Page 47 of The Perfect Obsession
“Okay.”
“As I mentioned, Krantz dated several of the other victims before marrying Amanda.Did you ever date him?”
“No,” Sinclair said with a rueful smile.“I’m pretty sure I would have remembered who he was right away if I had.So if he only went after women he dated, does that mean I would have been safe regardless?”
“Not necessarily,” Jessie told her.“One of the victims, Jennifer Nash, never dated him.”
When Sinclair replied, there was a bit of snark in her voice.
“That’s not exactly true.”
CHAPTER THIRTY SIX
“What do you mean?”Jessie demanded, a sudden surge of adrenaline shooting through her.
Sinclair looked startled by the intensity of the question.
“Well, I guess they never technically dated,” she backtracked.“But now that I’m remembering who he was, I recall hearing rumors that the two of them had a one-night stand.Does that count?”
Jessie tried to hide her shock.If true, this might be the missing link that connected all the victims.That made Krantz’s alibi for Nash’s death all the more befuddling.
“It might,” she said noncommittally.“How do you know this?”
“I’m not sure,” Sinclair said.“It was just something that was going around the dorm.I never had any reason to care enough to ask about it.”
An unusual theory popped into Jessie’s head.Was it conceivable that Alexander and Amanda Krantz were working as a team to kill these women?Could Alexander have killed Caroline and Diana, then had Amanda kill Jennifer to provide him with an alibi?
Maybe she would have been happy to take out the woman who slept with her future husband.And then, perhaps Alexander killed Amanda to keep her quiet, knowing that if he couldn’t be tied to Jennifer’s death, his culpability for the other killings might fall apart.
It was a wild theory, but not an impossible one.Jessie had encountered killer couples before.And if Amandahadkilled Jennifer, that would explain why there were no payments from Alexander’s accounts.He never had to pay anyone.
But there were two major hurdles to buying the theory.First, Amanda never gave off even a whiff of deceit when they spoke to her.Of course, if she was able to murder a long-time friend in cold blood as part of an elaborate plot, it wasn’t outrageous to think she could snow investigators, too.
The other hurdle was that there didn’t seem to be any motive for the killings.Why, after a decade of bland, occasional interaction, would the Krantzes suddenly start murdering people?It didn’t make sense.
“Hello?”Sinclair said.
Jessie realized that she’d been silently lost in thought for a while.
“Sorry,” she said quickly.“We’ll look into that rumor and see what we can turn up.”
“So does this mean I’m okay to leave work without an escort?”Sinclair asked.“It sounds like you think he did it now.”
Jessie shook her head.“There are still a lot of open questions.So for the time being, I’d still like for you to have a guard escort you to your vehicle when you leave.When will that be?”
“The public has to leave in about five minutes,” Sinclair said.“But I’ll be the last one here tonight.I’m closing the department for the evening.So I’ll probably head out in another fifteen or so.”
“All right,” Jessie said.“Please have the guard escort you the entire way—from your department until you get in your car.Then go straight to your friend’s apartment, okay?No stopping at home for clothes or toiletries.Hopefully, this will just be for one night, but better safe than sorry.”
“I can escort Ms.Sinclair if you like,” Officer Devery offered.
“No, really.That’s okay,” Sinclair insisted.“I already feel like I’m being a burden.At least the guards here are paid to take care of us.I don’t want to make a cop do it, too.I promise that I’ll follow all your instructions.I just ask that if you determine for certain that Alexander Krantz did this, you’ll let me know right away so I can return to my normal life and you know, not cower in fear.”
She gave Jessie her phone number.There wasn’t much left to discuss.Besides, Jessie was intent on getting back to the station to ask Krantz about the nature of his relationship with Jennifer Nash.He had a lot of explaining to do.
CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN
Jessie moved fast.
