Pawnbroker: A Thriller Read Online Free PDF Page B

room.”
    I nodded. He hung up his phone, stood, and walked over to a guard. I couldn’t hear what was said, but the guard listened, then walked away. Benton looked my way and winked. A minute or two later, that same guard appeared in my half of the room.
    “Let’s go,” he said.
    I followed him out of the room, through a maze of stark white cinder-block corridors and into what looked like a small conference room. One table, three folding metal chairs. Benton was already there and seated, his briefcase open in front of him. He took out a laptop and powered it up.
    “Witnesses to the event?”
    “LungFao.”
    “LungFao?”
    “LungFao. Real name is Larry Williamson.”
    “I see. And who exactly is this ‘LungFao’?”
    “Assistant manager at my shop.”
    A small grimace flashed briefly across his face.
    “Problem?” I said.
    “You’re his boss. They’ll discredit him as a witness, paint him as hopelessly biased. Anyone else?”
    I shook my head and then told him about the surveillance video. By then, his laptop was booted up and he was taking notes on it. A real twenty-first century kind of guy. He seemed hopeful about the tape.
    “Can your wife bring it here? I’m sure we can arrange to use a TV and VCR for a few minutes.”
    “Won’t work. It’s a surveillance tape, recorded on a special VCR, and it’ll only play on that kind of machine.”
    He took more notes. “Very well. Can someone take me to your business so I can view it there?”
    “Sure thing. Abby should be back up here shortly and she can run you over to the shop.”
    I had forced myself to concentrate on the business at hand, not what I had seen in the mirror, but just saying her name brought it all back. Bobby Knight. Supposedly my friend, screwing my wife, and right in the thick of my being in this concrete room. Was this all some ploy to get rid of me so he could have her?
    “Are you all right?” Benton said.
    I snapped out of the stupor. “Sorry. Go ahead.”
    “Just a few more questions.”
    “Shoot.”
    “Erase that word from your vocabulary until this ordeal is over.” I nodded and he continued. “Had you ever seen this man before?”
    “No.”
    “Did you ask Ling Foo if he remembered seeing him?”
    “LungFao. And yes, I asked him. And no, he doesn’t recall ever seeing him.”
    More notes.
    “All right. Now I want you to take me through a blow-by-blow account of what happened. Give me every detail, no matter how trivial it may seem to you.”
    “There’s this customer named Bill Berner,” I began.

 
    Chapter 11
     
     
     
    I knew something was wrong as soon as Abby walked in. Her face was dark, cloudy. She didn’t even acknowledge Benton.
    “Please tell me you found the tape,” I said.
    “Oh, I found it.”
    I blew a long sigh of relief.
    “It’s worthless, Gray.”
    “What?” This could not be.
    “I thought I’d save some time and fast-forward the tape to the right place.”
    “And?”
    “It wouldn’t play. Just a bunch of wavy lines on the screen and the sound is mostly static.”
    “You have to play it on the surveillance VCR, you know.”
    “I know. I did.”
    I shook my head. Had she sabotaged it? Screwing around is one thing, but would she go that far to get me out of the way?
    “What are the odds of that one tape going bad?” I said. “One stinking videotape that cost a dollar, and it’s a dud.”
    “None of them play.”
    “Come again?”
    “They’re all the same way. LungFao said it looked like somebody waved a big magnet around in front of the tapes and ruined them all.”
    “But how’d anybody get access to that room? It’s in the pawn room and we never let anybody back there.”
    “Maybe they broke in last night?”
    I shook my head. “No alarm last night.”
    “Got another idea?”
    I didn’t. “Abby, this is Lucas Benton. Mr. Benton, my wife, Abby.”
    They shook hands and a movie-star smile washed over his face. “So nice to meet you, Abby.”
    She smiled back, one of