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“Sure. Shoot.”
I took out my keyring with the big silver C attached and laid it on the table. “I want you to tell me about the origin of your problems with Lloyd Benson.”
There was a palpable silence on the other end.
“Dad? You said it had to do with Uncle Jack.”
“This is a conversation for another time.”
“No, Dad. You’re not putting this off.”
He sighed. “Okay, here it is. Lloyd Benson never liked me. He got the idea in his head that when his brother’s child was kidnapped—Debbie, I think her name was—well, he thought your uncle Jack got the child killed on purpose.”
I sucked in a deep breath. Finally some of this made sense, but Dad didn’t know the girl hadn’t actually died back then.
“Now, my brother would never do anything like that. He was trying to get her back when things went wrong. He told me he did everything by the book, but it just didn’t work out.”
I now knew that was plain bull on my uncle’s part, but I let Dad continue.
“Like I told you, the Bensons wouldn’t let it go. They got Jack kicked out of the Phoenix office, and that’s what got him killed in the end. So I blame them, and so help me, I’m going to bring them down if it’s the last thing I do.”
I needed to tell him the hard truth. “Uncle Jack was at fault.”
“Bullshit, that’s a Benson lie.”
“I’ve seen the file.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
I sucked in a breath. “Uncle Jack screwed up.”
“Bullshit. You don’t know everything, and I’m not discussing this for one more damned second.”
Pushing him now wasn’t going to get me anywhere. “Okay, Dad. Maybe we can talk about this later.”
He grunted and hung up.
I rechecked the street.
Dad thought I didn’t know everything, so I went to the Bureau online directory to find the number for my next call.
He answered quickly. “Donnelly here.” Donnelly had moved up to an Assistant Director position here in DC after being the SAC of the Phoenix Field Office while Uncle Jack was there.
“This is Cartwright in the DC Field Office. Do you have a minute?”
“Cartwright you said?”
“Yes, sir. Adam Cartwright, and I have a few questions about the BENSNAP case.”
“That case is restricted access,” the AD snarled.
I checked the street again. All was quiet. “I know. I’ve got access.”
“That was a long time ago. Everything’s in the file. I don’t know what else I can tell you.”
“We have new evidence on the victim. She’s alive.”
An audible gasp came across the line. “Does the family know?”
