The Perfect Murder, page 21
“I’ve spent the last two days trying to find some proof that Andy Robinson was involved with either the Livia Bucco or Eden Roth attacks. I couldn’t.”
“You don’t think she was?” Jessie asked, taken by surprise.
“No, I absolutely do. It’s just that she’s covered her tracks so well that they’re invisible. I even went to see her, hoping to shake something loose.”
Jessie suddenly felt a sense of dread.
“I wish you hadn’t done that,” she said. “Now you’re on her radar. You don’t want that.”
“Jessie Hunt,” Kat countered, mildly offended, “you know I can take care of myself. Anyway, it was a last-ditch effort to rattle her.”
“Did she talk to you?” Ryan asked.
“Yes, for a while actually,” she answered. “She walked me through her connections to both Livia and Eden. I could tell she was lying. She didn’t really even try to hide it. But she didn’t make any slip-ups. Her story was airtight, even if it was a total fabrication. All this is to say I don’t have any new ammunition we can use for her hearing, which is still on for 3:30 today.”
“Well, it was worth a shot,” Jessie told her, attempting to hide her disappointment.
“There is one last option,” Kat said. “You could show up and make a personal plea to the parole board. Remind them what she did to Victoria Missinger, how she coldly murdered her and framed an innocent woman for it. Describe how she laced your drink with peanut oil when she realized you were going to figure it out, knowing you were deathly allergic. Maybe it will be harder for them to let her go free if they have to look you in the eyes. It might not work but it can’t hurt.”
Jessie looked over at Ryan, who shrugged.
“It’s 3:07 now and we’re headed that way anyway,” he said. “We could probably just make it in time. If you’re up for it, we can have Decker keep Jason Bratton on ice for a little longer.”
Jessie nodded.
“I think they’ve already made their decision,” she replied, “but I may as well try. I don’t want to look back on this and think I could have done something and didn’t.”
“Good,” Kat said. “If you want, I’ll start a protest in front of the building.”
“That’s okay,” Jessie laughed. “I think you already gone above and beyond. Thanks for trying, Kat. You’re a good friend.”
“I’m just sorry I couldn’t do more,” Kat said.
After she hung up, they drove in silence, bummed at how their giddiness from a few minutes ago had been unceremoniously snuffed out.
“Still want to marry me?” Jessie finally asked, hoping to lighten the mood. “I tend to attract the crazy.”
“How do you think you snagged me?” he countered with a grin.
“Are you kidding? You’re the least crazy person I know.”
The phone rang again. Jessie looked at the caller ID. It was Dr. Lemmon. She answered on the first ring.
“Is Hannah okay?”
“She’s fine,” Lemmon answered immediately. “But there’s been a situation. I wanted to call earlier but I was stuck talking to the sheriff.”
“The sheriff? Why? What happened?”
“Calm down, Jessie,” the doctor said slowly. “Everything is okay now. It’s hard to explain what happened. But the gist is that your sister solved a murder that was committed here at Seasons.”
“I’m sorry—what?”
“I’ll get to all of that,” Lemmon promised, “but more importantly, she’s asking for you. I think she really needs you. Can you come out here now?”
Ryan glanced over at her and Jessie knew what he was thinking: this almost certainly meant that, without her voice in opposition, Andy Robinson would walk free. But there wasn’t really a choice. He said nothing as she pulled off the freeway at the approaching exit.
“We’ll be there right away,” she said.
CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN
By the time they arrived, they already knew everything.
On the drive over, Dr. Lemmon told them about Hannah’s suspicions regarding Merry’s death, her dogged investigation into it, her discovery of the scratched word in the dead girl’s bedroom, and her plan to entrap Marshall Goodman, which Lemmon helped put into action.
Jessie held her tongue on that last matter for now, though she had a bone to pick with the therapist over letting Hannah put herself at risk. Mostly she was overwhelmed.
“I’m not sure whether to be proud, angry, or both,” she told Ryan as they hurried through the facility to meet Hannah in Dr. Lemmon’s office.
“Maybe stick with the first option for now,” he suggested.
“You’re right,” Jessie agreed. “Mostly, I’m just happy that she’s okay.”
They rounded the corner and Lemmon’s office came into view. Jessie could see multiple people inside, including the tiny doctor, who was leaning on a cane, the sheriff, and two men she didn’t recognize—one in a lab coat and another, a tall skinny blonde guy with glasses. Then she saw Hannah. She broke into a run.
Hannah heard the footsteps echoing in the hall and turned around. Suddenly she was running too. They reached each other just outside the office, both throwing their arms around the other sister and squeezing tight. Jessie could feel Hannah’s chest heaving and knew she was crying. She did too. Neither spoke for a long time. When they finally released each other, Jessie looked in her little sister’s wet eyes.
“I’m glad you’re safe,” she whispered.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Hannah whispered back.
Ryan stood awkwardly off to the side until the younger sister pulled him in for a group hug.
“I hear you’ve had a busy day,” he cracked when they all separated.
“She has,” Dr. Lemmon said, joining them in the hall along with the man in the lab coat, which had the name “Dr. Kenneth Tam” written on it. “If not for her, we’d have no idea what really happened.”
“Your sister really is an incredible young woman,” Dr. Tam volunteered, “even if she did kind of break into my office.”
Jessie looked over at Hannah, who turned slightly pink.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I got so invested in figuring this out that I went a little overboard. I guess I misjudged you.”
“Don’t worry,” he replied with a smile. “I’m not pressing charges or anything. You were looking out for someone who needed it. I was actually trying to do the same thing. I suspected that Meredith might be suffering some kind of abuse as well. I had been trying to get her to open up. That’s why I didn’t take any notes during our sessions. I hoped to gain her trust by letting her know I would just listen and not write anything down. I felt like we were getting close to a breakthrough.”
“Unfortunately,” Dr. Lemmon explained to Jessie and Ryan, “apparently so did Goodman. He must have sensed that Merry was on the verge of revealing what he was doing to her to Dr. Tam. So he killed her and made it look like a suicide. With his access to all the patient rooms, along with his knowledge of staff schedules and camera placement, it wouldn’t have been difficult for him to get in and out of her room without being seen.”
“I only wish I could have gotten her to open up in time,” Dr. Tam muttered, his head down.
“It shouldn’t have come to that,” Dr. Lemmon said. “We were supposed to be a safe haven for our residents and we failed to meet that responsibility. We’re going to conduct a thorough internal audit of our procedures. I’ve also asked the sheriff’s department to do their own investigation. This happened right under our noses and it’s not acceptable.”
“I’d like to be with you when you tell her family,” Hannah said quietly. “I don’t want them to just hear about the awful things that happened to her. I want them to know how Merry brightened lives around here, including mine.”
“Of course,” Dr. Lemmon said.
“Dr. Tam,” the sheriff called out from Lemmon’s office. “I have a few more questions for you if you don’t mind.”
“Excuse me,” Tam said and returned to the office.
“He seems like a decent guy,” Ryan said once he was gone.
“Actually, he’s an arrogant, condescending jerk who is overly reliant on medication as a cure-all,” Hannah said. “But he’s not a killer and he seems to care, so there’s that.”
“A topic for another time,” Dr. Lemmon said, stifling a smile. “For now, we have a more pressing matter.”
“What’s that?” Jessie asked.
“Well, for the time being at least,” Lemmon told her, “I don’t think Seasons can offer the standard of care that Hannah deserves. And while I’m not convinced that we’ve reached all of our therapeutic goals, I’ve seen incredible progress of late.”
“How so?” Jessie asked.
“She has begun to cultivate a real sense of empathy for others,” Dr. Lemmon said, “something I wasn’t sure we could easily unearth two weeks ago. In addition, she has worked hard on techniques to redirect her urges to recapture the ecstasy she felt after the…passing of the Night Hunter.”
Jessie was impressed with how Dr. Lemmon managed to cryptically refer to the fact that Hannah got a high from killing a man and, until recently, was actively looking for other potential opportunities.
“She still has work to do in terms of seeking out less dangerous ways of finding thrills,” Lemmon continued, “but at least now she’s started directing that inclination toward helping others rather than just pursuing that intensity merely for the sake of it.”
“I still have a long way to go,” Hannah conceded.
“That’s true,” Lemmon agreed, “but I might argue that in your pursuit of living passionately, you’re not all that different from people with jobs that help the public while providing an adrenaline rush, like for example, firefighters, police officers, and criminal profilers.”
She raised her eyebrows as she uttered that last line. Out of the corner of her eye, Jessie could see Hannah trying not to giggle.
“So where are you suggesting she go, Dr. Lemmon?” she asked, skipping over the comparison being drawn.
Lemmon smiled pleasantly, seeming to enjoy Jessie’s sudden discomfort.
“I’m suggesting that, while we get a longer term solution sorted out, Hannah return home for now. She would need to continue to have daily therapy sessions with me, either in person or in a telehealth situation. She would also need to stay vigilant with her meds. Finally, she would have to agree to constant check-ins with you, as well as a limit on extra-curricular activities outside of school, including friend hangouts or solo outings. We can slowly re-integrate those based on her ability to meet prescribed goals. How would that arrangement work for everyone?”
Jessie looked at Hannah, who spoke first.
“I’d like that very much,” she said. “How about you guys?”
Jessie exchanged looks with Ryan.
“I’ll do whatever you two want,” he said, “but it sounds reasonable to me.”
Jessie was torn. She desperately wanted for her sister to be able to finish her senior year at an actual high school instead of in a psychiatric facility. She also wanted to recreate those family dinners, where Hannah whipped up delicious meals while she and Ryan watched in amazement. She wanted to sit on the couch together and watch bad TV. Mostly she just wanted a return to normalcy.
But she feared that once Hannah was back in her old environment, her old habits would return too: the emotional shutdowns, the self-destructive need to take crazy risks, the terrifying bloodlust.
Plus there were the external concerns. Would Hannah be able to handle the stress of the upcoming wedding? How would she adapt to Jessie’s impending change from college instructor and sometime LAPD consultant to full-time profiler who worked at all hours? And what would happen if Andy Robinson was released and decided to inject herself into their lives?
But as she looked at her little sister, Jessie made a choice—to let hope trump fear. Her sister deserved a second chance. It was time she got one. She gave Dr. Lemmon her answer.
“Let’s do it.”
EPILOGUE
Andy couldn’t hide her disappointment.
She’d waited patiently, sitting in her blue shirt and gray pants in the parole hearing room, waiting for Jessie Hunt to burst in, call this whole process a travesty of justice, and appeal to the board members’ better nature. But she never came.
Just like Jessie never came to meet with her at the PDC, sending her new BFF in her place. Maybe she had just moved on. Maybe she didn’t care about Andy’s ability to “help” track down unstable women intent on committing heinous crimes. Maybe she was more focused on her friend and her fiancé and her little sister.
That would have to change. Andy knew what it would take. She’d have to make herself invaluable, so that Jessie had no choice but to ask for her help, or be instructed to accept it, whether she wanted to or not. There were ways to do that. She still had several cards to play— including additional acolytes like Zoe and Corinne, ready to her bidding, just waiting for her coded authorization to wreak havoc on the city and its unsuspecting citizens.
And if that didn’t bring Jessie back to her, she’d have to take more drastic measures, hit closer to home. That would be a lot easier now.
She stepped out of the Western Regional Women’s Psychiatric Detention Center, wearing street clothes for the first time in two years, and strode confidently to the waiting cab. It was good to breathe fresh air. It was good to decide when and where she would go next. It was good to be free.
*
Zoe Bradway watched the evening news with bated breath.
The Principal only spoke to the press briefly after her parole hearing but Zoe parsed every word. Andy apologized for her past actions, thanked the board for their mercy, and promised to do all she could to help keep Los Angeles safe.
But she never used the words Zoe was waiting for. She never spoke the code phrase authorizing her to activate the plan she’d spent five months working on.
Zoe was disappointed but she understood. The time wasn’t right. It wasn’t her place to question the Principal’s decisions. Her only task was to be ready to act when she was called upon, whether that was in a day, a week, or a year.
She knew the time would come. And when it did, she would complete her task, filling Andy’s heart with pride and everyone else’s with terror.
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THE PERFECT HUSBAND
(A Jessie Hunt Psychological Suspense Thriller—Book Twenty-Two)
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Blake Pierce
Blake Pierce is the USA Today bestselling author of the RILEY PAGE mystery series, which includes seventeen books. Blake Pierce is also the author of the MACKENZIE WHITE mystery series, comprising fourteen books; of the AVERY BLACK mystery series, comprising six books; of the KERI LOCKE mystery series, comprising five books; of the MAKING OF RILEY PAIGE mystery series, comprising six books; of the KATE WISE mystery series, comprising seven books; of the CHLOE FINE psychological suspense mystery, comprising six books; of the JESSE HUNT psychological suspense thriller series, comprising twenty four books; of the AU PAIR psychological suspense thriller series, comprising three books; of the ZOE PRIME mystery series, comprising six books; of the ADELE SHARP mystery series, comprising fifteen books, of the EUROPEAN VOYAGE cozy mystery series, comprising four books; of the new LAURA FROST FBI suspense thriller, comprising nine books (and counting); of the new ELLA DARK FBI suspense thriller, comprising eleven books (and counting); of the A YEAR IN EUROPE cozy mystery series, comprising nine books, of the AVA GOLD mystery series, comprising six books (and counting); of the RACHEL GIFT mystery series, comprising eight books (and counting); of the VALERIE LAW mystery series, comprising nine books (and counting); of the PAIGE KING mystery series, comprising six books (and counting); of the MAY MOORE mystery series, comprising six books (and counting); and the CORA SHIELDS mystery series, comprising three books (and counting).
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