreshing—honesty. “I snuck in here, and if they come to get you for group, the nurses are probably going to throw me out of here on my ear.”

Robert turned around. A beard hid a sunken face. Hollow eyes stared through Benny. Benny could tell that Robert had the potential to be a handsome man, but his sorrow had taken away his will to live and his desire to eat and to care about anything other than his pain.

“Why would anyone sneak in here to see me?”

“Because I want to help.”

“Everybody here wants to help me.”

“But I’m the only one who can offer you justice.”

“Justice won’t bring Erin back.”

“No, it won’t.”

“It would be nice, though. I want to kill him myself,” Robert said as tears began to fall down his face.

“That would feel good. Sometimes a life in prison is even more painful than death, I think.”

A nurse flew in the door and both men’s eyes darted to the door.

“Are you OK?” she asked Robert.

Benny saw the young nurse behind the veteran at the door and realized she must have recognized her error and decided to report the incident.

Benny moved his mouth to speak when Robert spoke first. “I’m so sorry. I forgot to tell you my uncle was coming.”

“Robert,” the nurse said annoyed, “you know the rules.”

“I’m sorry,” Robert said. He wiped the tears from his face.

“Did he upset you?” the nurse asked.

“No.” Robert could not think of anything to say to cover for the tears.

“I’m sorry I just rushed in,” Benny said, “but I wanted to be the first to tell Robert that he was an uncle. His brand new niece had a few complications during the delivery, but she’s out of the woods and everything is going to be just fine.”

“Tears of joy,” Robert added.

“That’s wonderful,” the veteran nurse said. “What’s her name?”

At the same time, Benny said, “Polly,” and Robert said, “Fiona.”

“They are going to call her Polly Fiona,” Benny said.

“Or Fiona Polly I hear,” Robert said.

“Her parents can’t decide,” Benny said.

“Both names are beautiful,” the nurse lied. “I’ll let you two celebrate this joy alone.” She hurried out the door and shut it behind her.

As soon as she left the room, Robert bent over laughing.

“Thanks,” Benny said. “That was a close one.”

“Fiona Polly? Polly Fiona?” Robert said, still laughing. “Those names are horrible.”

“I’m usually better on the fly.” 

“Oh my God,” Robert said. “I haven’t laughed like that in a long time. Thanks.”

“My pleasure. My name is Benny James by the way.” Benny stuck out his hand and the two men shook. “Mind if we sit down for a few minutes?”

“Sure.”

“How long you been in here?” Benny asked.

“A few weeks. I made it about a week at home after they found her. I was killing the pain with liquor, lots and lots of liquor. First thing I did when I woke up from my drunk the night before, was drink. I usually passed out the first time during the day around one in the afternoon and then I did it again. I hit the drinks harder on my second go around and usually most nights I made it until close to midnight. After about a week I started throwing up blood and ended up here.”

“How long you plan on staying?”

“I don’t know. I’m scared to leave, but I think my insurance said if I stay much longer it’s going to be on my dime.”

“What did you do before all this happened?”

“I own a little vintage clothing store. Mostly second hand clothes. It’s how I met Erin. She is, um, she was, really into fashion and I used to sell some of her designs. I sold them as fast as she could make them. She was incredibly talented.”

Robert told Benny all about Erin’s desires to make her mark in the fashion world. He told Benny all about her stack of sketchbooks filled with enough designs to produce different lines of clothes for years.

“I have a partner who was helping her make some of the clothes since she couldn’t keep up.”

“Why don’t you use that as your motivation to get out of here?”

“You mean take her ideas?”

“No. I’m not telling you to steal her ideas. Get permission from her parents to keep the sketchbooks and continue on in her memory. Tell her parents you want to do this in her memory and that you will take a portion of the proceeds and set up some sort of charity in her name—maybe give some of the profits to a victims’ fund.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Robert said. Benny swore he could see a little bit of life re-enter his eyes.

“Can I ask you just a couple more questions?”

“Of course.”

“I know this is difficult, but I am trying to figure out, assuming this Brother Jim character is responsible for this, how he picked her.”

Robert’s eyes puffed up and streams of tears began crawling down his face again.

“I’m sorry,” Benny said. “I know this is difficult, and I don’t want to open up your wounds again, but this is necessary.”

“It’s OK. I’m sure it was the website. I told her it was a bad idea, but Erin wouldn’t take no for an answer. She knew the bikinis she was designing were creating a lot of buzz, and she felt they might catch the eye of one of the big designers out there somehow. Erin watched a lot of reality television shows and held fast to the idea that someone could get famous overnight with the right kind of luck.”