Page 13 of The Perfect Revenge
Armorie stared at her with saucer eyes.Even for a police detective, this was clearly a lot to process.
“Why?”he finally managed to ask.
“Partly because her reputation was bruised,” Kat explained.“You have to understand thatbefore becoming a hitwoman for hire, Pierce served as a Marine's Special Operations element leader and later, a CIA asset who conducted covert assassinations.She prides herself on getting the job done.”
“You think this is personal?”
“Partly, “Kat said.“She didn’t finish the job she was assigned: to take me out.But she also just wants payback.So I’ve been tracking her, trying to get the upper hand and take the fight to her before she comes after me directly.I guess you could say that for both of us, this is both personal and professional.”
“I’m sorry that happened to you,” he said, clearly overwhelmed by what she’d told him.
“Thank you.And I’m sorry for what happened to these people.From personal experience, I know how awful it must have been for them.Question for you.How old was Jane Croaten?”
“27.Why?”
“And her husband?”
“Harlan Croaten is 63.”
"And I'm guessing that Larry Farmer was on the younger side, too?"Kat asked.
“33.”
“Check the husband, Detective Armorie. My bet is that Jane and Larry were having an affair.Harlan found out and decided to have them first punished, then killed.I wouldn’t be surprised if he had Ash Pierce take video of it all, so that he could enjoy it later.”
“Jesus!You really think he’d do that?”
“I do,” Kat assured him.“You don’t hire Ash Pierce unless you want the full menu of options.The problem for you is that he’ll have an airtight alibi.I wouldn’t be surprised if he was out of town at the time of the murders, maybe even out of the country.“
“That alone won’t protect him.”
"No, but he'll have been careful in most other ways, too.Still, do your due diligence.That means forensic accounting of all his recent transactions.He's probably hidden any payments effectively, but if this request was on short notice, maybe he slipped up.Check his phone records, especially for unlisted numbers or to burner phones.He might have used a burner himself, but perhaps not.The guy is older.Maybe he screwed up and called with his own phone once."
Armorie was furiously scribbling down her suggestions on his notepad.She kept going.
"Also, look into whether he ever hired someone like me?"
“Like you?”
"A private detective," she explained."Ash Pierce doesn't do investigations into whether folks are cheating.She comes in after that's been determined to do the cleanup.Maybe Croaten was sloppy when he first hired a P.I., or maybe he had someone on his security team watching Jane.None of those folks are going to want to be charged as accessories after the fact.You might also look into whether Croaten took out a life insurance policy on his wife. Considering his wealth, there wouldn't be any practical reason to do that.But there might be a malicious one."
“That would be cold.”
“Agreed, but if Harlan Croaten is the kind of guy who wanted his wife tortured and killed, he’d probably get an extra thrill out of getting a settlement for her death.If your team deems this a murder-suicide, that’s a real possibility.”
“I gather you don’t think that Ash Pierce is still in town?”Armorie asked.
“I’d be surprised,” Kat told him.“This place is going to get hot for her, and I don’t mean temperature-wise.Besides, she has her money.She’ll be on to the next thing.”
Kat didn’t mention what she thought the next thing was.Detective Armorie didn’t need to know.But she was pretty sure she knew what Ash Pierce had in mind.
The woman was now flush with cash.And it was clear that she was getting antsy if she’d risked giving in to her urge to kill when it might draw attention to her.That could only mean one thing.
She was close to making her return to Los Angeles and resuming her campaign of vengeance against those who had beaten her in the past.She was coming for them.
That’s why Kat had to find her first
CHAPTER EIGHT
