“Well, if so, be careful. Dr. Benjamin would go far to protect his criminal activities, since your friend is dead. You could be in danger.”
Faulkner must have feared the same when he’d left Benjamin’s organization. “He’s already come after us, through a hired gunman,” Cal said. “If I was him, I’d be on the run right now. His secret is out.”
What would a desperate man do once he realized police not only had a body, but motive as well?
“You know if you report him you get a percentage of whatever the government recovers from their investigation?” Cal asked.
“No. Really?”
“File a whistle-blower lawsuit with the fraud unit,” Jaslene said.
She clearly wanted Benjamin to pay.
“I’ll think about it. But I must say, I care more about my patients and my peaceful life than I do about my relations with Dr. Benjamin. Frankly, I wish I’d have never met him.”
Cal wished Payton had never met him, too.
* * *
The next night, Jaslene listened to Cal on the phone with his police contact as they neared the building of a local home care administrative center. The evening before, they’d scoped out the center and saw the last janitor leave around 10:00 p.m. Fifteen minutes from now.
She wore black leggings with a short black cotton shirt and a black leather jacket. Cal also wore dark jeans, boots, Henley and his own bulkier leather jacket.
Cal disconnected his call. “They finally got his wife to talk. Dr. Benjamin took his wife to dinner the night Payton went missing. Police detectives confirmed they arrived at eight forty-five.”
“That’s a late dinner.”
“He left work at six. That gives him two hours and forty-five minutes before dinner. Plenty of time to drive to the park, walk to Payton’s and carry out his crime.”
“And then have a nice dinner with his wife.” Jaslene scoffed. “Who could do that?”
“Someone without a conscience. A narcissist.”
Good people could never relate to that way of thinking or physical violence. She imagined him moving Payton’s body. “I can’t believe no one saw him transfer her body from her car to his at the park.”
“It gets pretty dark.” Plus there were a lot of trees. “Parks are a popular place for killers and rapists,” Cal said.
“Where is Dr. Benjamin?”
“They were on their way to pick him up for questioning.”
At last. Payton’s death would be avenged. By the time they got out of this building with evidence, the police could arrest Dr. Benjamin. Of course, they weren’t really going to break in. The janitor had agreed to allow them access. Earlier today, Cal had discovered the janitor’s sister worked for Dr. Benjamin, who had made inappropriate advances on her, and he wanted justice.
The janitor appeared, looking toward them and waving them in.
She walked with Cal to the short, skinny man with a sandy-blond ponytail who held the door for them.
“All you have to do is leave through this door. It will lock automatically,” the janitor said.
“Thanks.”
The janitor looked left to right as he walked toward his vehicle as Cal held the door for Jaslene. He then led the way through the building, locating the area where the janitor had said insurance claims and patient files were kept. Jaslene went to a computer that hadn’t yet gone into sleep mode where she could access the patient files and sat down for a long study. Cal found a laptop and came back to sit next to her, starting to search insurance claims.
“Look up Andrew Simpson,” he said after almost an hour. She did.
“Office visit for a cold.”
“Billed as an extensive visit with pneumonia.” He gave her another name.
“Emergency for a head wound. Stitches were put in.”
“Billed as emergency life support transportation. The stitching was billed with three different codes. Unbundling is illegal. There’s another one in here where the same procedure was billed more than once.”
“We’ve got him.”
Jaslene looked at his smiling face and beamed one back at him.
Cal started saving files and taking pictures. “The police will get a search warrant but let’s copy a few examples just in case.”
She saved a few files and he came over to the computer she’d borrowed to look them up and took pictures.
“Let’s get out of here.” They’d started to leave when a sudden sound alerted Jaslene they weren’t alone.
Cal looked over the top of cubicle walls. Jaslene wasn’t tall enough to see, but she knew he’d spotted someone.
He took her hand and pulled out his gun at the same time. “This way.” He led her, crouched below the level of the walls, the opposite direction. The problem was, the door they needed was in the same direction as the intruder. Had Dr. Benjamin caught them somehow?
Cal turned down another cubicle hallway and stopped, positioning himself at the corner and her next to him. Slowly, he peered first into the hallway and then raised his head over the wall. He looked in a full circle and must not have spotted anyone, since he led her on.
Jaslene checked behind them and saw nothing. But then a man appeared at the other end of the hallway.
“Cal!” She pushed him and he turned, hauling her in front of him and then ducking around another corner.
“He’s not there anymore.”
He wasn’t firing any gunshots. “Is it Dr. Benjamin?”
“Yes.” He took her hand again. “Come on.”
He ran down another hall. This one would lead them to the door heading outside—if they could make it.
Reaching the end of the cubicle area, Cal pulled her down an office-lined hall and eventually to the warehouse area where they’d entered.
The intruder didn’t chase them.
Once outside, Cal kept checking behind them as they sprinted to his SUV. There, he stopped her, quickly checking the car’s undercarriage for any signs of tampering.
She alighted into the now unlocked vehicle, staring at the building, searching for their pursuer, who must be Dr. Benjamin. He never appeared.
“Why didn’t he shoot at us?” she asked.
“Evidence. He didn’t want bullets or holes.”
“Why did he chase us?”
“I don’t think he did. He must have just wanted to see who was there.”
“Well, surely he must know it would be us.”
“Or someone working late.”
Which he certainly must have hoped. Now he knew it was them, that they’d likely found what he’d tried so hard to hide.
* * *
Back at home, Jaslene relaxed with Rapunzel. Cal’s police friend had come to take what they’d found at the office, but recorded a legitimate version of how they’d obtained it. His story left a few things out—namely, Dr. Benjamin chasing them—or not chasing them.
There would be a search warrant ordered for Dr. Benjamin’s offices and also his house and Mercedes. Jaslene was most interested in what Forensics would find in the car, since Payton’s body had been moved. Maybe there would be trace evidence in there.
Sitting on the sofa next to Cal, a documentary playing on the television that she wasn’t really paying attention to, she pet Rapunzel’s head.
The puppy’s eyes rolled over to Cal, her head tipping back and to the side, the picture of spoiled rotten.
Cal chuckled at the sight. “Is that what you’re going to do with our baby?”
She loved how his voice sounded, especially when he said “our.”
“And then some.”
Chapter 17
Cal woke in the morning to his mobile phone ringing. A split second later he felt Jaslene’s body pressed along his side and Rapunzel had her chin on his shoulder. The dog had curled up on the pillow beside him
sometime during the night.
He sat up, disturbing Rapunzel enough to make her move closer to Jaslene, who had also begun to stir.
“Chelsey.”
“Hey.” It was a Chesterville Police Department detective. “We got Benjamin’s hit man. Chaz Mendel. He has a rap sheet two miles long. Full of robberies, restraining orders, a couple of assaults. Did five in prison a few years back.”
Cal put the phone on speaker as Jaslene blinked sleep out of her eyes and scooted back against the headboard to sit up. Rapunzel decided to vacate the active bed and jumped down for the quieter comfort of her dog bed.
“That’s excellent news,” Cal said, then to Jaslene, he murmured, “They got Benjamin’s hired hit man to talk.”
“He talked when we offered a lighter sentence. He must know how it works, which is why he’s spent so much time free,” the detective said.
“What about the search warrants?”
“We’re picking up the Mercedes as we speak. Teams are going through all of Dr. Benjamin’s records at his company—all locations, and the search of his house has commenced. Mendel said he paid him ten grand to help him kidnap Jaslene. Doc didn’t tell him why and he didn’t ask. He wasn’t much help beyond that and agreeing to testify.”
When he had first knocked Jaslene out and started the fire, he must have intended to take care of Cal so he wouldn’t go after him after he kidnapped Jaslene. When that didn’t work he decided to just kidnap her and lure Cal so he could take care of him later. Maybe he thought the fire would cover his tracks, get rid of Cal’s body.
“Okay. What about the missus?” Cal asked.
“I’m here at the house now and was one of the first to go in. She’s pretty rattled. She had no idea what her husband was doing.”
“Where’s Benjamin?”
“Not home and not at the office.”
“He ran.”
“That would be my assumption as well.” The detective sounded disappointed, but not nearly as much as Jaslene looked.
Dr. Benjamin was on the run, which meant this was not over yet.
The doorbell rang. Cal checked his phone. They’d slept late.
“Who would be here at this hour?” Jaslene asked, starting to get out of bed.
“You go ahead and shower. I’ll get the door.” He pulled on the jeans he’d had on last night and headed downstairs.
Before opening the door, he peered out the side window and experienced a shock. His parents were out there.
Opening the door, he couldn’t form any words.
His mother smiled huge and his father grinned.
“Good morning, son.” His mother leaned in for a kiss to his cheek and a hug. She seemed full of energy, back to herself, which was nice to see.
“What are you doing here?” he finally found his thoughts to ask.
“We wanted to surprise you. We’ve never been here and you weren’t answering your phone at your house.”
“How did you find me?”
“Your boss told me where you were staying,” his dad said.
They entered the house, his mother taking in the interior and his father carrying a small luggage. They didn’t appear to plan to stay long.
“You could have told us your house burned down.” His mother faced him and his father put down the luggage and did the same.
“It has some damage. I’m repairing it.” He followed them into the living room. “We were unharmed.”
“Still. You could have called.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m in the middle of a case.”
“If we’re going to change the way things have gone in the past, the communication needs to stay open,” his mother went on.
Normally it would have been his dad laying into him. But he now realized he’d hurt his mother by not calling since his visit. He might have seen it as unimportant since no one was hurt in the fire, but she saw it as a slight.
“I’ll have to get used to that. I will.” He went to her and put his hands on her arms. “I promise.”
Her eyes went soft and she kissed his cheek again. “Okay, good. Now, where is that girl of yours? I didn’t get a chance to really talk to her when you came to Texas.”
“She’s getting ready.”
* * *
Cal’s parents left yesterday, after staying for two days. The detective Cal had been working with called. Jaslene listened in. Although official results were still pending, fibers found in the Mercedes appeared to match those found embedded in what remained of Payton’s clothes. Even better, the rope recovered from the crime scene matched the type Dr. Benjamin had purchased from a hardware store not long before Payton’s disappearance. And on the more mysterious side, the doctor’s wife, Sarah, seemed to be withholding information on her husband’s whereabouts.
Detectives asked her again about the last time she’d seen him and she had changed her story. First she’d said she’d last seen him the morning Cal and Jaslene had gone searching for fraud evidence at his office. Then just today she’d claimed she’d last seen him at home the night Cal and Jaslene ran from him at the health care administrative office building. So, clearly she was lying.
Cal told the detective they’d give her a try next. Maybe if she wasn’t talking to cops she’d open up a little more. Maybe she was just afraid. Sarah had remained locked up in her house and had changed all the locks, a pretty good indication she was afraid.
By that afternoon, Jaslene stood with Cal before a grand double entry with side windows and another above the doors. Dr. Benjamin’s house was nothing short of spectacular, a small-scale but beautiful mansion located in the most prestigious neighborhood in Chesterville.
A maid answered.
“Hello. We’re here to see Mrs. Benjamin,” Jaslene said.
“She isn’t taking any visitors.”
“Please, would you tell her a friend of Payton Everett is here?”
The maid opened the door and let them into a giant entry with towering ceiling and elaborate chandelier. “Wait here.”
About five minutes passed before Mrs. Benjamin appeared through the double doors. She stopped when she saw Cal.
“I’m a private detective Jaslene hired to help find her friend, Payton,” Cal said.
The woman, who looked as impeccably groomed as her husband, if not more so, extended her arm to the gaudy but surely authentic parlor. “Why don’t we go in there.”
Jaslene sat next to Cal on a handcrafted Victorian settee. Mrs. Benjamin sat across from them in one of two green, wood-trimmed wingback chairs.
“I heard about that girl and that my husband might be responsible for her disappearance and her...” She put her hand to her mouth as though to stave off a rush of tears. When she regained composure, she said, “I can’t believe he’d do such a thing.”
“Who told you he might be responsible?” Cal asked.
Jaslene recalled police weren’t revealing much about the body found, but the news had since released her name once Payton’s family had been notified.
“The police have been questioning me.”
Jaslene leaned forward with her forearms on her knees. “Mrs. Benjamin, we know this is very difficult for you, but we now know your husband was involved with Payton’s disappearance and most likely her murder. If there’s anything you can tell us about where we can find him, we can all put this behind us.”
“My kids...”
“They’re going to find out eventually anyway. You can’t protect them from what will happen with or without your help. Your husband will be arrested and most likely charged with kidnapping and murder. Your kids aren’t going to see him outside of prison.”
“You can’t say that for certain.”
“We have evidence, Mrs. Benjamin,” Cal said. “Fiber evidence that links your husband to the crime scene. He’ll b
e arrested and charged. His trial will determine his sentence.”
“Oh.” Mrs. Benjamin stood and walked to the front window with one hand on her hip. She wiped her cheek with her other hand, an indication she shed a few quiet tears.
She was another victim of Dr. John Benjamin’s wrongdoings.
“The last time I saw him was late at night four days ago. He packed a small bag. He took a passport out of his office safe and told me he had arranged for us to live in another city under different names. He denied having anything to do with that woman and assured me he’d be back for me.” She wiped her cheek again. “I believed him, but, truthfully, I’ve been so confused these last few days. I truly don’t know my own husband. The man I married isn’t who I thought he was.”
She turned to face them, lowering her arms to her sides. “Just this morning I went to the hotel in Charleston to meet him. When I arrived there, I discovered he’d never checked in, but I showed the clerk a picture and she said he did check in but under another name. He has been running a practice under a different name. I called in a favor from a friend, who located his house. I went there and saw him with another woman. It explained so much. All the time he was gone from home, he wasn’t working at his other clinics. He was living another life in another city with another woman.”
And with another practice. Jaslene turned to Cal in utter amazement. Had that been his escape plan? He must have spent a lot of time and painstaking calculation in setting up such a wild scheme.
“From the looks of them, they’d been together for at least several years. They had a young boy with them, presumably their son, maybe about five. He was there with them.”
Jaslene stood and went to the poor woman. She gave her a brief, comforting hug. “I’m so sorry.”
“Family was so important to him.” She no longer tried to curb her tears. She sobbed a few times.
“I believe family was important to him. When we spoke to him he told us how important you were. You and his kids, his family.”
Her crying eased and she searched Jaslene’s eyes for truth.
Cold Case Manhunt Page 20
