Page 26 of The Perfect Prey

“I just thought you’d have gone to bed by now,” Jessie said.“What’s up?”

“I was actually in bed, starting to drift off when I got a reminder on my phone,” he said.“You know we still have that appointment with the adoption counselor tomorrow, right?”

In fact, Jessie had completely forgotten.She tried to avoid admitting that.

“Remind me of the exact time again,” she asked.

“3 P.M., at the house,” he told her.“With the case and everything, are you still going to be able to make it or should we postpone?”

“I hope to be there,” she answered.“Can we decide for certain closer to the appointment?”

There was a long moment of silence on the other end of the line before he responded.

“I don’t think it’s a great look to cancel on the day of the appointment,” he finally said.“It doesn’t ooze super responsible.Besides, you’re the one who’s been pushing hard to go the adoption route.I would have thought you’d want to do everything to move the process along.Are you reconsidering?”

“No,” she said quickly.“I’ll be there one way or another.”

She wanted to keep the appointment, if for no other reason than to keep the alternative off the table.If adoption plans fell through, Ryan might again push to discuss having a child the old fashioned way.That was a conversation she didn’t want to repeat.

She’d already told him about her concerns about how well her battered body would hold up during a pregnancy, as well as her apprehensions about putting her profiling career on hold right when it was taking off.But lately another concern had loomed larger for her than either of those, one she hadn’t had to think about in great depth because it seemed moot now.

Though she’d never admitted it to Ryan, deep down, she held onto a fear that couldn’t be easily set aside.Both she and her sister, Hannah, fought a constant battle against a bloodlust that simmered inside them, always waiting to boil over.

Though she couldn’t prove it, Jessie had come to believe that it was a cruel gift passed down from their shared serial killer father, Xander Thurman.Both of them had, after early trauma in their childhoods, grown up in loving adoptive families.But the bloodthirstiness still lingered inside both of them.That couldn’t be a coincidence.Could it?

Lately, with therapy, treatment in a facility, and the support of loved ones, Hannah seemed to have gotten a handle on it.In fact, she seemed to be thriving.But Jessie could never forget that her sister had once killed a man in cold blood, right before her eyes.Admittedly, he was a serial killer who had been hunting them.But he had been in custody when she shot him.That couldn’t be wiped away.

Jessie had decided to pour her vengeful energy into profiling, in part to atone for her father’s crimes, but also because she was good at understanding the psyches of people who could do these things.It didn’t seem alien to her.And by bringing them to justice, her urge to violently punish those she deemed unworthy had, until recently, been curbed.

But it had come back with a fury of late, something she was painfully aware of.And if it was still in her, as it was still in Hannah, what was to prevent that desire from being passed on to a child she bore?She had no scientific proof that such a thing was a certainty or even likely.And yet here she was, living proof that the possibility might be real.

“Jessie?”Ryan said.She realized that he’d been talking, but none of his words had registered.

“Sorry, what was that again?”she asked.

“Just making sure that you’re okay.You got awful quiet.

“I’m good,” she assured him.“But it’s late.You should get some sleep.”

“I’d ask you how the case is going,” he said, “but it would probably only make me more stir-crazy when I’m supposed to be settling in for the night.”

“Believe me, I get it,” she assured him.She was about to say her final goodnight when Susannah got a call on her phone.She held up her screen for Jessie to see.It was Captain Parker.

“Sorry to cut this short,” Jessie said quickly, “but something just came up.I love you.Get some sleep.”

“I love you too,” he said just before she ended the call.

Susannah, who had been anxiously waiting with her finger next to the “answer” button, pushed it.

“Hi, Captain,” she said.“You’re on speaker with me and Jessie, as well as Jamil and Beth.”

“I’m glad you’re all there,” Parker said.“I just got a call from Captain Pryor in Hollywood Division.He’s got a victim that he thinks might be a fit for your case.”

“What makes him say that?”Susannah asked.

“The woman was found dead in her bed, naked, except for a bejeweled masquerade ball mask on her face.”

Jessie stood up so fast that her vision went black for a moment.But she responded anyway.

---