Page 3 of The Perfect Obsession
“Nope,” replied Sam Goodwin, the newest member of the team, who had transferred from Vice Division’s Exploitation and Investigative Section last year.“We were all having a pleasant Tuesday morning conversation when she got the call.After about ten seconds of listening, she turned and hurried into her office.”
“That likely means it’s one of two things,” Jessie suggested.“It was either a call from Chief Decker or it was about her son.”
“Oh, I hope it isn’t the latter,” said Karen Bray, the only detective among them with a child, also a young boy.Parker’smiddle-school-aged son had recently had issues with recurring panic attacks.
“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” advised Jim Nettles, the crusty veteran of the team, who had served as a street officer for fifteen years before finally making detective.“If it’s related to a case, we’ll find out soon enough.”
“You two are lucky,” Susannah teased.“If she hadn’t gone into her office, you’d be getting raked over the coals for arriving late.”
“We’re five minutes early,” Jessie protested.
“You know how Parker is,” Susannah countered.“To her, five minutes early is really ten minutes late.”
Jessie saw a twinge of annoyance flash across Ryan’s face.She knew it wasn’t directed at Susannah.More likely, he was remembering that he had very briefly been the captain of Central Station before deciding he hated the politics of it and preferred case work.
He’d given up the job and even recommended Parker as his replacement.But because her managerial style was much more intense than his, their working relationship was testy for a while.It had improved of late, but every now and then she still rubbed him the wrong way.
“How’s Hannah doing these days?”Karen asked out of the blue, clearly trying to change the subject from agita over their boss.
Before Jessie could answer, the door to Parker’s office opened.A moment later, the captain stepped out and marched directly toward them.Her face was set in a grimace, and her forehead was a mass of anxious wrinkles.
Parker, 44, had worked her way up from street officer to an undercover detective with the Vice unit, where she often posed as a prostitute.Eventually, she was promoted to head the unit, which she led for 4 years before becoming a captain.
“Morning, Captain,” Ryan said when she stopped in front of them.
“Good morning, Detective,” she said.“I’m sorry to dispense with the pleasantries.Am I correct in understanding that neither you nor Ms.Hunt has a current case?”
“That’s right,” he said.“We wrapped up the hit-and-run attempted murder of that studio executive on Sunday.Since then, we’ve been providing support for the rest of the team on their cases.”
“That’s over,” Parker said in her typically blunt style.“I need both of you on something else that just came up.”
“What is it?”Jessie asked.
“I just got a call from Chief Decker,” she said, referring to Roy Decker, former captain of Central Station and current LAPD chief.“He specifically requested the two of you for this one.”
Jessie wasn’t shocked.Since being elevated to chief last June, Decker had called on HSS in general and the two of them in particular when a murder investigation had political implications.He trusted them and leaned on them often, perhaps more than he should at this point in his tenure.But she wasn’t about to say that.
“Why?”Ryan wondered.
“There was a murder in Hancock Park.We think it happened last night.Normally, it wouldn’t be a fit for HSS.It seems pretty run-of-the-mill.A woman in her late twenties, Caroline Sheffield, looks to have been strangled in her own home.But there’s a personal connection.Decker is good friends with the victim’s aunt.He told me he promised her that he’d put his best people on it.Normally, I would have pushed back, but he was very upset.And since you’re both available, I relented.”
Jessie was amused by Parker’s belief that she could have said no to the chief if she really wanted to.In her personal experience, when Roy Decker wanted something done, it got done.Even if this might not technically be an HSS-worthy case, she was still flattered that the man viewed her and Ryan as his go-to people.
“Not a problem,” she said quickly, before Ryan got the urge to point out that Parker didn’t have the final say on this.There was no need to alienate her.“We’ll head out now.Just text us the address and we can be there in twenty minutes.We’ll figure this out, Captain.”
She hoped she wasn’t lying.
CHAPTER THREE
As Ryan pulled onto Caroline Sheffield’s street, Jessie got a clammy feeling.
It wasn’t so much about this case as the location.The very first case that she worked with Ryan for HSS, two and a half years ago, was centered in this neighborhood.Sometimes it still haunted her.
As Ryan drove along the street, looking for a place to park amid the multiple squad cars and other emergency vehicles, she tried to push the memory out of her head.But it was no use.Her mind returned to the case of a high society philanthropist named Victoria Missinger, who was found poisoned in the exclusive enclave.
The killer turned out to be Andrea “Andy” Robinson, a wealthy but self-deprecating woman who befriended Jessie and offered “help” on the case.When Jessie discovered her true murderous nature, it was almost too late.Andy had poisoned her, and only Ryan’s last-second arrival on the scene saved her.
After spending time in a psychiatric prison facility, Andy managed to get paroled as a result of providing the police with helpful information in a high-priority case.Soon afterward, she kidnapped Jessie on her and Ryan’s wedding night and, dangerously obsessed, took her to an abandoned mine in the Arizona desert, where she planned for them to play house together.
