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I reverted to my previous answer. “Don’t know. Like I said, stupid. Once we catch her, we’ve got a sure conviction on the robbery and attempted murder thanks to DNA, because we got no prints at any of the scenes.”
Dennis cringed at the statement, which gave me a moment of satisfaction.
“The car?” Parsons asked.
Neil shook his head. “Stolen plates, no defining decals, and a dent in the right front is all we have to go on so far.”
“Video of them casing it ahead of time?” Newsom asked.
I huffed. “As hard as it is for you west coast whiz kids to believe, we do know what we’re doing. We’ve checked the old footage back six weeks. So far nothing, but we’re still working it. Like I said, amateurs. This is a new crew. They got a little money out of the heists, so they’ll be back and shooting other people if we don’t find them first. Sorry you had to make the trip out, but we’ve got it from here, and we’ll let you know when we catch her.”
Dennis looked ready to blow, and he deserved it.
“Kidnapping takes priority,” Newsom said.
“That was yesterday,” Neil pointed out. “Already ran it up to the AD. Because of the shots fired, the robbery takes priority, and we have the lead.” Neil hadn’t wanted to get pushed aside after we’d done all the heavy lifting so far.
“Assistant Director,” Parsons told Dennis, explaining whatADmeant.
“What do you have that can help us find her?” I asked.
“Nothing at all,” Parsons answered. “Kidnapped at five years old. At the time it was presumed to be a single kidnapper who died when we tried to apprehend him after the ransom pickup. When no further communications came, the child was assumed deceased. Until now.”
Neil looked at Dennis. “And no communications with the family since then?”
Dennis shook his head. “Not a one.”
If there had been, I wasn’t sure he would have shared it anyway.
I shut down the video. “Thank you for your time, then.”
Dennis Benson wasn’t used to getting shut out of anything, and it showed. “I’d like updates as you get more.”
I paused. “I’ll let you know when we catch her.” That was all I intended, and maybe more than he deserved.
“She’s my cousin, and a victim here,” he complained.
“She’s a suspect,” I shot back. “The victim is the lady in the hospital who took a bullet.”
Parsons interceded. “She’s both. The kidnapping is still open, and she’s the victim in that. You can send me the updates, and I’ll pass them along.”
I gave in. “Sure.”
“And,” Dennis added, “I’d like a hard copy of the frame where we see her face.”
Parsons beat me to it. “Not a problem. I’m sure the family would like to see what she looks like after all these years.”
Ten minutes later, we were through with them.
I made a point of not shaking Benson’s hand as they left. If I’d known yesterday when we first got the results that the woman in the video was actually related to him, I probably would have skipped this meeting.
“You didn’t need to be so hard-ass with them,” Neil said.
“He’s an asshole.”
“Who?”
“Dennis Benson.”
