The Stolen - Jason Pinter [88]
need to get medical records from Petrovsky's office, which
won't be easy, especially since the dude's disappeared."
"He's dead," I said. "There's just no body to bury."
"Either way, the guy won't be answering his phone.
Give me a day. I'll get an answer."
"Thanks, Curt, every second counts. Benjamin wasn't
expecting us to follow Petrovsky, and who knows if the
Reeds are even still alive. There's a chance that, like
Petrovsky, they 'disappeared' the Reeds so nobody could
ask questions. We need to see if we can find the Reeds
before Benjamin takes desperate measures. And this is a
guy who seems to be redefining the term."
32
Raymond Benjamin dialed the number of the motel. He'd
made the reservation for the Reeds just before he'd told them
what was going to happen to their home. He'd broken it to
them matter-of-factly. He'd told them they might have to
leave at a moment's notice, but didn't really believe himself
it would ever come to that. Elaine seemed pretty unnerved
but agreed to cooperate. Like always. Bob stayed silent,
nodded at his wife's approval. But now it was Ray who was
unnerved.
When the receptionist picked up, he said, "Yes, can
you connect me to the room of Robert and Elaine Reed?"
"Hold a moment, sir." Ray heard typing in the background. "Sir, we don't have any record of anyone by that
name checking in."
"But you do have a reservation, right?"
"Yes, sir, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Reed, weekly rates,
supposed to have checked in yesterday, but according to
this they haven't."
"Fuck me," Ray said.
"Excuse me, sir?"
"Nothing. You're sure about that?"
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Jason Pinter
"Yes, sir. Would you like me to have a message waiting
for them when they do check in?"
Ray slammed the phone down on the cradle so hard the
plastic receiver broke in half. It took him far too long to
jimmy open the door to the pay phone booth, and finally
he cracked the glass when he kicked it inward with his
foot. Vince was leaning up against the car, an errant toothpick sticking out of his mouth. Either it was lodged
between two teeth or the man had simply forgotten it was
there. Ray had a sudden desire to smack the thing out of
his mouth. But he restrained himself.
This wasn't going as he'd hoped. Things had taken a
drastic turn once Parker and the girl had arrived at the
house on Huntley, and that necessitated burning the place
down. Of course, doing that meant relocating the Reed
family, which was an ordeal in and of itself.
He'd begun to worry about Bob and Elaine from nearly
the moment they took the girl home. There was something
in their eyes that was different from the other families, a
sense of sorrow that worried him from the start. He'd told
them from the first time he met them that they'd have to
be strong. Keep everything in perspective. Look at this as
short-term pain for a long-term solution. They were doing
it for the right reasons, and years from now they'd be
happy they did it.
Now he wasn't so sure.
Bob and Elaine had a motive. There was a reason they
were chosen. The same way there was a reason Ray was
good at his job, he expected the Reeds to live up to their
end of the deal. Looking back on that one week that shaped
Raymond Benjamin into what he'd become, he knew how
fast one moment could change everything.
Few people knew the truth about Raymond Benjamin.
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251
That all of the violence, everything that had occurred
during the horrific, bloody days from September 9 to September 13 was because of him. While the riots started
because the Attica prisoners were tired of being treated like
animals, there was one spark that started the explosion.
The week of September 2, 1971, a small metal bucket
was placed inside Ray's cell. It contained about a gallon
of water. The guard told him it was his weekly supply of
water to shower with. On September 8, during mess hall,
Ray mouthed off about the food. He didn't remember his
exact words, but it boiled down to the meat loaf tasting like
it had been some poor guy's meat.