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Chapter 79
It was timeto get serious. At least that’s what I was calling my surveillance of Beth Banks. I was seriously looking at her as a legitimate suspect. And I timed my surveillance perfectly.
I slowly drove past Gold’s Gym. Beth’s BMW was in the front. My secret weapon in this surveillance was my nondescript purple Prius. No one would notice it. No one would ever think it was a police car. And I was starting to dig the way it made me feel like a giant every time I tried to cram myself into it. It made me smile when I thought about how my family of twelve would deal with having a Prius as the only family vehicle. My guess was it would not work out well.
My plan was simple. Watch Beth Banks until she did something that left a DNA sample. It could be sweat on a door handle if I got there fast enough. It could be a strand of hair, blood, a fingernail. It didn’t matter. And I didn’t care. I was determined to stay with Ms. Banks until I accomplished my goal.
I pulled into a parking space one building away and across the street. I had a perfect view of the Gold’s Gym’s entrance. Generally, a surveillance is conducted with a number of unmarked police vehicles. Follow a suspect in the same car all the time and they will probably notice. Depending on which direction your suspect turns, you have to have a car ready to make that turn.
Beth Banks zipped out of the gym to her BMW. Soon she pulled out onto the street and drove past me. I fell in behind her, leaving a vehicle between us.
She headed back toward the Supreme Court Building. Her route was uneventful until a block before she might normally veer left toward the office, where Ms. Banks turned right instead—abruptly. She surprised me, making me worry she was doing countersurveillance. I thought she’d noticed my car and was trying a technique common among drug dealers looking to shake surveillance, making a quick turn to see if I followed.
I had no choice. I took the turn. Maybe not as dramatically as Ms. Banks in the BMW had, but I could feel a hint of centrifugal force as I kept my foot on the gas and turned hard to the right.
My concerns about countersurveillance were for nothing. In another half a mile the BMW zipped into a spot in front of a Dunkin’ Donuts about ten blocks from the Supreme Court Building. I was able to park on an adjoining street that gave me a full view of the inside of the small, drab donut shop. Only two of the six tables were occupied.
I turned my attention back to the BMW. As soon as she was out of the car, Beth Banks gave someone inside the shop a halfhearted wave. I looked back into the shop and saw her recipient. A smile spread over my face. Sometimes luck favors the simple.
Beth Banks slipped through the Dunkin’ Donuts doors and met her sister-in-law, Rhea Wellmy-Steinberg, sitting at a table next to the window. These relatives by marriage were both about the same age and well educated. They probably had a lot in common.
Personality-wise, they didn’t seem to be particularly similar. From everything I’d heard and my limited personal experience, Rhea Wellmy-Steinberg was a little self-absorbed and entitled. Whereas Beth Banks was just a badass. I knew her family had money, but I didn’t get the idea that it mattered much to Beth.
I noticed Rhea already had a coffee for Beth sitting on the table. This might be a rare opportunity to get samples from two of my suspects at the same time.
