Page 60 of The Perfect Poise

She had to recreate this high again. And then, on the drive home, it hit her. What better way to regain the glorious fury she’d just experienced than by unleashing her wrath on others who deserved it?

Her firm had multiple other clients who were just as self-satisfied with their grotesque wealth as Chloe. For example, there was the model, Isabella Moreno, who thought that her success was a result of her own talent rather than daddy’s bankroll.

But she knew that if she butchered only her own current or former clients, she’d be easy to find. So she decided to mix it up. Back in her Paulina Fitzgerald days, when she was a financial advisor at her first firm in Beverly Hills, one of her clients had been a real nightmare named Fiona Cantwell, who owned a successful purse boutique.

In the years since, Fiona had married extremely well, taken her husband’s name, and no longer needed to work. But according to everything Adrienne had heard, the woman was even more awful than when she’d known her. So, she added her to the mix.

Getting into the Greene mansion wasn’t hard. She simply waited outside the back gate until an employee left for lunch, and then followed him to the local Jack in the Box and offered him a $1000 for the gate entry code. The guy gave it up without any fuss, likely assuming she just wanted to rob the place. He even offered to tell her where the security cameras on the property were for another grand, which she happily handed over. Adrienne knew that he’d never reveal what he’d done after Fiona was dead. He’d be considered an accessory to the crime.

Once Fiona was no more, Adrienne wracked her brain for the next best candidate. It didn’t take long. Lila Warwick, who would be just another wannabe influencer without her father’s ill-gotten gain, had mentioned to her recently that she would be announcing the release of her very first fragrance on her livestream tonight. That outlet would provide the perfect chance to let the world see, in real time, just how craven these women were. But unlike the other kills, this time she wouldn’t do it right away. She would take her time.

That's why she had to rush Lila out of her Silver Lake house quickly before the police arrived. It was also why she brought a roll of aluminum foil along with her. After securing Lila in her trunk, she removed the SIM card from the girl's phone, turned it off, and wrapped it in the foil as an extra precaution so that it couldn't be traced.

All of that had led to this moment on the roof of her building. With the door to the roof barred and Lila gagged and duct-taped to a chaise lounge chair, Adrienne finally had a moment to relax before the big finish.

She leaned against a wall and basked the rainbow-hued glow of the sign shining across the street from the Paradiso Hotel. Somehow the psychedelic wash of colors that periodically splashed across her building’s roof, and the empty pool, seemed appropriate for the magnificent madness of this moment.

She took a deep breath and turned her attention back to Lila. The respite was over. It was time to get down to business. Soon the whole world would watch Adrienne complete her mission. Everyone would know the truth about these people. It would be laid bare in blood.

CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE

Jessie didn’t understand what they’d done wrong.

As they walked out of Adrienne Shaw’s apartment building onto the downtown street, she tried to think back on what error they might have made. Concentrating was made more challenging by the garish hotel sign overhead that drenched the entire street in a kaleidoscopic rainbow that made her head hurt.

They had divided up their search after Jamil gave them Shaw’s office and home addresses. Ryan had sent detectives Susannah Valentine and Sam Goodwin to her office after Jessie insisted on searching her apartment. She felt sure that the woman would feel more comfortable returning to her home base to finish what she’d started with Lila.

But after a thorough search of the place, with the help of four uniformed officers, they came up empty. Susannah had informed them that they too, didn’t find any trace of Shaw or Warwick at the Wealth Consultants West offices.

So where would she have gone? As the officers who’d helped them pulled away in their squad cars, Jessie thought back on what Jamil and Beth had told them about Shaw in their conference call on the drive here from the Silver Lake house. Foremost in her head was the shocker that Jamil had shared just as they’d pulled up at the building. Adrienne Shaw’s real name was Paulina Fitzgerald.

It had taken the computer a while reach that conclusion because of the extensive plastic surgery the woman had, along with changes in the color of her eyes and hair and the style of the latter. But eventually, the facial recognition program worked through the changes to shoot out the name of a woman who’d been missing and presumed dead for five years. Most people thought that she and her stepfather, who had also disappeared around the same time, had been abducted and murdered. But she at least she was still alive.

Jessie wondered what could have caused the young woman to make such a dramatic decision—to throw away her life of unending wealth and start fresh with a new face and name. In her experience, when someone made such a drastic choice, it suggested that there was something deeply wrong with the life they were abandoning. More often than not, it had to do with some kind of abuse that they were trying to escape.

If Jessie was were to hazard a guess, it would be that this had something to do with the woman’s missing stepfather. His disappearance didn’t feel coincidental. But that was just supposition for now. And unless it helped her find Adrienne and Lila, it wasn’t of much use at the moment.

What might be more relevant was why Paulina had targeted her original victim, Chloe Baptiste, in the first place. It wasn’t crazy to suspect that perhaps Chloe had somehow uncovered her financial advisor’s fake identity and decided to use it against her. She had certainly proven that she was willing to manipulate people and that she was willing to cross legal lines with impunity. Was it possible that she might use Paulina’s secret as a way to recruit her into the escort business? It didn’t feel like that much of a stretch. Either way, that seemed like a pretty strong motive to shut her up.

“Let’s go back to the station and regroup,” Ryan suggested, opening the driver’s door and getting in.

Jessie opened her door as well but instead of hopping in the passenger seat, she remained sanding, staring up at Adrienne’s—or Paulina’s—gleamingly expensive apartment complex.

“What is it?” Ryan asked, poking his head up again.

“I’m not sure,” she told him. “I know we didn’t find anything up there, but I can’t shake the feeling that this is the right place. Paulina doesn’t know that we know about her. She still thinks her identity is secure. She’d want to go somewhere that she could have privacy, where no one would stumble across what she was doing. The office is too public, and she doesn’t own any other property. This is it.”

“Maybe we should have more officers from West L.A. Division join the search at the Fitzgerald compound in Bel-Air,” he suggested. “I know they didn’t find anything there yet but it’s a big place and that was her home for a long time.”

“That would have made sense,” Jessie agreed, “but it just doesn’t fit. Remember, Jamil got authorization to check all the Bel-Air compound’s surveillance footage and didn’t see anything suspicious. Besides, Paulina’s car was found parked on the street halfway between her office and this place. It has to be one of the two. And while I can’t prove it, I just know it’s here.”

“Okay then, Ryan said, “then let’s figure this thing out. We don’t have to go anywhere. We’ll just sit in the car until we crack it.”

Jessie nodded and joined him inside the vehicle. Truthfully, it was nice to have a little break from the lashing winter wind. She took several deep breaths, trying to clear her head. But before she’d even exhaled once, Ryan’s phone rang. It was Beth. He put her on speaker.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“The livestream started up again,” she said. “I’m sending you both the link now.”

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