Eleanor interrupted Stephanie with an ironic little laugh. “I know you,” she smiled at the curly haired brunette, “you’re the bounty hunter who’s always in the papers...the one who set fire to that funeral home.”
Stephanie nodded reluctantly and mentally rolled her eyes. “That’s me…but the funeral home wasn’t my fault.”
Francine glanced over at Stephanie then at Mrs. Adams with a puzzled expression on her face. “Wait a minute, didn’t you two meet the last time you were looking for Benjamin?”
Eleanor smiled and let out a sardonic chuckle. “Ah, so that’s what this little gathering is about, you’re here about my ex-husband.”
Stephanie nodded. “Yes, would you mind if we came in and talked to you about him?”
“Not at all, please, come in, I don’t want to give the neighbors any more gossip to talk about if we stand out here and talk where they can gawk.” Eleanor stepped back and allowed the four women to enter. Once they were all inside, she closed the door. “I don’t know what new information I can give you that I didn’t tell the police four months ago. I haven’t seen the no good son-of-a-bitch since I had him arrested. Please, have a seat and make yourselves comfortable.” She pointed towards the living room to the right.
Francine moved over and sat down on one side of the brown leather couch. “I’m still confused,” she watched as Amanda sat down on one of the arm chairs and Lula plopped herself down at the other end of the sofa. “Wouldn’t you two have met four months ago when Stephanie was trying to track Benjamin down after he jumped bail?”
Stephanie and Eleanor both shook their heads simultaneously. “I never got a chance to question her the last time.” Stephanie glanced apologetically towards Francine.
“Once I’d seen him being taken away by the cops, I had all the locks changed on the doors, just in case he managed to make bail, which he did.” Eleanor shook her head sadly. “Poor Polly. I still keep in touch with her. She’s the sweetest lady I’ve ever met and did not deserve what that rotten SOB did to her. Anyway,” she moved over and sat down on the empty arm chair, “I packed a bag, let the authorities know where to find me, assuring them I’d be back in time for Benjamin’s trial, and then I went to stay with my sister in New York City. I needed to get away; there was just too much emotional baggage for me to deal with alone. I also didn’t want to be reachable should Benjamin decide to contact me to make bail.” She sighed and shook her head. “Maybe if I had, he would have used me for his one phone call, and I would have taken great pleasure in denying him his request, and he’d still be rotting in jail.”
“Didn’t he know it was you who turned his skinny white ass in?” Lula leaned forward and stared at the ex-wife.
Eleanor shook her head. “I don’t think he knew. I think he thought he’d been pulled over because someone snitched on him for what he had in his trunk, a business partner or someone. I understand they found stolen guns. I really wish I’d paid closer attention to what he did; if I had I don’t think I would have stuck around long enough to find out he was married to two other woman.”
Stephanie watched this woman with extreme interest. Here was someone, who, like herself had been wronged by a member of the opposite sex, and aside from obviously hating the guy, she had managed to bounce back fairly unscathed. Of course, her coloring and slight accent indicated that she was of Irish decent, and the Irish were known for being strong-willed. She suddenly found herself quite envious of the other woman’s beauty. Her eyelashes were naturally thick, which meant she didn’t have to bother spending hours applying mascara, and her skin had that natural tanned look. “So, you really haven’t seen Benjamin lately? Perhaps passed him on the street?”
Eleanor shook her head. “No, I haven’t seen him, but if I had, you’d know it, because I’d probably be the one behind bars right now and he’d be lying in a big deep grave with hand marks around his neck from where I strangled him to death.” She then glanced around the room at the four women, her gaze coming to rest on Stephanie. “Why the sudden renewed interest in Benjamin?”
“He made the mistake of proposing to a federal agent down in D.C., and then showed up in the wrong place under a different name. He was recognized by a colleague of said agent, and after a bit of investigating, his other aliases were discovered.” Amanda kept her eyes on Mrs. Adams, purposely avoiding looking at Francine. “We were in the process of apprehending him when he managed to escape.”
“Go ahead and tell her the truth, Amanda. Tell her that it’s all my fault that he’s not behind bars.” Francine gave her friend a cold, hard stare. “I know you’ve been dying to throw that in my face since the other night.” She knew, deep down that her friend didn’t deserve to be on the receiving end of her bitterness, but hearing Amanda speak of what happened with such professionalism, as if it hadn’t been personal, had triggered her anger all over again. Perhaps if she had ridden over here with Amanda or even Stephanie rather than Lula, then maybe she’d have been able to control herself better. However, what little patience she’d had, had disappeared on the ride over here. Lula probably figured that she was being helpful with her colorful comments about men and wronged women, but couldn’t have been farther from the truth. Every time Lula opened her mouth and spoke, Francine had wanted to reach out and choke the other woman.
“Francine— ” Amanda glared chastisingly at the blonde.
“You must be the agent Benjamin proposed to.” Eleanor looked at Francine with a sympathetic expression on her face. “What number wife would you have ended up being? The authorities tell me I was number two.”
Reminding herself that she was here as an agent of the federal government, Francine took a deep breath and did her best to get her emotions back under control. “If my friends hadn’t gotten involved,” she glanced apologetically over towards Amanda, “I would have ended up being number five. Oh, and I’m sorry to tell you this,” she commented in a business-like tone as she turned her gaze back on Eleanor, “but you were actually number three. Wife number two lives near Baltimore, and wasn’t on the authorities radar when he was being investigated four months ago.”
“Somehow, after all that I’ve learned about the man, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find out that I was number ten. It was interesting, though, to find out that I was the only one he married under his real name. Guess it’s because this is where he grew up, he had to use is real name. So,” Eleanor glanced around the room at the four women, her gaze falling to Stephanie, “what makes you think he’d come back here? I mean, he may not have known at the time that I turned him, but I’m sure he’s found out by now, so I highly doubt he’d come knocking on my door.”
Amanda shrugged her shoulders slightly. “We’re not sure where he’d go, and there’s the slight possibility that he might have another wife or alias that we weren’t able to find in the last background search we ran. Since we knew that the original investigation took place here in Trenton, we figured it was the best place to start.”
“Is there anything you can tell us about his habits, old haunts, even his job?” Stephanie knew that Francine would be anxious to get any kind of lead out of this woman, and even if they did share a common bond, she didn’t want to risk the blonde agent getting too riled up, and offending Eleanor. Francine’s earlier outburst was a clear indication that the blonde’s patience was wearing very thin.
Eleanor sighed and reluctantly shook her head no. “I’m afraid anything I can tell you probably wouldn’t be very helpful. I thought he was an engineer. He told me he worked for a firm in New Brunswick, and was constantly traveling to different sites all over the country. Apparently, that was a big old lie, although,” she looked up at Amanda, her eyebrows furrowing, “the name was on his pay stubs, so maybe he really did work there.”
“Could you tell us the name of the company? It might not hurt for us to check it out.” Amanda reached into her purse and pulled out a piece of paper and a pen. She had a sneaky suspicion that Benjamin worked for a well-connected organization and that the name of the engineering firm would turn out to be a dummy corporation, a front for something bigger.
Eleanor rose from her seat and walked over to the desk in the corner. “I’ll do you one better. I have a few of his old pay stubs.” She opened the second drawer and pulled out slip from one of the files. She then walked over and handed the paper to Amanda. “It’s a really old one, so I don’t think I’ll need it back.”
“This should be a big help, thank you.” Amanda put the slip in her purse then watched as Eleanor sat back down in her chair. “Is there anything else that you can tell us, anything that might seem minor to you, but might be something extremely helpful to us?”
“What about why you decided to start following him? Did he come home smelling like cheap perfume and you figured he was cheatin’ on you?” Lula had been sitting back letting the others talk, but it was obvious that this woman needed a good memory jog. “I mean it’s not every day a wife wakes up and decides that she don’t trust her man no more, something had to spark your curiosity.”
“Oh I remember exactly what happened as if it was just yesterday.” Eleanor nodded her head slowly and smirked. “I was tired of sitting around all day doing nothing. All my friends have kids or jobs and they were always running around, they never had time to just hang out anymore. I told him that I wanted to get a part-time job. In fact, I had already put in my application at a few temp agencies. One of the agencies called and Benjamin had answered the phone. He went ballistic. He seemed so open and gentle when I first met him, even in the early days of our marriage. When we’d first met I was working for an insurance company, but shortly after we got married, he convinced me that he made enough money for both of us, and that I deserved to relax, be pampered and let him bring in the dough. To be honest, I only agreed, because my boss was a jerk and I was tired of fending off his advances.”
Francine shook her head and mentally sighed. She was suddenly very thankful that Amanda had been concerned enough to look into Adam’s past. She always prided herself on being strong and independent, but the conversation the night Adam had proposed to her kept rolling around in her memory. There had been something in his voice that indicated he didn’t want his wife to work, and now she knew for certain that her job would have been the source of many arguments. If they tracked down the wife in Seaside Heights, she had a feeling the woman would tell them a similar story. Even Sally Thompson was a stay-at-home mom. She had assumed it was because Sally wanted to stay home to be with her little boy, but now she was beginning to wonder if Adam had played a large role in that decision. She’d have to remember to ask Amanda about it later…and to apologize for her recent snippiness. And she was going to have to remember to think of Adam as Benjamin, since, after all that was the name on his birth certificate and the man who had claimed to be Adam Clyde was merely a myth. “So, Benjamin demanding that you stay home and not work, prompted you to start following him?”
Eleanor shook her head slightly. “I told him exactly what I told you, that I was tired of being bored. I wanted to be around other adults during the day, even if it was for a little time, and I’m not much for doing a lot of shopping. So, I went on an interview, and managed to actually land a secretarial job. Benjamin got so mad I thought he was going to have steam coming out of his ears. We fought until he couldn’t stand my stubbornness anymore. He told me he was going to go meet up with the guys for a few drinks because he just couldn’t handle being in the same house, let alone the same room with me. I was so mad and tired of him going out with these men who I had never met, I followed him.”
“You’re one gutsy woman, girlfriend.” Lula nodded approvingly at Eleanor. “Weren’t you afraid he’d spot you?”
“Not really.” Eleanor shrugged. “I yelled after him that if he could go out with the guys then I was going over to a girlfriend’s house, so while he ran up to get his wallet from his nightstand, I grabbed my purse and raced to my car. I managed to get in my car and drive it far enough away to park it where he wouldn’t notice me by the time he pulled out of the garage. I waited till he’d passed my hiding spot, and then got behind him and started following at a safe distance. I’d seen enough of those detectives on T.V. follow suspects, so it wasn’t all that hard. Anyway, I began to grow a little concerned when he started getting closer to Stark Street. That’s not the nicest area, and definitely not someplace a woman wants to be caught alone, unless she’s selling herself.”
“She ain’t lyin’ neither.” Lula nodded her head. “Stark Street’s a scary place. I speak from past experience when I say that even for the ‘hos it ain't safe, but a girl’s gotta make a living somehow, and the best time to do that is at night.”
“Where did he end up going?” Stephanie asked with just a hint of suspicion in her voice. For some reason, she had a very strong feeling that she knew exactly where Benjamin had gone. No matter how hard Joe tried to keep her away from something, she always managed to stumble into things that he was working on.
“I watched him park and then go into this really skeevy dive – I think it was called Pete’s or something.” Eleanor scrunched up her face in thought and then nodded. “Yeah, now that I think about it, it was Pete’s, because I remember thinking that I didn’t even want to know what he was doing there. That place has a real bad reputation. I’ve heard a lot of rumors about mob connections. Then again,” she shrugged her shoulders, “half the places around town are connected to the mob.”
“So after that night, you started following him on a regular basis?” Amanda, who had been keeping a close watch on Francine, turned her attention back to Adams’ former wife.
Eleanor nodded. “Once I got home and started to calm down, I realized that if Benjamin was going to a place like Pete’s, then he had to be doing something illegal.” She sighed and shook her head sadly. “It’s amazing how one little thing can make you start doubting someone, even someone you love. I began wondering what he was really up to, and my curiosity got the better of me. Two days after our big fight, he told me he was going on a business trip, so I followed him. It wasn’t difficult, since he wasn’t flying anywhere, at least that’s what he had told me, and it turned out to be the truth. That’s when I found out about the woman in Seaside Heights. Looking back on it, if he had been connected with the mob and not just married to someone else, I could have ended up dead if I’d been caught following him.”
Stephanie sighed and mentally congratulated herself. She then reached into her purse and took out a business card. “We want to thank you for your time, and if you think of anything else that might help us,” she handed the card over to Eleanor, “please don’t hesitate to give me a call.” She then rose from the couch and watched as Amanda, Francine and Lula did the same.
“I’ll definitely call you if I think of anything.” Eleanor stood and followed the four women as they made their way towards the door. “I really want to see that man spending the rest of his days rotting away in some foul smelling jail cell.” Reaching the hallway, she tapped the blonde woman on the shoulder. “Don’t let Benjamin ruin your life.” She gave Ms. Desmond a warm smile when the blonde turned towards her. “I speak from experience when I say that I wanted to swear off men, but I quickly realized that by doing that, I was letting Benjamin win, and in the end I’d end up being very, very lonely.”
“I’ll take your advice under consideration.” Francine snapped out a little more harshly than she would have liked. She shrugged apologetically and softened her tone. “We’ll let you know the minute Benjamin’s in custody.” She then turned and followed the other three women down the stairs.
Stephanie waited until Francine had joined them on the sidewalk before discussing what their next move would be. “Well, I think Seaside Heights can wait. I really want to know what the big draw to Pete’s is, and now we have a legitimate reason for going over there.”
“I knew you would find a way to get in on the action at Pete’s, no matter what you told Officer Hottie.” Lula grinned. “But don’t ya’ think we oughta call in Batman?”
Amanda glanced over at Stephanie, her eyebrows raised questioningly. “Batman?”
“Ranger…Batman’s what Connie, Lula and I call him. We’re convinced he isn’t exactly human and has all the characteristics of a superhero. He dresses all in black, is extremely secretive and no one knows where he goes when he goes home. It’s like he has a secret hide out, kind of like the bat cave” Stephanie shrugged and smiled. “So we call him Batman, never to his face of course.” She then glanced over at Lula. “I guess if we’re going over to Pete’s it might not be a bad idea to have his threatening form around to protect us from the scum of the earth.”
“And from Officer Hottie, ’cause you know he’s going to go ape all over your ass when he sees us, especially since you promised him you wouldn’t set foot inside.” Lula turned and started walking towards her car. “You coming, Blondie, we don’t want to keep the men folk waiting.”
Francine glared at Amanda. “Do not make me ride with her again.” She pleaded through clenched teeth.
Stephanie laughed. “Don’t worry, I’ll ride with Lula. I think that we should head over to Vinnie’s first and swap cars. We can all head over to Pete’s in my...” Her eyes grew wide when she caught sight of the disheveled looking man who had just come out of the little corner market. “Holy crap, that’s Tommy the Sleaze!” She started running towards him, but then stopped when she realized that Tommy had just seen her and was now jumping behind the wheel of a beat up Toyota Celica.
Without thinking, Stephanie quickly changed direction and was about to dig out her car keys, when she suddenly remembered that they didn’t come in her car. She ran over to where Amanda and Francine were still standing, reached out and grabbed the set of keys that Amanda had just pulled out of her purse. “I am NOT losing him again.” She then dashed towards the silver sports car.
“Stephanie!” Amanda yelled as she raced after the bounty hunter. “Lee is going to kill me if anything happens to his car. Please let me drive.” However, she knew it was pointless to argue as she watched Stephanie climbing into the driver’s seat. Letting out a string of curses that would have made her husband proud, she yanked open the passenger door and jumped into the ’Vette. She barely had time to pull the door shut and buckle her seatbelt as the brunette behind the wheel peeled away from the curb in hot pursuit.
Francine said a few choice words of her own, as she realized that she was going to be stuck riding with Lula once again. Not sure if being left behind would be a good thing or a bad thing, she ran to the waiting Firebird and climbed into the passenger seat. She managed to get her seatbelt fastened just as Lula took off after the ’Vette. Once she was safely buckled in, she took hold of the dashboard, and said a silent prayer that they’d all make it out of this alive.