Page 46 of The Perfect Betrayal

“And how did they react?” she asked.

“The last I heard, the attorneys for both Archie Crittendon and Jackson Dwyer were negotiating the time and place for their surrender—excuse me—'accepting protection.’ Joel Cisco’s lawyer said he couldn’t get hold of him but would keep trying. We don’t yet know if that’s legitimate or just a stalling tactic.”

“Why do you suspect he’s stalling?” Jessie asked.

“Because according to Jamil and Beth, the guy is being investigated for financial improprieties in relation to his work. He’s a financial advisor to some big time billionaires and there have been allegations that he siphoned some of their money for his personal use.”

“Did Parker explain that this isn’t about that?” Jessie wanted to know.

“She said that she made it clear to Cisco’s lawyer what this was about and the danger he might be in, so I’m inclined to think the lawyer is being straight about not being able to reach him, but who knows for sure. He said he’d call back once he’d made contact with Cisco.”

“So it’s a waiting game then, “Riddell said unhappily.

“Not necessarily,” Jessie countered. “Are Jamil and Beth there with you, Ryan?”

“Yeah, I’ll put them on speaker,” he said, then continued a moment later, “Okay, go ahead.”

“Hey guys,” she said. “I know you’ve got your hands full, but we need your help.”

“Whatever we can do,” Beth replied enthusiastically.

Jessie gave them a rundown of Oliver Stanton’s statement before explaining what she wanted.

“He gave me the date of this yacht party outing. It was on March 9th, three years ago,” she said. “I need you to look into missing persons in this area starting from that date. A sketch is being done now, but we believe this was a brunette female in her early to mid-twenties. If we can lock down her identity, maybe we can locate her now, assuming it really is the same woman.”

“We’re on it,” Jamil said, though without his usual verve.

“What’s wrong?” Jessie asked.

He paused a moment before replying.

“Of course we’ll pursue this, Ms. Hunt,” Jamil told her, still constitutionally incapable of calling her by her first name, no matter how many times she’d reminded him.

“But?” she prodded.

“But I’m just wondering about the likelihood of a woman being harmed and thrown overboard, seemingly left for dead, then managing to get back to shore and stay off the radar for the next three years, all so she could engage in an elaborate revenge scheme. It just seems so involved.”

“I agree that it would be a lot,” Jessie conceded. “But frankly, I’ve encountered wilder scenarios. And right now, it’s our best lead. So let’s see where it takes us.”

***

For much of the night, it didn’t take them anywhere.

Despite the skill of the HSS research unit, and even with the sketch provided by Oliver Stanton, they had hit a wall. They’d looked out a full three months after the night of the party and couldn’t find any record in the South Bay region of a woman going missing who met Stanton’s description. They’dnow expanded the search to the entire Westside of Los Angeles for that time period.

In the intervening hours, word came that both Archie Crittendon and Jackson Dwyer had presented themselves to authorities. But conveniently for them, they’d both done so at far-flung stations. Crittendon had gone to Oxnard and Dwyer to West Covina, each of which were over an hour’s drive away, even though both men lived in the South Bay.

It was a transparent attempt to secure police protection while avoiding questioning from the case investigators for as long as possible. And it was working. Jessie and Riddell couldn’t afford to travel that far when their murderer was likely nearby. And they weren’t going to ask detectives unfamiliar with the case to question the men.

“Maybe we question them over video conference?” Riddell suggested.

“I don’t think that will be very effective,” Jessie said. “These guys are going to keep quiet as long as they can, and it will be hard to put pressure on them from a distance.”

“Even if their lives might be in danger?” Riddell countered.

“Even then,” Jessie said. “First of all, they aren’t in imminent danger now that they’re in custody. And they don’t have any reason yet to talk about what happened that night. There’s no evidence of a crime on their part. For now, their lawyers will surely tell them to play the waiting game.”

“That’s a risk,” Riddell noted.

---