Page 52 of The Perfect Obsession
“What makes you think that Krantz isn’t guilty?”Sinclair asked.
“He might be,” Jessie conceded, “but not everything is adding up.And until it has, we need to keep you all safe.We can’t just trust that a guard in the lobby of an apartment building is enough to get the job done.”
“Really?”Sinclair said, looking frustrated.
“I’m afraid so.That’s why we’re having officers take all four of you into local police stations.We’ll have each of you stay there overnight.It won’t be the most comfy, but you’ll be safe.If we haven’t solved this thing by tomorrow, we’ll find secure locations for each of you to stay tonight, complete with officers posted outside.When Officer Devery arrives, he’ll lead you to Central Station in his squad car.It’s only a few minutes from here.I’ll join you there.”
Sinclair walked slowly from her office door to the reception desk, where she leaned against it.Jessie could see that the woman was trying to process this new information.She looked lost in thought.It was hard to blame her.A moment ago, she figured this nightmare was over.Now it was being extended indefinitely.
“I know this isn’t the news you wanted to hear,” Jessie said sympathetically, “but we just can’t take any chances.Don’t worry, though.I’m confident that we’ll get this thing solved.It’s entirely possible that you’ll be sleeping in your own bed tomorrow night.”
Sinclair shook her head in obvious frustration.“I just don’t get it,” she said, clearly agitated.“Why are you giving this guy the benefit of the doubt?I’m not a detective or a criminal profiler, but it seems pretty open-and-shut to me.All the victims were romantically involved with him in one way or another.I don’t know what his exact motive is, but couldn’t he have just snapped at some point?I mean, what kind of monster goes around strangling people with scarves and ties?It just doesn’t seem right.”
Jessie had been about to try to soothe the woman when she froze, her mouth half-open.Sinclair was looking down at the reception desk, still shaking her head.Jessie quickly closed her mouth.
She had never mentioned the scarves to Riley Sinclair.The news report this afternoon stated that a tie was found next to Amanda’s body, but there was no reference to scarves.That wasn’t public knowledge.Only the killer would know about it.
She stared at Sinclair, really seeing her for the first time.She’d noted before that the woman had the same muscular frame as Kat.She looked like she was strong enough to choke any of the victims without breaking a sweat.And she was the one who made sure that Jessie knew about the one-night stand between Krantz and Jennifer Nash, putting him back in their crosshairs.
“I screwed up, huh?”Sinclair said, still staring at the reception desk.
“What do you mean?”Jessie asked, slowly easing her hand down to her gun holster.
Sinclair looked up at her.Her eyes were blazing.
“I shouldn’t have mentioned the scarves.”
Suddenly, her arm shot toward the reception desk.In that moment, Jessie realized that Sinclair hadn’t just been absently looking at the desk.She’d been staring at the letter opener sticking out of a cup filled with pens and pencils.
As Sinclair grasped it tight and took a step forward, Jessie unbuttoned her gun holster and started to draw the weapon.But she was too late.It only took a fraction of a second to calculate that by the time she lifted the gun, much less fired it, Riley Sinclair would have plunged the letter opener into her chest.
So Jessie left the gun in place, raising both hands to try to block the blow as Sinclair brought the letter opener downward.She managed to clasp the woman’s wrists with both hands, stopping the momentum of the thing.But she couldn’t stop the forward thrust of Sinclair’s body.
The woman slammed into her.They both lost their balance and toppled to the floor.Jessie, falling backward, let go of Sinclair and threw her arms back to cushion the impact of the fall.She couldn’t afford another concussion.
She landed hard on the carpeted floor, but her butt and back took the brunt of the impact.Her head never hit the floor.Unfortunately, Sinclair had landed on top of her, and she was still holding the opener.
Jessie tried to scramble out from under her, but Sinclair was stronger than her and easily kept her pinned under the weight of her flattened body.She regripped the letter opener and again swung it down, this time toward Jessie’s neck.
She managed to throw up her left forearm to block the attack, leaving the tip of the opener only a couple of inches from her throat.With her right hand, she grabbed Sinclair’s wrist, trying to hold it in place, even as the other woman pressed down.
Jessie knew she was going to lose this fight.Sinclair had the advantage of being on top of her and being more physically dominant.The combination of strength and gravity was too much to outdo.Jessie could already feel her grip starting to slip.
She looked into Sinclair’s eyes, only inches from hers.They were frenzied.The woman’s teeth were clenched, and saliva hung from her lips.She was so close that Jessie could smell her breath.The woman had recently eaten chocolate.
In a flash, Jessie had a desperate thought.They were so close—close enough to…
With what little strength she had left, Jessie flung herself upward, her mouth open wide.As she made contact with Sinclair, she snapped her teeth closed, locking onto Sinclair’s nose.She bit as hard as she could before falling back to the carpet again.
Riley Sinclair screamed.Jessie knew why.She could feel the tip of the woman’s nose in her mouth.Blood was already dripping from the wound.But while Sinclair had slightly loosened her grip on the letter opener, she still hadn’t let go.And it didn’t seem like she would.
Jessie saw in her furious, watery eyes that she wanted to finish the job.A moment later, Sinclair had redoubled her efforts, pressing down even harder.
Jessie felt her forearm giving out and knew she was out of time.The tip of the opener was only an inch from her carotid artery.A single, sudden thought exploded into her brain.The tip was also only inches from her shoulder.
Without stopping to think about it, she yanked Sinclair’s hand to the right as she dropped her forearm.The tip of the letter opener plunged into the gap of soft flesh below her collarbone near her left shoulder.
A stinging pain shot through her.She allowed herself to scream, but didn’t let that stop her from what she had to do.With her right hand now free, she pulled her gun from its holster.Sinclair was briefly dumbfounded, staring at the long piece of metal sticking out of the body underneath her.
