Benjamin Trask

Benjamin Trask is an art historian at Campbell County who teaches an art class in Odyssey, where Connie Kendall discovers a talent for copying famous paintings and where Penny Wise counts him as a beloved teacher. Cultured and smooth-talking, he speaks beautifully about art and even about God, though his fine words do not always match how he lives. Once an engraver for the United States Mint, Trask leads a hidden double life as the mastermind of the Green Ring, a counterfeiting operation that prints millions in fake bills and follows Uncle Archie's traveling carnival from town to town. Even when confronted, he stays unnervingly calm - admitting everything with a shrug while quietly keeping an escape route in reserve.