Page 21 of Fatal Betrayal

"I've run financials," Savannah said. "Nothing out of line with anyone. No large cash deposits or withdrawals. Kristine has very little financial history. Her bank account was opened eighteen months ago. Most deposits have come from her last three employers: The Back Street Bar in Santa Monica, the Weiselberg family, and the Benedicts. There are some small cash deposits, but the most was for three hundred dollars."

"She has no other work history?" she asked in surprise. "Neil said she'd been a nanny since she graduated from Long Beach State three years ago."

"No," Savannah answered. "She came to the US from Belarus on a student visa when she was nineteen. She lived in an apartment in Long Beach for three years. She worked at the bar for six months, then moved on to the Weiselberg's where she worked for eight months, ending up at the Benedict's house for the last four months."

"We need to know more about her," she said, drumming her fingers on the table. "What about college? She must have had transcripts, some way to pay for school. Where is her family?"

"I'm working on that," Savannah said. "Also, forensics came up with nothing in the baby's room, no prints that didn't belong there."

"I've been vetting Solange Guerrero," Caitlyn interjected. "I spoke to her by phone thirty minutes ago. She confirmed she has worked for Neil off and on for ten years. She has mostly been a live-out housekeeper, but after her husband died two years ago, she has occasionally stayed overnight if there's a party, or the nanny is out. She has four children ranging in age from twenty to twenty-seven. Her youngest kid, Daniel, has been in and out of rehab and was arrested for a DUI last year. He lives at home with Solange. He was enrolled at the community college last year but dropped out. He doesn't appear to have a job."

"Daniel probably knows the layout of the Benedict's house and possibly the morning routine," she said.

"Exactly," Caitlyn agreed. "But according to Solange, Daniel was in a boxing class at an LA gym this morning and was seen by many people. I confirmed that with the gym, although I haven't spoken to Daniel directly. He wasn't at home, and I haven't gotten a call back."

"Even if Daniel wasn't at the house, he could have been involved and made sure he had an alibi," she said. "Anything else?"

"I talked to Grant Petrie," Nick put in. "He owns the construction company that handled the Benedict's remodel. He stands by his crew, but he can't account for the whereabouts of every single person who had been in the house. He's going to send me a list, and I'll follow up."

"What about camera footage?" she asked. "How did someone get in and out of the property without anyone seeing them?"

"Best guess," Flynn said. "The perpetrator parked on the street behind the house. There's a narrow pathway through the trees. The house behind the Benedicts is up for sale and is currently unoccupied with no working cameras. We've been tracking cars on both streets, but there are dozens of vehicles and, aside from Jillian Markham, none belong to anyone who might have a connection to the Benedicts."

"Both Neil and Claire work," she said. "They're connected to many people in their respective businesses. We don't know where all the connections are." She paused, realizing she hadn't shared the most interesting bit of information. "When Cooper—Dr. Bradford—was on the phone with Neil, Claire discovered that some of Elisa's clothes and toys are missing."

Everyone around the table straightened at her words.

"Someone had time to pack a bag," Savannah murmured, a glint in her eyes.

"Yes. And they wanted Elisa to have some of her toys, probably to keep her happy."

"How could the nanny not have heard someone spending that much time in the kid's room?" Nick asked.

She wondered the same thing. "Good question. Kristine said she heard nothing on the baby monitor, but she could have been lying to protect herself. She could have been asleep, or the monitor was off, or she was part of it. But she's still at the house, acting as distraught and worried as Neil and Claire. I need to talk to her again. I'll go back to the Benedict's house now. And I'll also check out the bar where she used to work."

"What's the deal with that psychologist following you around?" Nick asked curiously.

"He's good friends with Neil Benedict. They're producing a docuseries based on Dr. Bradford's books."

"Which do not paint the Bureau in a good light," Savannah said. "I looked him up. What I found interesting is a blurb I read on a Hollywood gossip site that said the docuseries is on indefinite hold and that Neil's partner, Larry Friedman, was quoted as saying that they were no longer pursuing development of the project."

She started at that piece of information. "That's odd. Both Neil and Cooper made it sound like they were still working together."

"My source was basically a gossip column," Savannah said with a shrug.

She nodded, her brain whirring with questions. Cooper had full access to the house. It didn't appear that they had any bad blood between them, and when they'd talked about Larry and his problems, Cooper had never mentioned an issue with Neil's partner. But she didn't like when things didn’t add up.

She got to her feet. "I'll check in later. Keep digging. Let me know if you come up with anything else."

* * *

There were two news vans in front of the Benedict house when Cooper arrived. A female reporter shouted some questions to him, but he didn't bother to answer. When he entered the house, he felt a great weight of fear and unhappiness. It hung heavy in the air.

Neil was on a call with his brother, who lived in Australia, so his father, Robert Benedict, ushered him into the kitchen, where Claire was staring mindlessly at a full mug of tea in front of her. Her mother-in-law, Julia, was making some sort of soup at the stove.

As soon as they saw him, mixed emotions raced through their eyes, from hope to fear and everything in between.

"I know nothing," he said before they could ask, his words immediately erasing the hope from their eyes. "The FBI is working very hard to find Elisa. They have lots of people on the investigation and the most sophisticated research tools available." It felt strange to be praising the Bureau when he'd spent many years tearing the organization apart for their investigative tactics. But he had seen firsthand the focus they were putting on finding Elisa. And he wanted to make sure that the Benedicts could hang on to the hope that their daughter would be found.

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