Page 50 of The Perfect Obsession
“I want to send squad cars to every location and have the officers take each woman into the local police station.I know it’s a lot, and they’ll probably balk.But we shouldn’t play games with their security.Let’s bring them all in where we know they’ll be safe.We can’t entrust this to security guards, no matter how professional they are.”
Ryan sighed.“Okay.”He sounded reluctant, but knew better than to fight her on this.
“While you all coordinate for the other three women, I’ll see if Riley Sinclair is still here at the library,” she said.“If so, I’ll bring her in to Central Station myself.”
“No,” he objected.“I don’t want you getting in the crossfire if she’s the next target.You can let her know the plan, but I’ll have Devery come back and bring her in.”
“Fair enough,” she said.“I’ll wait with her until he arrives, and then I’ll come back.”
After she hung up, she started to call Sinclair, then thought better of it.News like this was better delivered in person.Based on Sinclair’s irritation with all the fuss so far, she was likely to object.But once Jessie explained the gravity of the situation to her face-to-face, she’d come around.
She left the study room and headed for the Children’s Literature department.Despite the library’s security, she walked fast.Until the identity of the killer was certain, she wasn’t taking any chances.
CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT
Riley Sinclair was frustrated.
Originally, she thought she was done for the night.She had wrapped up all her last-minute department closing tasks.It was only then that she discovered that Jimmy, the junior librarian in the department, hadn’t returned all the books on the cart to the stacks.
She was tempted to do it herself now.But he’d never learn if she did it for him.And frankly, she was annoyed by his lack of attention to detail.She was considering reaming him out in the morning, though she thought there was a sixty percent chance that he’d start crying if she did.
Besides, there was this whole security situation.Calling Peele to send someone up here to walk her to the car would be time-consuming.Putting extra books away would only drag the whole thing out.She might as well just call it a day.
Waiting for the escort would be doubly annoying, considering that she wasn’t in any danger.The thought made her chuckle silently.All these elaborate security procedures are to protect her from the killer.Was she going to strangle herself?
Riley headed to her office to turn off the light.Then she’d call security.She supposed she had to keep up appearances if this was going to all work out.She was mostly home free, at least based on what Jessie Hunt had told her.
Alex Krantz was in custody, just as she’d planned all along.And all the women who deserved to be killed were dead now.There would be no future victims, meaning no more chance of getting caught in the act.She’d done the job that she set out to do, the one that first came to her when she saw Caroline Sheffield at the Brentwood Country Mart last month.
Riley recalled how that moment had led to this one and still couldn’t believe that it had all come together.She had been sitting in the central courtyard of the Mart, sipping a coffee and eating a scone, when she saw Caroline walk by.The woman was wearing her Lululemon gear and holding her Prada bag as she window-shopped at a tony jewelry store.
Caroline didn’t notice her, and Riley was fine with that.She didn’t want someone she’d mostly lost touch with after high school, seeing her in her blue jeans and a ratty weekend work shirt.She didn’t want to have to explain her current life situation, which was a dumpster fire.So she took her breakfast and scurried away before Caroline turned around.
But that didn’t stop her from doing a deep dive on Caroline once she got home.They were technically friends on several social media platforms, though Riley rarely checked them.But she did now.
And as she pored over the details of Caroline’s life, the envy grew to the point where she found herself hating the woman and her perfect life.Marketing executive for a Hollywood studio.Divorced but apparently loving it, based on the photos she plastered all over social media.
And then Riley noticed the others.She saw a group photo with fellow Thornfield alums Diana Hartwell and Jennifer Nash from some brunch mini-reunion several months back.They looked so happy holding their mimosas while lounging in their designer clothes.Riley looked into the other two and found that their lives were as flawless as Caroline’s.Not like hers.
Yes, Riley had graduated from Thornfield with a 4.4 GPA and gone to Brown University.Yes, she’d gotten her degree in Comparative Literature, followed by a master's in Library and Information Sciences from the University of Maryland.Then she’d returned to Los Angeles, where she was offered the prestigious position of manager of the Children’s Literature Department at the vaunted Los Angeles Central Library, a crown jewel of the downtown area.All this by the age of 25.
Things kept getting better.She managed to luck into an amazing apartment in Echo Park, just a few minutes from work.It turned out that the prior tenant had committed suicide there by blowing his brains all over a wall.That had depressed interest in the unit, to put it mildly.But she wasn’t bothered by that kind of thing.That’s what paint was for.
So she snapped it up, getting a real bargain on the rent.Soon after that, she met Perry, an assistant manager of a nearby upscale restaurant.He wasn’t the richest guy in the world, nor the best-looking.But he was funny, warm, and easy to like.
Then things began to fall apart.After a year, the apartment manager bumped up the rent.And while her title at the library was prestigious, her salary wasn’t.And there had been rumors recently that, amid potential budget cuts at city hall, the library might lay off some people.If she were let go, it would be a disaster.
Despite her advanced degree from an Ivy League school, she was still a civil servant with massive student loans.Unlike her wealthy fellow Thornfield alums, she attended the school and college on scholarships and loans.There were no rich, doting parents to bail her out.
When it became clear that she’d have to move, she broached the idea of moving in with Perry.That’s when he told her that he thought they should break up.
“You’re great,” he’d said, “but—and don’t take offense at this—you’re just too plain for me.I need to see what else is out there.I’m looking for my soul mate, not just someone I get along with.”
At first, she was just shocked that he had told her not to “take offense.”But once that wore off, the depression and panic set in.She was on the verge of getting kicked out of her place.She might lose her job.Plus, she was apparently not soulmate material.
That was when she decided to take a mental health day and drove all the way to the west side of town.It was rejuvenating to wander around the farmers' market and then stop by the chic Brentwood Country Mart to imagine how the other half lived.And then she saw Caroline, which sent her spiraling further.
She probably would have let it go and gone back to her life, putting her nose to the grindstone and muddying through, if not for that one social media photo.She was about to leave Caroline’s page when she caught a glimpse of another group picture, only this one included Amanda Krantz.It took a moment to process that the woman was formerly Amanda Black and that she was married to Alexander Krantz.That’s when it all flooded back.
