Page 27 of The Perfect Obsession
“No, earlier that morning,” she answered.“That night, I went to bed before he came back.He sent me a goodnight text because he knew I wouldn’t last that long.”
“So you don’t know for sure what time he got home?”Ryan said.
Amanda shook her head defensively.“I know that looks bad, but I swear, Alex would never hurt anyone.The guy doesn’t even watch horror movies because he can’t stand seeing people killed violently.He’s just not capable of anything like that.And even if he was, trust me, I’d know.He’d be different.”
“We understand,” Jessie said, neither endorsing nor rejecting the woman’s assertion.“Do you maybe have a security system or surveillance cameras that could show when he returned home?”
“We used to, but it depended on Wi-Fi, which can be glitchy up here in the hills.So we were switching to a hard-wired system.It’s being installed in two weeks.But can’t you check his phone or something to see where he was?I do that all the time.”
“Thanks for the suggestion,” Ryan said, managing not to sound condescending at the idea they already had Research working on.“I assure you that we’ll cover all the bases.”
The woman smiled wanly, apparently mildly heartened that they were taking her seriously.“I’m happy to help.”
“Listen, Amanda,” Jessie said, leaning forward on the couch.“We need you to set aside your anxiety about us having questioned Alex.If you really want to help, the best thing you can do is think back on your interactions with Caroline and Diana, especially recently.If anything pops into your head that seems relevant, something that seemed innocuous at the time but less so looking back now, reach out to us.We want to solve your friends’ murders, but we didn’t know them.You did.That could be the difference in catching their killer.”
After they wrapped up and left, Jessie walked silently back to the car.Her head was swimming with possibilities.She wasn’t impressed by Amanda’s claims that her husband was too squeamish to commit murder.But she also wasn’t confident about Alex Krantz as a suspect.Dating both victims more than ten years ago was a connection.But on its own, it didn’t amount to a motive for killing them.
Ryan unlocked the car, and she got in, slamming the door behind her in frustration.The night was closing in, and she didn’t feel any closer to solving this thing.In fact, without a solid lead, she felt helpless.
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
Hannah looked around the street one last time before walking into the coffeehouse.
It was 6:16 P.M., more than fifteen minutes since Wren Rivera had left work.Kat had instructed the woman to meet them at The Perfect Pour so they could fill her in on what they’d learned.
But in order to ensure that her stalker didn’t follow her there, Wren had done as Kat instructed, first hopping into a rideshare right in front of her building.Kat had followed in her car while Hannah stayed behind to watch what the mole man did.
He was still sitting on the bench across the street when Wren left and had flagged down a taxi to tail her.Hannah did the same, only she told the driver to stay with the mole man’s cab.Kat had Wren switch to another rideshare a few blocks later, which would drop her near the coffeehouse.Kat stayed with her the whole time.
Meanwhile, Hannah watched as the cab the mole man was in tried to keep pace with Wren’s vehicle.Unfortunately for him, he was well behind her and got stuck at a light as her car turned left and disappeared from sight.By the time his cab reached the street where he’d last seen Wren, she was already in the second rideshare.He had lost her.
Still, he had his cab circle the block just in case he could find her walking on the sidewalk.Hannah’s cab stayed a few car lengths behind him the whole time.
“Are you stalking your ex or something?”her cab driver had asked playfully.
“Something like that,” she told him.
Eventually, the mole man’s cab headed off in the opposite direction from The Perfect Pour, seemingly giving up.At that point, Hannah directed her driver to take her to a diner just up the street from the coffeehouse.She gave him a generous tip and hopped out.
As she walked to the place, she kept an eye out, just in case the mole man had doubled back.But he was nowhere in sight.She gave one last glance up and down the street, then went inside.Kat and Wren were seated at a booth in the corner, out of sight from anyone who might look in the window from the outside.Hannah joined them.
“I assume Wren lost him if you’re here,” Kat said.
“He got stuck in traffic,” Hannah explained.“Never even caught sight of the second rideshare.We’re good.”
Wren was visibly relieved.
“Kat said you uncovered some information on the guy but wanted to wait until you got here to share it.”
“I appreciate that,” Hannah said with a smile.“Shall we dive in now, then?”
“Go for it,” Kat said.“You found this stuff.You should break it down.”
“It wasn’t actually me,” Hannah admitted, turning her attention to Wren.“A friend of mine at the LAPD did me a solid.He works in their research department, and even though he’s busy with another case, he took a moment to look into this.”
She put the soda bottle the mole man had tossed in the trash at The Greenery.It still had the powder she had used to dust it, making his fingerprints visible.
“What’s up with that?”Wren asked.
