Beyond the City Lights

Chapter 10

The station was surprisingly quiet for a murderer being on the loose. The detectives were forced to let Benson go without enough evidence to charge him, but they were determined that him being a link between the cases wasn't coincidental.

They had a warrant to search his home and both his vehicles, the company taxi and his personal car that he used for Uber, all before the morning sun began casting shadows. They were wasting no time in wrapping this whole thing up.

"Where's the boss?" Ghost asked Carter, setting a freshly brewed cup of coffee on his desk and a box with an assortment of donuts inside. It wasn't like lieutenant Reynolds to call in.

"I talked to him this morning. Had some sort of family emergency so he won't be in today, but he said to move forward with the searches and let him know what we find," Carter barely got the last sentence out before devouring half of a maple covered donut.

Ghost grabbed his coffee cup from his desk, took a sip, and said, "Well, let's get this party started then."

There was a buzz of excitement between the detectives. Maybe it was the caffeine and sugary donuts, but more than likely it was the fact they were getting close to solving the case. Multiple cases, possibly.

Ghost and Carter assigned two officers, Officer Langston and Officer Miller, to go search Benson's apartment. They themselves chose to go to the garage where his taxi was stored and where his personal car that doubled as an Uber would be sitting in the parking lot.

When they pulled up to the garage full of taxis, Benson Ingram was leaning up against the exterior smoking an electronic cigarette.

The detectives got out and walked over to Benson, as they got closer they could smell the sweet cotton candy vapor he was puffing into the air. He was producing clouds with thicker substance than the ones in the sky overhead.

Ghost waved away the sweet smelling smoke and smiled at Benson, "Alright, Church Boy. No need to move a muscle. You just keep smoking your little vape pen and enjoying your little break. Detective Carter and I meanwhile will be searching your two vehicles."

"Whatever," Benson replied, taking another drag. "I don't have anything to hide."

"No?" Carter chimed in. "Want to save us some time then and show us where the cars are parked?"

Benson wanted to do no such thing. He scoffed and turned to enjoy his smoke break away from the detectives.

It didn't take long to find each vehicle. They searched the taxi cab first and found nothing but extra napkins, a flashlight, fast food wrappers, and some other miscellaneous personal items. Most of which were in the front. The back of the cab was near spotless. Even had some of the vacuum streaks still on the seats.

The personal car used for Uber received more tender loving care than the taxi. No left over wrappers. Carter found a case of water bottles in the trunk and a package of mints in the glovebox, probably offered to the people he drove in exchange for a good rating. The only other things he found were common in most vehicles: loose change, a window scraper, owner's manual. Nothing worthy of note.

In the center console, Ghost found different flavored cartridges for the electronic cigarette. Then he moved to the back where, just like the taxi, it was pretty clean. He shoved his hand in between the cracks of the seats and found some hardened food crumbs. Ghost did Benson a solid and tossed the food crumbs out of the car.

He found a lighter in the side door, but the real prize came when Ghost slid his hand under the backseat, where he felt a familiar cold metal with his gloved hand.

"Well, well," Ghost said to his partner, showing him the unmarked gun and the lighter before bagging them as evidence. "What do you want to bet the ballistics come back with a match for the same type of gun used on the gas station attendant? And that Benson recently switched from good old-fashioned cigarettes to electronic ones?"

"Not taking that bet," said Carter with a smile as all the pieces of the puzzle began to come together. "The gun alone is going to be hard enough to explain, but combined with the lighter... There's our two murder weapons right there. Definitely enough to pin him with at least two of the three murders. Let's go finish this thing."

"I'll let you do the honors," said Ghost.

The detectives went back to where they'd left Benson and found him in the same spot still puffing away.

Carter held up the evidence bag containing the lighter and the gun and said, "Benson Ingram, you're under arrest for the murders of Craig Barnes and John Henley." Carter handed the bag to Ghost and pulled out his cuffs.

Carter and Ghost would do everything in their power to make sure Benson also went down for the murder of Teagan Sorenson, but for now they'd take the wins where they could get them.

Benson suddenly dropped his ecigarette as Carter went to cuff him. He pleaded, "That's not mine! You've got to believe me." Then there was a moment of recognition, "Wait a second, it was you!" He was looking directly at Jasper Graves aka Ghost. "You planted that evidence! You were the weird, mysterious dude who kept his head down the whole time. I drove you last night! You planted that evidence. Oh my hell, how could I not recognize you?? I knew you looked familiar!"

Ghost smiled, a soft playful smile, "I've heard some good ones, but trying to flip this on the police. That's rich. This one has to be one of the better excuses I've heard. Don't you think, Carter?"

Carter gave a good belly chuckle, "Yeah, that was good."

Carter handed Benson over to Ghost who forcefully shoved him into the back of their car, as he was wrestling to get him in Carter noticed a nasty gash on Ghost's arm.

With concern Carter asked, "Ghost, what happened to your arm?"

Ghost slammed the door on Benson and glanced down at his wound from last night. "Damn neighbor dog," he lied.

Carter nodded, as if to say, 'That explains it.' Then they hopped in the car and drove off. Case closed.

The End.