Page 30 of The Perfect Obsession
Jamil had accessed Jennifer Nash’s communications and found that she kept in occasional touch with both victims, as well as several others from Thornfield who seemed to be in the same social circle.But nothing appeared overtly suspicious.
Almost all their communications were bland: birthday wishes mixed with intermittent funny memes and occasional discussions of getting together, which actually happened only every 9 to 18 months.They couldn’t find a single crossword in the messages.All of these women seemed both to like each other and be inherently likable.
“I want every woman who was included in any of these communications to be contacted directly,” Ryan told the researchers as soon as the connection became clear.“We have three alumni from the same graduating class murdered over the last three nights.The others in their friend group need to know that precautions are in order.”
It wasn’t as difficult as one might have expected.Thornfield Academy had grown over the last decade, but when these women attended, the school had only 108 students, 23 of whom were in their graduating class.Of those 23, there were six regularly included in variations of the group emails, texts, and social media posts.Three of them were now dead.Amanda Krantz was the fourth.There were also Alannah Murray and Kylie Stoner.
“Reach out to both of them, as well as Amanda Krantz,” Ryan instructed.“Give them the basics on what’s happening and advise them to take extra safety precautions over the next few days.”
“What about girls who weren’t in their graduating class?”Beth asked.
“What do you mean?”Ryan asked.
“It’s just that there are also a couple of girls from the class below them who also got included in these chats on occasion,” Beth explained.“Riley Sinclair and Tess Singleton.Should we call them too?”
“What do you think?”Ryan asked Jessie.“Overkill?”
“It looks like the killer’s focus is on friends in the senior class so far,” Jessie said, “but that could just be a coincidence.The connection among the victims might be something unrelated to that.I say we should cast a wide net.Warn everyone who could be at risk.I’d hate for us to filter out a potential victim because they didn’t fit a profile that we don’t yet understand and then have something happen to them.”
“Agreed,” Ryan said, turning back to the researchers.“Call all of them.And don’t just warn them.Ask for their input.If they’re aware of some obvious connection among the victims that we’re missing, we want to know about it.”
While the researchers made the calls, Jessie and Ryan focused on confirming Nash’s time of death.According to the police report, Nash’s art studio landlord found her dead just before 10 P.M.
He said he’d also checked on her just after 5 P.M.and got no response when he knocked on the door, although that didn’t necessarily mean she was dead at that point.While there were no security cameras outside the building, Nash’s studio did have an alarm system, which was activated at 2:37 P.M.and deactivated at 3:04.
That matched with what the detectives who were originally assigned to the case last night had learned.Nash had stepped out to the dry cleaners to pick up a dress that she planned to wear for a show she had scheduled for this Saturday.The dry cleaners had security footage showing Nash entering the business at 2:49 P.M.and leaving at 2:52 P.M.That was apparently the last time anyone saw Nash alive.The original detectives had concluded, and Jessie agreed, that the alarm deactivation at 3:04 indicated that Nash was returning to her studio.
The medical examiner’s preliminary estimate for time of death—between 4 and 8 P.M., also fit the timetable.She was killed after she returned to her studio at three and before the landlord found her at ten.Even more likely was between three and five, when the landlord stopped by and got no reply after knocking.According to him, Nash had a playful tradition of handing him a paper check just after 5 P.M.on the due date.He said that for her not to be there and not to warn him of that in advance was extremely unusual.
With that knowledge, they turned their attention to the only credible suspect they currently had.Even though there was no indication from her correspondence that Jennifer Nash had ever dated Alexander Krantz, they still needed to find out where he was yesterday during her time of death.It wasn’t hard.
The two of them had actually been questioning him at his office for the first part of the afternoon.When they left to talk to his wife, Officer Devery had stayed with him to ensure he didn’t call Amanda and try to align their stories.Devery didn’t leave his presence until Ryan gave him the all clear around 5:30.So, for the most likely window of death, Alexander Krantz had the best alibi possible—he was actually in the company of the police.
Even after Devery left him, Krantz’s alibi seemed ironclad.According to his geolocation data and traffic camera footage, he’d gone straight home, picked up Amanda, and taken her to a West Hollywood restaurant, where they were captured eating.Jessie couldn’t see any way that he had killed Nash.
She sighed as she looked at the restaurant footage.They seemed to be at a dead end in the investigation.There was no indication that any of these women had alienated someone either back at school or more recently.The one juicy motive—romantic resentment related to Alexander Krantz’s dating habits—didn’t seem to be an issue for any of them.Besides which, Krantz had an impenetrable alibi for the most recent murder, if not the first two.
A small part of Jessie wondered if Krantz had somehow enlisted someone else to kill Jennifer Nash for the express purpose of giving him an alibi when it came to the one victim he apparently hadn’t dated.Ash Pierce wasn’t the only person who did professional hits in this town.
Jessie felt like she was grasping at straws with the theory.Then again, she’d encountered weirder, more elaborate methods of murder.She was debating whether to review Krantz’s financials for any unconventional payouts when she heard a small gasp from Beth.
“What is it?”she asked.
“I’ve been looking for any legal filings the victims made,” Beth said.“I figured that maybe someone was out to get them for reasons unrelated to their shared friendship.And I think I found something.”
“What?”Ryan asked.
“Way back in 2013, just six months after she graduated, Caroline Sheffield filed a formal complaint against Dr.Marcus Carroway.He was the headmaster at Thornfield when she was a student.She alleged that he tried to engage her in an improper relationship and attempted to touch her inappropriately during a meeting in his office.”
“What became of the complaint?”Jessie asked eagerly.
“It was dropped,” Beth said.Then she looked up, and the gleam in her eye told Jessie something big was forthcoming.“But it’s not the fact that it was dropped that’s interesting.It’s when.”
“What do you mean?”Ryan pressed.
“The complaint was withdrawn exactly one day after Carroway resigned as headmaster at Thornfield,” Beth said.“That can’t be a coincidence, right?”
“That’s a great question,” Jessie said, pulling out her phone.“Did you guys already call Amanda Krantz to warn her to take extra precautions?”
