Page 28 of Benjamin and the Thief

“And what happened then?”

“The city signed off on the permits, and all went well. Joe sent his invoice, and then he asked me to swing by there on my way to another job to pick up the check from them.”

“And how did that go?”

“It went fine. Mrs. Preston gave me the check, and then she asked me to help her with something in her walk-in closet. Her husband wasn’t home, so she couldn’t ask him.”

“What did she ask you to do?”

“She was looking for something in one of the upper cabinets, so I reached up there and brought down the boxes that were up there. But whatever she was looking for wasn’t in there, so she asked me to put them back up. She didn’t want me to bring the ladder up there, because she said the carpets had just been deep-cleaned, so I had to hold on to the shelves, just to get the boxes back up there.”

Benjamin let the information sink in. “Hmm. Was that the only time you were in the master bedroom?”

He nodded.

“So none of the electrical work you did was in the master bedroom or walk-in closet?”

“No.”

“Okay. Then what happened?”

“I left with the check. Gave it to my boss, and then a couple of days later, I was arrested.”

“And had you been back to the Prestons’ house between you leaving with the check and getting arrested?”

“No, I swear.”

“And the evidence? I assume they found your fingerprints all over the walk-in closet where the safe was located.”

“Yes. But I explained what I told you. That Mrs. Preston wanted me to help her with the boxes. That’s when she suddenly said that they have a security video of me in their house, stealing the necklace.”

Benjamin wasn’t sure he’d heard right. “What?”

“Yeah, they have security cameras inside the house. And they showed the video to the police. I saw it. It was me with the necklace in my hands. But I swear I never did that. It has to be a fake.”

Benjamin turned to look at Catalina.

“Why didn’t you tell me about the security video earlier?”

“Would you have agreed to help me if I had?”

She had a point there. A pretty good one. But that also meant that there was very strong evidence against Santiago. No wonder the jury had found him guilty. The fingerprints he might have been able to explain away, but not the video. And video was powerful when shown to a jury, more so than any eyewitness testimony could ever be.

He stared back at Santiago and gave him a long, hard look. Despite the bruises on his face and arms, he didn’t look like a hardened criminal. His hands sported no cuts or bruises, evidence that he hadn’t started a fight, and most likely hadn’t even fought back when another inmate or inmates had jumped him. When he’d talked about his work as an electrician, he’d sounded proud of his work, and his plan to get his electrician’s license also pointed to Santiago wanting to make something out of himself.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, Santiago, but I have to ask this. Have you ever been part of a gang?”

For a moment, Santiago looked stunned. Then he answered, “No.”

He believed Santiago. He didn’t know why. But there was something in his eyes, something that showed that Santiago wasn’t the kind of kid who thought that a life of crime would be a faster way to making it in this world. This guy believed in hard work.

“I believe you, Santiago.”

He looked at Catalina, then back at her brother.

“I don’t know yet what I can do to help you. But believe me when I say that I will try. I’m going to review the police file they have on you to see whether there’s anything that can prove that what you say is the truth. In the meantime… let me speak to the guard for a moment.”

He rose and walked to the door, then made a sign that he wanted the guard to open the door.