Page 19 of The Perfect Obsession
The Twin Towers Correctional Facility in downtown Los Angeles was where Dallas Henry was being held while awaiting trial for the attempted murders of both Hannah Dorsey and Finn Anderton.
The man in the car felt bad for Dallas.He’d read up on the kid and was impressed with his ingenuity.Over several years, the young man had attended a community college, where he earned straight As, and then transferred to UC Irvine, a highly competitive university.It was all part of an elaborate plan to go to the same school as Hannah Dorsey, ingratiate himself with her, and win her trust, all before taking her to a secluded wilderness location where he would torture and kill her.The kid had moxie.
Unfortunately, unlike the man in the car, Dallas was a novice.He’d tried to be careful, but he’d used a phrase in his admiring letter to incarcerated killer Mark Haddonfield that inadvertently made him stand out.He’d referenced himself as being the “tip of the spear” in avenging Haddonfield and making righteous war on the man-hating shrews responsible for ruining the country.
The man in the car had learned that the LAPD's HSS unit had tracked down Dallas’s identity using the phrase as a starting point.They’d almost been too late to stop him.From what the man in the car had uncovered, given another ten minutes or so, Dallas would have reached Hannah Dorsey and taught her the lesson she so richly deserved.
But it hadn’t worked out.And now Dallas was behind bars.The man in the car desperately wanted to visit him, to let him know that his efforts were appreciated and were not in vain.That someone else was picking up the baton and would carry it over the finish line.
But he couldn’t.If he entered the jail, he’d be seen on the security cameras.And if he asked to speak to Dallas, the staff would raise alarm bells.Jail officials would make HSS aware of his visit, and they’d quickly identify him.It wouldn’t be hard.He was well-known enough that they wouldn’t even need to use facial recognition to ID him.
Of course, that couldn’t happen.As a result, he couldn’t risk visiting the kid, no matter how much he wanted to buck him up, no matter how much he wanted to tell him that their great shared work would soon be completed.Dallas Henry would have to learn of the glorious comeuppance like everyone else when he saw it on the news.
The man in the car turned away from the jail and focused his attention on the other direction, where Central Station was located.That’s where the prize was.That’s where he had to keep his eyes.Jessie Hunt worked in that building.
He knew that despite the security of the station, he’d be able to access it and her.His prominence allowed him entry.He’d laid the groundwork to make his presence acceptable.No one would look askance at him.
The issue wasn’t getting in.It was getting the job done.Jessie Hunt was no dummy, and she was no slouch, despite the weakness of her gender.And she would have wrong-headed supporters all around her, ready to defend her with their lives.He would need to act brutally and decisively when the time came.
But that time had not yet arrived.More preparations were needed.He was anxious to mete out justice but had to remember that patience was his friend right now.It had served him well so far.
So for the time being, he contented himself with eating his lunchtime sandwich and imagining which of Jessie Hunt’s bones he would break first, which section of flesh would succumb to his initial slice.
As he pondered, he took a bite of the sandwich.Like the pain he would inflict on Jessie Hunt, it was delicious.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Jessie felt guilty.
When she went back to the research department after taking her mental break in the station’s courtyard, things had returned to normal, no thanks to her.She’d bailed in the middle of Drew Hartwell’s breakdown, leaving Ryan to pick up the pieces and try to get some semblance of coherent answers.The fact that Ryan and both researchers were all focused intently on their computer monitors suggested that he might have been successful.
“What did I miss?”she asked.
Ryan looked up from his screen.
“Quite a bit,” he said with less irritation than she would have expected.“Drew Hartwell is heading to the airport now.He hopes to be back by this evening.I got him calmed down enough to confirm that Diana still kept in occasional touch with several other Thornfield Academy alums, though he couldn’t recall any other names.”
“We’re actually going through a comprehensive list of former students,” Beth added, “especially looking for those who were in Diana’s and Caroline’s graduating class.Once we have contact info, you’ll be able to reach out to them.”
“We’re hoping they can offer some insight on what connections the victims have that might go deeper than being friends in high school,” Ryan said.
“Great,” Jessie said.“Let’s hope there’s something obvious.I’m concerned that these two might not be the end of it.If there are other potential victims at risk, we need to know as much as possible in order to filter through people to determine who might be next.”
“Should we warn them when we call?”Beth asked.
Ryan shook his head.“We don’t want to start a panic when we don’t know what the common denominator is with these victims.Thornfield makes a lot of sense, but it’s equally possible that Caroline and Diana met there, but have some other connection the killer is focused on.”
“Agreed, though we might have to revisit that at some point,” Jessie said.She was a little hesitant to ask her next question, but did anyway.“How was Hartwell doing when you hung up?Did he seem okay, all things considered?”
“I told him a counselor would be reaching out to him momentarily,” Ryan said, “but to answer your question: no.He was still clearly in shock.But what can we expect?He’d only had a few minutes to process the news, after all.People might understandably mourn a loss like that for years afterward.”
Something in the softness of his tone made Jessie look more closely at him.She wondered if his comment was also a veiled reference to her miscarriage and recent admission that it still haunted her.The comforting warmth in his brown eyes told her that her intuition was right.In that moment, even though she knew they still had a lot to work through, she felt certain that they would ultimately find their way together.
“Give me some names to call,” she said quickly, sensing tears behind her eyes and trying to quell them before anyone noticed.“Let’s get to the bottom of this.”
*
It was the yearbook that did it.
