Page 37 of The Perfect Obsession
“Meanwhile,” Jamil piped in, “I checked back in with the other Thornfield alums.Alannah Murray is already checked into the Bayside Bungalows in Santa Monica.Tess Singleton said that she warned the security staff of her Presidio Terrace gated community in San Francisco about the threat, and they agreed to add extra staff for the rest of the week.Riley Sinclair is still at work, but she said she’s taking extra precautions too.”
“What’s she doing?”Ryan asked, unconvinced.
“It turns out she’s not just a regular librarian,” Jamil said.“She’s the manager of the Children’s Literature department at the Los Angeles Central Library.Apparently, they have security personnel at the entrance.She asked them to be extra vigilant.And she agreed to have a guard walk her to her car after work.From there, she’s going to the apartment of a friend, where she said the building has a security guard in the lobby and elevator access to upper floors requires a key card.”
“So everyone’s accounted for,” Ryan said, sounding relieved.
“Yes,” Jamil said.“And now that Marcus Carroway has authorized us to access his phone’s geolocation data, we’re in the middle of confirming his alibis for each night.”
“Great,” Jessie said, not mentioning that she thought the search would be a dead end.As soon as they had left Camarillo Prep, they’d called Carroway’s neurologist friend, who—with the teacher’s permission—had verified his diagnosis.When asked if he thought Carroway had the strength and dexterity to strangle someone, the doctor had laughed mordantly.
“Marcus mostly eats finger food these days because he doesn’t have the grip strength or fine motor skills to use a knife and fork,” he told them.“The idea that he could choke someone to death would be laughable if the situation weren’t so serious.”
Jessie tried to clear her head, hoping that another theory might pop into her mind.
“So,” she said, reviewing aloud, “we have three women, all from the same graduating class at an elite boarding school, living in the Los Angeles area, killed on three consecutive nights.They were friends, but didn’t keep in touch regularly.They mostly communicated online, with very occasional get-togethers.None of them has had any notable legal issues in their past.Nor have they had any major conflicts with co-workers or family.
“The closest we had was Caroline Sheffield’s ex-husband, Jordy,” Ryan noted.“But he doesn’t have a good motive, and his alibi bore out.”
“Right,” Jessie said.“Beyond that, there was no obvious sign of conflict within the group, not among the dead women nor the living ones that we have going into hiding.”
“The closest was the romance angle with Alex Krantz dating both Caroline and Diana before marrying Amanda,” Ryan said.“But that theory was kind of blown up when it turned out that Jennifer Nash never dated him.Plus, he has an alibi for her murder.”
“So where does that leave us?”Beth asked over the speaker.
Jessie wasn’t sure.
“We have to be missing something,” she mused quietly.
“Hold on a second,” Jamil said.“Captain Parker just walked into the research.”
“Are you on with Hernandez and Hunt?”the captain asked.
Jessie could hear the tension in the woman’s voice.A ball of anxiety immediately appeared in her gut.
“Yes, Captain,” Jamil said.“We’re all reviewing the Thornfield strangling case.”
“Well, I’ve got bad news for everyone,” Parker said darkly.“I just got a call from Hollywood station.There’s been another murder.”
“Who?”Jessie asked reluctantly, wondering if the victim was one of the women they’d tried to warn or someone entirely new.
“Amanda Krantz,” Parker said.“And her husband is in custody.”
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
By the time Jessie jumped out of the car at the Krantz’s Hollywood Hills home, there were emergency vehicles everywhere.
She rushed over to find the officer in charge while Ryan looked for a place to park on the narrow road.As she approached the house, she saw a familiar face.Sergeant Robert Frank, based out of Hollywood Station, had assisted her on two other cases in the past.
In his late forties, Sergeant Frank’s belly was in a battle with his belt, and what little hair he had left was more gray than brown.While he exuded a worn-out, beaten-down demeanor most of the time, in Jessie’s experience, he’d proven to be a competent professional.They could have been dealt a worse hand.
“I knew this would end up being one of your cases,” he said as she stopped in front of him.“The weird ones always are.Is Hernandez with you on this one?”
“He’s parking right now,” Jessie said.“What can you tell me?”
“Amanda Krantz, 28, was found strangled on a loveseat in the living room.A silk necktie was resting on the cushion beside her.It looks like it was the murder weapon.”
Jessie could picture the gray cashmere loveseat he was talking about.It was the same one that Amanda sat on yesterday when they spoke to her.The thought of that somehow filled her with even more empathy for the woman than she already had.
