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“We picked Bender up outside his apartment,” Cappy said. “Told him he needed to assist us with a couple of homicides. He was highly PO’d, gave us a boatload of crap and tried to evade us. Did some damage to our car. We cuffed him and stashed him in the back of a cruiser. We’re about ten minutes out.”
Ten minutes crawled by followed by another twenty until Alvarez and I stood behind the glass watching Cappy and Chi interviewing Marvin Bender. The subject wore old cheap clothes and a sour attitude. He bitched for several minutes about the outrage and that he would sue us for false arrest.
Then Bender demanded coffee. Cappy said, “In a bone china cup? With heavy cream and a biscuit? Earn the damned coffee, Bender.”
“You’re a putz, you know that?”
Cappy said, “Are you done now? Or do you want to chill in holding while we get an estimate on repairs on the PD’s car and fill out a formal arrest form. Now we have you on felony reckless evading and vehicular assault on a police officer. Mandatory prison sentence. I wonder why you tried so hard to get away. And I will find out.”
“How many times have I got to say it? I know nothing about any homicides. This is police harassment and you should know this, you jerk-off: my brother is a great attorney.”
Chi cracked a smile. He had a short stack of papers facedown in front of him. He said to Bender, “I’m going to show you some pictures.”
He flipped over a printout of a moment from the Book Passage surveillance footage. It was a shot of the audience during Cindy’s speech. In this photo, Ralph Hammer was standing behind the folding chairs, his finger stabbing the air as he made a point. Behind him and a few yards to his right was Marvin Bender, just looking on.
Chi took a pen and circled Hammer’s head, asking, “Do you know this man?”
“No. Who is he?”
“Ralph Hammer. Do you remember this?”
Chi flipped over another screenshot, this one of me, Rich, and an armed security guard moving Hammer out of the store.
“I remember now. But I don’t know the guy.”
Chi flipped over the third photo, this one from Vroman’s surveillance tape. “Marge” was standing and had a look of disgust on her face. Bender was sitting beside her.
Chi said, “Mr. Bender, is this you?”
“Yes. I went to Vroman’s with Marge Warner.” He tappedher image with his forefinger. “We belong to an online book club.”
“Talk to me about Ms. Warner, the woman you drove six hours to meet.”
“I’m sure you’ve already vetted her.”
Cappy and Chi waited until Bender said, “I only met her this one time at Vroman’s. We’d gotten advance reading copies ofYou Never Knew Me. She wanted to go to the signing, and I knew she was going to be critical. She’s pretty negative as a rule. She told me she owns a boutique called Dress Express in Pasadena and that she’s married with children. That’s it. That’s all I know. Personally, I liked the book. I’m working on a true-crime book myself. Maybe you’ll give me some help with it.”
Chi flipped over the last picture and showed it to Bender.
“Do I know her, you’re asking?”
“Yes.”
“No,” Bender said, looking at the photo of the woman in the red tracksuit, sprawled out on a path in the Fuller Theological Seminary campus. “Who is she?”
Chi collected all the photos and said, “Mr. Bender, you were seen leaving Vroman’s with Marge Warner around six. Where did you go?”
“I walked her to her car. Then I got in mine and drove home.”
“You must have been tired after driving twelve hours round trip. What did you do when you got home? Around midnight?”
“I ate a bowl of Dinty Moore stew, washed it down with a Sam Adams, and watched a film on TV.Mr. Brooks. Kevin Costner plays the Thumbprint Killer. I love that film. I had another beer, then I went to bed. Alone.”
Chi said, “Here’s what I’m thinking. You were within walking distance of the murders of Ralph Hammer—”
“Me and a few hundred other people.”
“No, see,” said Cappy. “You were the only person who went to both bookstores. Where did you go after the Book Passage reading?”
