Page 33 of The Perfect Deception
Jessie glanced at the clock on the research office wall.It was just after 10 P.M.She was starting to think they should call it quits for one day and start again fresh tomorrow.She could really use a good night’s sleep and was about to broach the idea when Ryan’s phone rang.
“It’s Captain Parker,” he said holding it up for her to see before answering.“Evening, Captain.”
He listened to her for few seconds before interrupting.
“I’m sorry Captain.But I’m in Research with Jessie and the crew.Can I put you on speaker?”
He got the go-ahead, and a moment later, they could all hear her.
“I just got a call from a Sergeant Hauk.I believe you worked with him earlier?”
“That’s right,” Ryan confirmed.
Jessie saw his face sink for the same reason her heart did.She steeled herself for the news.
“He’s in Lafayette Square and wanted you and Ms.Hunt to come over as soon as possible.He said two more people have been found with their throats cut.They were each in bed, but not their own.It’s two men this time.”
“Send us the addresses,” Ryan said.He grabbed his sport coat while Jessie stood up.“We’ll be there as soon as we can.”
***
When they finally wrapped up at both crime scenes, it was approaching four in the morning.
Jessie sat on the front porch of the Patel home, pretending not to notice the neighbors rubber-necking from beyond the police tape.She knew some of them were recording her on their phones and that the footage would end up on the local morning news.
They had successfully managed to keep a lid on the nature of the crimes that occurred at the Maplewood and Dominik homes for over 24 hours.But with two new murders committed in the same manner as the first ones, that would be difficult.And once people saw that Jessie Hunt was involved, after having gone to ground for two months, there was likely to be a media frenzy.It was only a matter of time.
Ryan and Sergeant Hauk stepped outside and joined her.They’d been dealing with the sign-offs on some required paperwork, a part of the process that she, as a civilian department employee, could thankfully skip.She stood up to meet them.
“Anything new crop up while I was waiting out here?’she asked, noting the weariness in her voice.She’d gotten about four hours of sleep in the last day and a half.It was catching up to her.
“In the last fifteen minutes, you mean?Nope.”Ryan said, not meaning to sound short but coming across that way.He was tired too.She let it go.
“So where does that leave us?”Sergeant Hauk asked, rubbing his eyes aggressively.
Ryan sighed, then launched in.“It leaves us with two dead husbands, found completely clothed in each other’s beds, with their throats slit.There’s no sign of struggle in either instance.The preliminary time of death for Mark Tropper was between 5 and 7 P.M.Patel’s death was pegged between 7 and 9 P.M.”
“So we think the killer went straight from murdering one of them to finish off the second?”Jessie marveled at the audacity.“That’s a pretty tight timetable.”
"It would really be nice if we had some neighborhood security cameras that might show someone approaching either home," Ryan muttered for not the first time tonight.
Hauk shook his head.He clearly felt the same way.“The neighborhood HOA prohibits them as they don’t ‘foster a neighborly sensibility.’I’m pretty sure they’ll be changing that up at the next meeting.”
“What else do we know?”Ryan asked.
Jessie tried to put some of the puzzle together.“According to what we pulled off Patel’s phone, he returned early from a golf trip in Lake Tahoe around 4 P.M.yesterday afternoon.That fits the timetable for his time of death.He likely got home from the airport sometime soon after five.”
“And his golfing buddies confirmed that the reason he left was that he really did tweak his shoulder,” Ryan noted.“It doesn’t sound like he was using it as an excuse to sneak back here while his wife was out of town.”
“Maybe,” Jessie countered.“The fact that he was found in the bed of a neighbor suggests that maybe he wasn’t there for a Boy Scout Jamboree.”
Hauk chuckled at that, despite the situation, before noting, “and Patel was found in Tropper’s bed.That doesn’t scream innocuous activity either.He was there for a reason.”
Jessie added on to that.“And all this happened while the men’s wives’ were on a girls’ triptogetherin a place that isn’t easy to leave early.The husbands had to know their wives wouldn’t be showing up unexpectedly.”
“Now that you mention that, I did get one update while you were out here.As you know, the first ferry heading back here from Catalina doesn’t leave until just before 8 A.M..Melanie Patel and Belinda Tropper were trying to secure a charter helicopter to bring them back early.But because it’s the middle of the night and these pilots mostly do island tours, they were having trouble.”
“That may be a blessing in disguise,” Jessie noted.“It gives us more time to dive into some vexing questions before dealing with the emotional fallout they’ll bring.”
