Page 23 of The Perfect Prey

“Okay,” Russo said, still sounding reluctant.“But can I ask what crime this involves?”

“We’ll see if we can share that afterward,” Jessie told her.“For now, we need to know what the masks are for.”

Russo glanced back at the closed bedroom door, as if worried that Coy might come out and tell her to keep quiet.But he remained out of sight.

“I work as a party planner,” she finally said.“And one of the events we organize is a party—actually a series of exclusive parties that can get…a little wild.”

“What does that mean exactly?”Susannah pressed.

Russo shrugged, not very convincingly to Jessie’s mind.

“I don’t attend the events,” she insisted.“I just know how they’re billed.They’re very secretive.I was asked to secure these masks via a memo.The specifications were detailed, but I never spoke to anyone in person about them.I did the research on finding a vendor, made sure that the completed masks met the requirements, and then made certain that they were delivered to the specified location.”

“What location?”Jessie asked.

“It changed regularly,” she answered.“Usually it was an abandoned warehouse, a large rented home, or some other off-the-beaten track location.We would learn the location the morning of the party, have the day to decorate it, and if new masks had been ordered, provide those to a representative of the event just before it started.But that last part only happened a few times.Once they had the masks in their possession, they just kept them for future events.”

“Okay,” Jessie said.“So you have to have paperwork on who ran the events, contact information—that sort of thing.”

“Not really,” Russo said.“Everything was done in cash, so there were no contracts with names.They insisted on it.I never knew the names of anyone I dealt with.And they never used the same location twice, so there was no possibility of following up that way.”

“You were willing to conduct business in that manner,” Susannah wondered.“Organizing these parties and getting these masks without any contracts?”

“Like I said, everything was done in cash,” Russo explained.“And they provided huge deposits each time.We were paid half of the cost of the masks in advance.Same for prepping the venues.Sometimes those payments were well into six figures.In one case, it was close to half a million dollars.So we didn’t ask many questions.”

“You had to have at least done some paperwork to secure those venues,” Susannah said.

“We didn’t secure them, only made them party-ready,” Russo told her.“I have no idea what the financial arrangement was for the venues.I can give you the specific locations, but like I said, often they were just warehouses or empty homes.I’m not sure there was anyone for the event hosts tohavecontracts with.”

“We’d still definitely like to get those locations—you never know what we’ll uncover,” Jessie said.“Back to the masks for a second.Did the memo explain their purpose?Do you still have it?Was it sent to you electronically?”

“I do have it at the office,” she said.“It was a hard copy.They only do things in person.But I don’t think it will help.It’s very detailed about the colors, the shapes, the number of jewels on each mask—there are even sketches.But the reason for those details is never given.”

“Still, we’ll need that memo too,” Susannah said.

“Now?”Russo asked.

The detective looked over at Jessie for guidance on that one.She was on the fence, while it was clear that Valentina Russo wasn’t being forthright about everything—there was a shiftiness to some of her answers that suggested deception—the answer to the mask questions didn’t seem to be a part of it.

“I think we can wait until morning on that,” Jessie allowed, “as long as you go in early and get it for us first thing.”

“Should I e-mail it to you?”

“No,” Susannah said.“If you got a hard copy, that’s what we want.We’ll also need you to come into the station to work with a sketch artist on everyone you interacted with in person.Was Coy with you for those meetings?”

“He and another guard accompanied me the first few time, but they stayed outside for the actual conversation, and the people I dealt with changed every time since then, so I doubt any guards would be able to give you very good descriptions.I’m not sure mine will be that great either.”

“Nonetheless, we need you to try,” Jessie said.“Did you notice any accents or unusual characteristics about the people you dealt with?”

“No,” Russo said, shaking her head.“I always met with boring white guys with American accents.They all looked similar.Dark hair.Medium height.Average looks.I think that was intentional.”

Jessie nodded, unsurprised.If she was running this enterprise, she’d do the same thing: make the interactions as forgettable as possible.

“Detective Valentine is going to give you her card so you can reach out first thing in the morning,” she said.“You’re to go straight to your office, collect the mask memo, and then come to the police station to meet with us.Understood?”

Russo nodded meekly.

“You’re also not to discuss those plans with Coy,” Susannah said sternly, “or anything else about this for that matter.”

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