Page 37 of The Perfect Prey

“Okay, let’s set that tidbit aside for now,” Jessie said.“You don’t have the guest list, right?”

“No,” Russo said.“We have no idea who attends these things, but we do provide a car service that picks up the guests.But they don’t go to people’s homes.They are assigned to specific pickup locations that I assume the party organizers also share with the guests.My understanding from talking to some of the drivers is that the guests are required to leave all their possessions—phones, car keys, etc.—in the vehicle, which picks them up at the spa at an assigned time at the end of the evening.”

Jessie looked over at Susannah excitedly.

“That’s why Jamil couldn’t lock in on their location last night,” she said, relieved to have at least that question answered.“While they were at this party, their driver was just tooling around town until it was time to pick them up again.”

“That solves one mystery,” Susannah agreed before turning back to Russo.“How many town cars are we talking about?

“It varies,” Russo said.“Once, it was only ten.Usually it’s between twenty and twenty-five total.”

“So depending on how many people are in each vehicle, individuals or couples, we’re talking a maximum of about fifty people at any given event?”Susannah surmised.

“I couldn’t say for certain, but that sounds reasonable.”

“Do the cars remain there?”Jessie wondered.

“No,” Russo answered firmly.“They are instructed to leave immediately after drop-off and only return five minutes prior to their designated pick-up time.”

“That would explain why Jamil hasn’t been able to make a connection between our victims yet,” Jessie said excitedly.“They didn’t drive themselves to these parties, and the cars that took them were only at the spa briefly.The GPS location data wouldn’t have looked suspicious until he did a deep dive.”

“Yeah,” Susannah agreed.“I’m sure he would have eventually noted that there was an overlap in their location, but if it was only a couple of times in the last few months, it wouldn’t jump out at first.”

“How many events have there been at this place?”Jessie asked.

“Five so far,” Russo answered in a tone that made Jessie wonder what the woman wasn’t sharing.But before she could follow up, Susannah jumped in.

“So if you were only informed of a party on the morning of, and you don’t have a contact phone number for the organizers, how did you communicate on such short notice?”

“The same way I imagine they informed the guests about an upcoming party,” Russo said.“They established an e-mail account and gave me the login information.When the time came for a party, they would write an e-mail but not actually send it.They would leave it in the ‘drafts’ folder.When it was complete, I would get an alert saying to check the e-mail account.I would read the instructions in the draft e-mail and respond within that same draft.That way, there are no actual e-mails being sent and no way to track them without the login.”

Now, Jessie asked the question that had been on her mind since Russo had aroused her suspicion moments earlier.

“Valentina,” she said, using the woman’s first name again, only this time it wasn’t to establish rapport.It was to create a feeling of intimate dominance.“You just said that there have been five events so far.I want to know when the next one is.”

The woman looked at her sheepishly.

“That’s what I’ve been meaning to tell you for a while now,” she said, “but I was scared to because of this whole ‘being handcuffed in a police station’ thing.”

Jessie reached over and uncuffed her.

“No excuse now,” she said.

Valentina Russo rubbed her wrists nervously as she looked at the table instead of Jessie.When she finally spoke, her voice was quiet.

“They’re actually doing an event today,” she said.“ I got the alert extra early this morning because they’re doing something new.”

“What?”Susannah demanded.

“They’re having a party in—,” she looked at the clock on the wall, “five hours.That’s one of the reasons I’ve been so anxious.I’m supposed to have the place fully prepped by noon, which is much earlier than usual.”

“Why the change?”Jessie asked.

“I don’t know,” Russo said.“Maybe they just wanted to shake things up.At least that’s my guess, based on the name they gave the party.”

“What name?”Jessie and Susannah asked in unison.

Russo closed her eyes as she answered.

---