Page 6 of The Perfect People

Jessie knew he didn’t intend to sound like he was chastising her, so she let the intensity of his tone slide. Before she could respond, Jamil piped in.

“Don’t forget, I got my start with MBPD. So anything you need, don’t hesitate to ask. I might be able to offer some local insight that an outsider like yourself wouldn’t be privy to.”

Jamil was making a rare attempt at levity with his “outsider” crack, but what he said was true. Jessie and Ryan had actually met him in a similar situation, while working a prior case in the beach town just southwest of L.A. He was the researcher for the local department and his assistance had been invaluable. After working together, he had applied to join LAPD and requested to join HHS specifically so he could work with the two of them again. Upon discovering his qualifications, he was hired immediately.

“Noted,” Jessie said. “If you were Academy-trained, I might even ask you to tag along. But since you’re not, I guess I better find out which detective I’m being paired with.”

She noticed Jamil try to hide a shy smile, well aware that he’d been toying with the idea of applying to the police academy in the hopes of joining the force. Only his concerns about his small stature and physical fragility had prevented him so far.

“I’m assigning Valentine to work with you on this one,” Ryan told her. “You cool with that?”

Susannah Valentine had joined the unit seven months ago, when Jessie was on sabbatical from the department and teaching a course at UCLA. Their working relationship started out extremely rocky, in large part due to Susannah’s “take no prisoners” investigative techniques. It didn’t help that she had also flirted relentlessly with Ryan, unaware that he was engaged to Jessie, back when the couple was keeping their relationship secret.

After a brutally honest airing out session, the two women eventually made peace. Since then, they’d developed a friendly, teasing rapport that played off their former combativeness. That’s why Jessie was a little surprised by the question.

“Why wouldn’t I be cool with it?” she asked suspiciously.

Right at that moment, Susannah walked in. As usual, she was dressed in the standard attire that used to make Jessie equal parts self-conscious and distant. She wore a tight-fitting turquoise top and hip-hugging slacks, an ensemble that might typically work better for a night out than for investigating a murder.

The outfit was only half of what made Susannah Valentine such an unconventional-looking LAPD detective. She was also, by all accounts, a bombshell.Almost impossibly gorgeous,she had hazel eyes, deeply tanned skin, and long, black hair to go along with a curvy figure that suggested swimsuit model more than cop. Of course, the woman knew how she was perceived and rather than hide from it, she preferred to lean into the persona, to use it like a weapon.

Ryan still hadn’t answered Jessie’s question about why she might not be okay working with Susannah Valentine on this particular case, so she posed it again, this time with more bite.

“Captain Hernandez,” she said sharply, “why wouldn’t I be cool with it?”

Ryan looked at her with trepidation before offering a reluctant reply.

“I’ll let her explain,” he said.

***

They were in the car before Valentine explained why she’d been assigned. Once she did, Jessie understood why she’d held off.

“I didn’t want to say anything in front of the research crew,” the detective said as she pulled out of the parking garage and merged into traffic. “I know this may come as a shock, but Iamcapable of being embarrassed.”

“It does come as a shock, actually,” Jessie teased from the passenger seat. “Now you’ve really got me intrigued.”

Susannah gave her a smirk. It was clear to Jessie that she was pretending to be offended. By now, she had to know that Jessie wasn’t going to judge her based on what she might reveal. She’d already shared the truth about the sexual assault that had defined her younger years and how she subsequently decided that she wouldn’t allow herself to be ashamed of her body or her brash personality.

It was why she dressed so brazenly, almost like a dare to anyone who might challenge her right to be who she wanted. It was why she joined the force, so she could protect herself and the rights of other people to live their lives safely, without having to worry about constant harassment. She knew Jessie had her back and she was right.

“When Captain Hernandez told us this case had come in, I volunteered,” she said. “Turns out I have some personal experience that might prove useful to our investigation.”

“What do you mean?” Jessie wanted to know.

“I used to go to some of these annual parties.”

“Wait, there’s more than one?” Jessie asked, surprised.

“Sure,” Susannah said, pulling the car onto the 110 freeway and heading south toward the Beach Cities. “It’s a whole thing. Over the big summer holiday weekends, the beachfront communities in the South Bay have these massive, unofficial parties that travel from mansion to mansion. They have them for Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, and finish up with a giant end of summer extravaganza for Labor Day. That’s why the party was last night—on a Thursday. They’ll run all the way through Monday night.”

“And you used to go to these?” Jessie asked. “That doesn’t seem like your scene.”

“It’s not anymore,” Susannah conceded. “But back in my late teens, when I was in high school, after…what happened to me, I was kind of lost. I was drinking too much, partying too much, trying to numb the pain. So some girlfriends and I would take the metro green line down from our crappy neighborhood to Redondo Beach, catch a bus to the Manhattan Beach Strand, hop out, and act like we owned the place. And because I look like this and could fill out a bikini, we could get in pretty much anywhere we wanted. I can go into more detail later, but that’s why I’m on this case—because I know the milieu.”

“And maybe because you can still fit in at these parties today?” Jessie added, now understanding why Ryan was reluctant to explain his reasoning. He was trading on Detective Valentine’s sex appeal as an asset in their investigation and he felt guilty about it. He might also have worried that Jessie would be jealous, wondering if he didn’t think she had enough sex appeal of her own to get the job done.

While she was more than secure in that department, she didn’t kid herself. She wasn’t the voluptuous pinup type that her partner was, and having Susannah available and willing to make use of her special appeal would be a great advantage. Still, she made a mental note to tease her husband about his discomfort later.

---