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“To make it seem more legitimate, maybe? He had sent me to rescue her, but Helen ensured I couldn’t follow them.

I believe Helen devised the scheme, thinking she could win Denny back.

She probably knew he was with Eloise now.

But she most likely believed Denny would go along with it to get some fast money.

She needed some way to get his attention.

Then Pierre convinced Denny to let him in on the scheme. ”

Andy stroked his chin. “Most likely because he wanted to keep a big chunk of the money, and he was angry with Helen for planning the con.”

“Right. That would make sense. It had to be money he could readily get and then claim his poor girlfriend had been kidnapped. I would be the patsy because—” Monica said.

“He steered you to the cabin he thought they might be at. But he had to make it look like?—”

“She had been kidnapped.”

“That would only happen if he sent you to go after her. Because he knew you personally, he felt comfortable telling you, and you wouldn’t alert other law enforcement that might get her killed. But it was just a ruse to give him more of an alibi,” Andy said.

Monica let out her breath. “It sure sounds like that. Otherwise, if he never called me and didn’t call anyone else, no one would know it was a kidnapping.”

“Exactly.”

“You don’t think Teague and Lionel would make that story up, do you?” Monica asked.

“No. It sounds to me that that’s all they know. Are you going to speak with Harvey?”

“Yeah. The DEA agents will have questioned him already. So I need to ask him if he knows about the kidnapping scheme. Even though I suspect he won’t know about it unless Wendell, his cousin, or Helen, his sister, blabbered about it to him.”

Monica had Teague and Lionel returned to their cells and then asked to interview Harvey.

“Perfect timing,” the officer said. “He was brought into the jail a half hour ago after being at the hospital.”

“Good. Did DEA agents question him at the hospital?”

“Yes, ma’am. I was on guard duty while they did.”

“Okay, thanks.”

Once Harvey was escorted into an interview room, Monica walked inside and sat at the table. She read him his rights. “All right, your sister, Helen, and your cousin, Wendell, are in trouble.”

“What do you mean?”

“The fake kidnapping? Extortion?”

Harvey shrugged. She figured she didn’t have a lot of leverage to force him to give up the truth, especially when he might not know much of anything.

“Tell me why you weren’t invited in on the kidnapping for ransom scheme. Why did Wendell get a piece of the pie and cut you out? Why take a couple of his buddies instead? Each of them got twenty-five thousand for the affair.” Monica hoped that approach might work instead.

Harvey’s eyes widened a bit. Then he folded his arms and narrowed his eyes. “They didn’t get that much.”

So he did know about it. “You already have hefty drug charges against you, not to mention possessing a firearm as a felon and the attempted murder of a law enforcement officer. Do you want to add obstruction charges?”

Tilting his chin up, he didn’t say anything.

“Okay, look, Mr. Marquart, Denny and your sister made the most out of this deal. They ended up with five hundred thousand apiece.”

Harvey’s jaw dropped, but he quickly snapped it shut. “No way.”

“So here’s the thing: everyone else is getting in on the gravy train but you. Your cousin and your sister.”

“I don’t know what they had planned. That’s all I can say.”

“But you knew something was going to happen.”

“I had a beer with Helen at the motel, and she brought it up, okay? But like a joke. Not like anything they were going to do.”

“So what did she say exactly?”

“Pierre had loads of money, and she was thinking she would scam him by faking her kidnapping, and Denny would be the kidnapper.”

“You know she’s back with Denny then?” Monica wondered who really knew the true story.

“Nah, she’s with Pierre still. She needed Denny to act as the kidnapper since she knew he would go along for the money. But hell, she never said she was going to make that much. Believe me, Denny wasn’t going to make that.”

“That’s what Teague and Lionel said.”

“Helen wouldn’t have told any of them how much she would make off the deal. She and Pierre were splitting the funds.”

Now Monica didn’t know what to think! Since Pierre was in the wind, did that mean Helen got her share, or was he supposed to keep it to spend on them? Which meant he ran off with the money and left her behind, or was she with him?

“You know that for certain?”

Harvey shrugged again. “That was the plan. I told her it was damn risky. Denny would want more if he learned she was getting all that money. I didn’t know she would involve our cousin Wendell or our buddies. She didn’t tell me that part, and none of them mentioned their involvement.”

“Okay, well, let me know if you think of anything else.”

Then Monica left the interview room and had the officer lock him back up.

“How more twisted could this be? Do you want to go for a drive?" Andy asked as they left the police department.

"You mean in the direction of where the officers lost Eloise's car?"

"Yep. If you want to and feel up to it."

"Yeah, let's go. We need to unravel the whole story and learn the truth, which means we have to catch them now before they disappear for good."