The Mystery of Jessica Benson (23 page)

“Did Will know about the call?”
She nodded slowly. “We were at lunch together when he
called.”
Frank snapped his fingers. “There you go! That explains
a lot. How’d he handle giving it over to you. Did he give you a
hard time about going without him? Better still, could he have
gotten there ahead of you? We know whoever did it was on the
run.”
“I don’t know. He was just
Will
about it. Spouted off a
little and then split. I had to get back to the station before I
headed over to Batan’s and Will had errands, shit!” Karen
paused, scrunched her eyebrows together and started to speak,
much more slowly now.
“Actually, now that I think about it, we were with
Whitney and Pedrosa when he called. Will sent me back to the
station with them, and took off. Oh God,
Will
!”
Garcia took in a deep breath. “I gotta tell you, Karen.
When I got the report on the prints back, I ran through every
possible scenario that could exclude him. But it just kept coming
back to Will. Making the call to you this morning was one of the
hardest things I’ve ever done.”
Karen shook her head in denial. But she knew Frank was
right. When it all came together it actually could have been Will.
It was Feyzi Batan’s phone call that nudged her over the
edge. He was spooked, for sure. She should have caught that at
the time. The thought that maybe he had seen or heard something
that he wasn’t able to talk about in front of the two of them never
crossed her mind.
Will might not have recognized Feyzi at first, but when
Feyzi contacted her about meeting alone, it could have set Will
to thinking.
I took my time getting over to his place.
And there
definitely would have been time for Will to make the fatal visit
before she got there.
Frank broke the silence. “So what now?”
“Just wondering. If we go to Will and he’s innocent,
he’ll never forgive us. If he’s guilty, uh, if he’s guilty, we better
get out of his way.”
“True. But we have to move on this. I haven’t said
anything to anyone else yet. It’s just me and you. Chin up, girl.
There’s always the chance that when it comes out, Will laughs us
out of town and we’ll end up feeling like real jackasses.”
Karen shook her head and gave him a weak smile,
“
Whatever
. But we have to stick together, go to him and talk it
out. I can get him out of the squad room, but where do we go?
Can’t go anywhere there’s an audience, because if this blows
up...”
“I’m with you. This has to the handled so we can contain
the situation. We could take a drive, or maybe go to your place.
He’s comfortable there and no one will bother us.”
“I suppose. Yeah. Why not? Maybe I should call him
and have him meet us there. I can tell him I need to see him.
He’d never suspect anything, and then we can deal with you
being there when he arrives.”
“Let’s get outta here.”
Garcia crossed himself, and Karen said a silent prayer of
her own.

O
nce outside, Karen made the call to Will who had been waiting
for her in the squad room. He didn’t ask any questions, but
rather, expressed concern. “You sound upset, doll. Everything
okay?”

No,
she thought.
Nothing’s okay
. It took everything she
had to keep it light and sincere. “Sure, I just need to talk to you
about something, in private. I’m at my place now. Can you get
away?

“Is it so important you can’t come to the station. I don’t
mean to jerk you around, kiddo, but we’re mighty deep in crap
over here and we ought to take care of first things first if you
don’t have an emergency.

“Sorry, but this really is urgent. It shouldn’t take long,
and it’s not something I want to take over to the station. Please,
Will, I don’t think this can wait. Couldn’t you get away for a
little while?”

“Of course, of course. If it’s that important, I’ll be there
in fifteen minutes. Hold tight.”
She felt like a rat, sitting here at her place with Frank,
like commandos waiting in ambush. Karen thought she had
reached her lowest low. Will would be wild when he walked in
and had a moment to assess the situation, his partner and best
friend sitting in silence, about to go for his jugular.
It didn’t even take a full fifteen minutes until Will’s
booming knock shook the front door.
“Hey girl, you in there or what?”
Karen held her breath and paced reluctantly to the door.
She opened it and Will stood looking at her, his eyes full of
compassion and his hand out toward her.
“Don’t tell me,” he said. “You want to put yesterday
behind us. I know, it’s been rough on me too. We’re all under a
lot of pressure and we’re saying stuff that we don’t mean.
Consider it all forgotten, and you have my apology as well for
some of the stuff I’ve said and done. Let’s just, as you like to
say, move on.”
She forced a smile she didn’t feel, stepped back and
asked him to come in. He followed her to the living room and
stopped dead when he saw Garcia.
“Frank? Hey, what’s going on here?” He looked
skeptically at Karen and shook his head.
“Oh man! You’re not going to tell me you two got
something going on. God all mighty, I never saw this coming.
You ought to know better than to shit where you sleep, huh?”
He waited a short beat and then began to shake with laughter.
“You sly dogs! Well, I’m glad you decided to count me in. You
wouldn’t believe some of the stuff I was starting to imagine.
Damn. This is sure out of the blue, but don’t worry, I won’t
divulge this to anyone, even under penalty of death. Does your
wife know, Frank?” He chuckled and cuffed Garcia on his cheek.
“Will, turn it off,” Garcia warned. “It’s not about me or
her. Sit down and take a load off.”
He made no move to sit, and winked conspiratorially at a
somber Frank Garcia. “Right, sure. Well, I guess I’ve had my
share of crazy lately, too, working all that overtime and not
getting enough nookie on the side.”
Effervescing, but not the least bit convincing, he finally
walked to the sofa and sat, crossing his right leg over his left
knee. He bounced his leg up and down with such vengeance that
he appeared to be seizing.
Karen thought she had seen Will in every possible
situation before today, and certainly she had witnessed most of
his moods. But this was a different Will. They had been in shootouts together and he never flinched. Now he was nervous, jumpy
even. Trying much too hard.
Tension was palpable in the room, and she and Frank
looked from one to the other, realizing they had not framed a
plan on who would start or what exactly they would say. Finally,
Karen could no longer take the silence and said,” Will, I’m sorry.
I don’t even know how to start.” He stared up at her, narrowing
his eyes, his face growing dark with apprehension.
Karen cleared her throat loudly, wishing for some water,
but knowing now was not the time to get it. “We’ve discovered
some things, uh, evidence, in the Benson case that we need to
address.”
“New evidence? Jesus H. Kee-Ryst! You had me going
there for a minute. That’s not a bad thing. Shit, doll, that’s a
good
thing. So what’re we doing here? You said you didn’t want
to take this to the station. Why the fuck not?” He flashed a
crooked smile and cocked his head as though he heard something
that the other two didn’t, his right eye twitched in tandem with
his violently bouncing leg.
Frank moved closer and started to pace, then caught
himself and began, “That’s why we’re here, buddy. We need to
find out just exactly that, whether it’s a good or a bad thing. This
is especially hard for us, but right now it looks as though the new
evidence might be awful for everyone in this room and for the
Department. You’re the only one who can clear it all up so we
can discount and get past it.”
The violent bouncing of his leg halted suddenly, and
Will now sat very still. He looked from Frank to Karen, cocking
his head and wrinkling his brows as though trying to understand
the implication of his words. “Okay,” he drawled a little too
slowly. “I’m here and I’m all ears. You’ve got my full attention.
Now how about you stop jerkin’ me off and tell me what’s going
on.”
Frank looked pained, but asked, “Will, did you know
Jessica Benson? I mean,
before
she was murdered? You’d been
talking about some broad that’d been giving you a hard time.
You were really pissed about it. Was it her? Was it Jessica
Benson?”
“What’re you, crazy? You two been over here drinking
or what? What kind of bullshit are you throwing? Shit! Why
don’t you just say whatever it is you have to say and stop with
this mystery crap, huh? Did I know this cunt before she was
murdered...”
“No bullshit, man,” Frank interrupted. “Just answer the
question. Be straight with us. We wanna help you, okay?”
“
Okay
? Fuck no, it’s not okay. What kind of evidence do
you think you have? And what’s it got to do with me? What is
this, the fucking inquisition?”
“Will...” Karen reached over and put her hand on his
arm. He shook her off, but kept his hooded eyes on hers. He
became deathly still now. His face was turning deep red, nearly
purple.
“Back off! You got your butt in the air over that shiteating jock and now all of a sudden you’re dragging me into his
whore’s murder. You miserable back-stabbing slut…I see where
you’re going with this!
“And you, Frank. What’s your angle? Can’t fucking get
your job right, so you decide to go and manufacture evidence,
you sorry spic!
I’m one of you
! What’re you trying to do to me
here?” His voice was taut and for a moment, it appeared he
might burst into tears. Karen worried he might run for the door.
Frank sat down next to him, and said, “Slow it down.
We don’t want to be here, Will. Believe me we don’t. But your
prints came back on Fraga’s gun. There’s no way they could
have gotten there but by your own hand. No way. Stop fighting
us. If there’s a story to tell, we want to hear it.”
Will moved to the edge of his seat. “You’re crazy. You
told me yourself that gun came back clean except for Batan’s
prints. What are you trying to pull here? All of a sudden you’ve
got my prints on it? This is garbage you’re throwing at me.
Nothin’ but stinkin’ garbage!”
“There were a couple of partials. It wasn’t wiped
completely clean. I didn’t think we could get anything from it,
‘til I talked to my friend at Quantico after he took care of the
stuff from Fraga’s for me. He told me to send what I had from
Fraga’s gun and he’d run them and see what he could get. I
couldn’t believe it myself when I got the results, but Sam assured
me that the top agents, the experts, verified the computer match.
I even argued that they were mistaken, but there was no way.
They were yours, Will. No question. So, help us out here, man.
Give us an explanation. Some plausible alternative...”
“Shit. You never thought maybe I inadvertently touched
the weapon at the crime scene? It was pretty chaotic there for
awhile.” Abruptly, Will stood and started for the door. “You
know, you’re crazy, both of you, flipped out. Me? I gotta get
back to work. I’ll have both your fucking badges before this is
over.”
Frank got up and moved toward him. “Hold on, Will.
Let Karen and me go over to your place and take a look around.
Just us, huh? If it comes up clean, we’ll take this in another
direction. It’ll look good that you didn’t make us pull a warrant.
But it’s not going to go away. Don’t leave here like this. We’re
going to have to pursue it, and if you don’t cooperate, it’ll go
down bad for you.” He reached for Will’s shoulder.
Will pulled away, smacking wildly at Frank’s arm. “You
think you can stop me from getting out of here? You and what
army?” He gave a tight laugh. “Stay away from me, and don’t
come within a mile of my fucking house.”
Karen also approached him, hoping he’d listen to reason.
“Will, stop. Why are you fighting us so hard? You say you’re
clean, let us help you prove it. I don’t have to tell you what it
looks like when you refuse to cooperate,
you
of all people! If you
don’t give us permission, you know we’ll get a warrant. We’re
trying to take care of this without alerting the entire Department.
Dammit, Will. We’re your friends! We don’t want to take this to
the brass unless you give us no alternative. You really don’t want
to go that route, do you?”
“My friends! Now
that’s
a laugh. Dragging me in here
with the two of you questioning me like I’m dirty. Oh, yeah, big
choice.” Will’s voice was rising, taking on a hysterical edge. His
eyes darted around the room as though he were looking for an
escape route. “You and Sherlock here have the case solved, so
what difference does it make? Well I’m telling you that you got
nothing but bullshit!”
Frank edged his way in between Will and Karen and the
door. Karen pleaded with her partner, “Please, don’t do this. I
believe you. Just answer us. How did your prints get on the
murder weapon? Give us something, anything, for the love of
God, Will. Talk to us!”
“Something to work with, huh? Okay, doll, how’s about
working with this. You got it
wrong
. I must’ve touched the
fucking gun accidentally. Like there’s never been a glitch in the
chain of evidence before, right? You two think you’re gonna
hang me on a couple of partial prints? Get real!”
The thought flashed through Karen’s head that maybe
they’d been too quick to accuse. Of
course
Will was angry. Who
wouldn’t be if two friends cornered them and accused them of
murder? She started to speak, but Garcia cut her off.
“You’re too good a cop to have that big an accident,
man. That’s a rookie mistake. I’ve seen you double glove before
you even enter a murder scene, and I never saw you remove ‘em
before you got outta the room. I’m just not buying it as an
accident, man. But that’s not all, Will. You’re right, we wouldn’t
come at you with just the prints as evidence. We got a witness.
Someone who saw you at Batan’s right about the time of murder.
They I.D.’d you from some mug shots. I threw your picture in
with a bunch of thugs and they picked you out, not even a hint of
doubt. So, c’mon here, just tell us what happened and we’ll see
you through this.”
It’s a bluff
, Karen thought.
Frank’s throwing out a bluff.
Will will never buy into it. Frank can’t think this will work.
“C’mon, Will. Make it easy on yourself. Talk to us.”
Will eyed the door and then looked back at Karen and
Frank, both of whom looked like waxen statues. He seemed to
shrink, appearing resigned to his fate. Then he spoke. “Okay,
yeah, I’ll tell you about it,” he surrendered. “Do you really
believe I had something to do with the murder?” He made no
move to sit and appeared to be collecting his thoughts. Looking
from Karen to Frank and back to Karen again, Will asked, “What
do you know? How much?”
Frank Garcia shook his head and then let out a long, hard
breath. “I think you killed both Jessica Benson and Feyzi Batan.
I don’t think you can offer us anything that would prove
otherwise. Look at yourself, Will. You’re losing control. There’s
no way out of this now. Let’s talk it out…see what we can do to
help you.”
“Help me? Help like you want to give me I don’t
need.” Will’s eyes narrowed to slits. “You want to railroad me
for two fucking murders?” His eyes darted around the room and
he rasped, “I can’t breathe from all the help you’re giving me.”
“Will,” Karen offered, “Frank’s right, “Just talk to us.
Give us a chance.”
Will stood statue-still for a solid minute, and then, as
though a dam had burst inside him, an unholy diatribe flowed
forth. “Talk, yeah, let’s talk. It looks like you’ve been doing all
your homework, okay? You got it right, right and
right
again. I
killed Jessica. You better believe I killed that whoring bitch. You
want to know all the dirty little details? I’ll tell you every one of
them. Let’s see how much you want to ‘talk’ when I’m
finished!” Then he lost touch with Frank and Karen, and
wrapped in a cloak of darkness, continued his tale to no one in
particular.
“I met her at a club one night. I got a hard on just
watching her. She was dancing by herself…sweating…halfnaked…moving those hips till I thought I was going to lose it
right there. She was a tease. The witch was a tease, a real cunt,
just like you been hearing from everyone in town. I couldn’t
stand it. I went over and slid up behind her, grabbed her hips and
ground my dick against her ass. She ground right back at me.
Then she turned around and pushed those big, ripe tits of hers
against my chest. I was hotter than I’d ever been. I couldn’t
believe that magnificent piece was going to let me have her. I
took her back to my place and she was all over me on the way.
She sucked me dry while I was driving. I could hardly keep the
car on the road. I came twice. Twice, and I couldn’t wait to get
inside of her...“
“Will, stop. Don’t go any further,” Garcia admonished.
“Let us saddle you up with an attorney. We’ll get someone good
to help you. You’ve said more than enough.”
“Stop?” Will asked, “Why stop? This is the good stuff.
The good memories. The best. Let me tell you how it was for
me. You wanted to hear it, now let me share it with you.”
Garcia and Karen were stunned. They looked at one
another, horrified at what might come next. The situation was
turning dangerous. But Will was lost in that long-passed night.
He continued, “She was all over me and we fucked right there on
the front porch. I swear to God, I thought I would die that night.
In the saddle, with my boots on. She fucked with me for a few
months more, ‘til she was tired of me, then told me to get lost. I
could take that, though. I been dumped by a higher class of slut.
Right, Karen? But dumping me wasn’t enough for her. She’d
video taped us in the sack. She showed me and, Jesus, what an
asshole I was, I thought we had this chemistry thing going, but
then she tells me I’m just another lay, and not even a good one at
that. She laughed at me. It was a big fat joke to her. ‘Police
protection,’ she said, my best asset.