Page 36 of The Perfect Obsession
“Camarillo Prep is highly regarded as well,” Carroway said huffily before seeming to remember that wasn’t the point.“Besides, if I were inclined to do something to Ms.Sheffield, why wouldn’t I have done it all those years ago?Or right after my wife left with my child?”
It was a fair question, but Jessie had one of her own.“How did you feel about Diana Hartwell?”
Carroway managed to look confused.“What?”
“She was killed two nights ago.”
“Jesus!”he muttered.
“And then there’s Jennifer Nash,” Ryan added.“She was murdered yesterday.They were students of yours, too.”
Carroway put the glass of water down on his desk.But even after he did, his hand still shook in fear.In fact, Jessie noted that his whole body was trembling now.
“Where were you the last three nights, Mr.Carroway?”Ryan asked, keeping the pressure on.”
“DoctorCarroway,” the man shot back as he shook his head.“Is this what it’s come to?I’m a schoolteacher.Do I really have to provide you with an alibi?”
Jessie wasn’t sure what his job had to do with it, but kept the focus on his answers.
“If you want us to eliminate you as a person of interest,” she told him, “I’m afraid so.”
Still shaking his head in disbelief, he pulled out his phone.“Give me a second to check my calendar.”
As he swiped, his body language wasn’t so much scared as angry now.Maybe that’s why his hand was still quivering.Or maybe not.Suddenly, Jessie had a flash of realization.
“Are you ready?”Carroway asked them, looking up from his phone.
“Yes, but can you please write down your whereabouts as well?”she asked, following a hunch.
“You’re the cops,” he objected.“Can’t you do it?”
Jessie looked at his hands, which were still trembling slightly.She thought of the shaking water glass, of the poorly tied tie, the missed shirt button, the sloppily combed hair.It all fits.
“Dr.Carroway, how long have you had Parkinson’s Disease?”
For a moment, the man looked stunned, as did Ryan.But then Carroway put his phone down on his desk and sighed heavily.
“For about three years now,” he said quietly.“In fact, I was diagnosed right before I got this job.I was between positions and didn’t have insurance at the time.My doctor is a long-time friend who happens to be on the board of trustees here.He took pity on me and put in a good word for me.That’s how I got hired.It’s gotten significantly worse since then.I’ve gone from stage 1 to stage 3 since my diagnosis.”
“I’m sorry,” Jessie told him.
“Thank you,” he said, before adding with bitterness, “so you want to know where I was the last three nights.”
He started to go over his whereabouts each evening.Ryan took notes, but Jessie only half-listened.Her mind was racing.Marcus Carroway might be a scumbag and likely even a sexual predator.But if his Parkinson’s diagnosis was verified, he might not be a murderer.If he didn’t even have the strength or dexterity to properly tie a tie, she didn’t see how he could strangle anyone.
They would need to confirm his condition and his alibi.But Jessie already had a bad feeling: they were back to square one.
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
Jessie breathed a sigh of relief.
“She’s okay,” Beth explained to Ryan and her as they drove back from Camarillo.“The officers that we sent to Kylie Stoner’s house found her there, safe and sound.She was getting an in-home massage and had turned off her phone.She forgot to turn it back on.They put her on a call with me, and I explained the situation.”
“How did she take the news about the killings?”Jessie asked.
“She was understandably upset,” Beth said.“But once she calmed down a little, I got her to agree to leave her house for a few days.She decided she’d get a villa at The Peninsula resort until you catch the killer.”
Jessie glanced over at Ryan.He winced slightly at the name of the resort on the Palos Verdes peninsula, remembering the same thing that she was.The Peninsula was where they were supposed to get married before Andy Robinson snuck onto the grounds, then drugged and kidnapped her.Hopefully, Kylie Stoner would have better luck there.
