A
week later they were gathered in Rudy Schell’s office. Lane, Glady, Eleanor and Frank Becker, Sean Cunningham, and Jonathan Pierce.
“I want to inform you of all the further developments in the case,” Rudy said.
“Mr. and Mrs. Becker, let’s start with you. Eric Bennett has said that in no way were you involved in the fraud. He has admitted that he and his father joked about how naïve you
were and that the warmth and hospitality you showed to potential clients was a great help in winning their trust. He confirmed that you were absolutely unaware of any impropriety at the Parker
Bennett Investment Fund. I can assure you that with the information we have given to the federal prosecutor, the charges against you will be dropped.”
Eleanor gasped and turned to her husband. “Frank, I’m not going to prison. I’m not going to prison.”
Rudy turned to Glady. “Ms. Harper, I want to tell you how grateful we are for your cooperation.”
“Well, have you been able to nail the countess? We all know she was in on it,” Glady asked in her usual tart voice.
“We are not planning to charge the countess with any wrongdoing,” Rudy said smoothly. “I can’t say anything more than that.”
“That’s too bad. I’d have sworn she was in cahoots with him, and with all the work we did on that apartment, leave it to her to move out just when it’s
finished.”
“What will happen to Ranger?” Sean Cunningham asked quietly.
“He agreed to get inpatient psychiatric care,” Rudy said.
“Will he be charged with carrying an unlicensed pistol?”
“Probably, but I believe, considering all the circumstances, he will only get probation.”
Lane had been listening quietly. In this past week the wound on her forehead had faded even though the doctor told her there would always be a small scar there. In the two days she had spent in
the hospital, her mother and Dwight had flown up to be with her and take care of Katie. When Dwight had tried to phone her during the dinner with Eric, he had been going to tell her that his cousin
Regina Crowley Fitzsimmons had released him from the vow he made to her mother that he would never tell anyone what Eric had done to her.
Everyone told me I was wrong about Eric, Lane thought. How could I have been so stubborn? The old adage that “there are none so blind as those who will not see” kept recurring in her
mind.
Now Rudy Schell turned to her. “Ms. Harmon, you were the eyewitness to what happened in Anne Bennett’s home. We might have been able to arrest Eric Bennett but we would not have been
able to prove that he murdered his father if you had not been there. We are confident he will serve a long term for fraud, and I can guarantee that it will be a longer term when he is also
convicted of murder and attempting to murder you. He will undoubtedly spend the rest of his life in prison.
“And now the final good news—while Parker Bennett was cheating his clients, he was also making money legitimately. He did use some of his clients’ money to support his
lifestyle, but the great bulk of the five billion dollars has been traced and will be returned to his victims.”
Jon Pierce had been sitting there quietly. Now Rudy said, “As you may know, Ms. Harmon, Agent Pierce was the one who saved your life.”
Lane smiled. “I am aware of that,” she said. “And all I could think of at that last moment was how terrible it would be for my daughter if I were to die.”
She smiled at Jonathan, who returned the smile. Fragments of memory had come back. He had ridden with her in the back of the ambulance. His had been the first face she saw when she woke up in
the hospital. She knew now that he had phoned her home and asked Mrs. Potters to stay overnight with Katie. He had contacted her mother and Dwight and told them what had happened. They had taken
the next plane to New York.
When he told her his real name was Jon Pierce, not Tony Russo, she had joked that in her mind he would always be Tony. He had told her that Anthony was his middle name and some of his friends
called him Tony.
He had visited her the two days she was in the hospital and he insisted that he drive her home.
When she asked him how she could ever thank him, his reply had been, “How about dinner on Saturday night?”
She was
really
looking forward to it.