Page 21 of The Perfect Appearance

Jessie pulled up his personal information and saw that he was a decent match for the video clips they had outside Britton’s building. His height and weight fit approximately. There was no way to draw more definitive conclusions because the hair and glasses made getting a good look at the killer’s face impossible.

“I can’t believe the cops haven’t looked into this guy yet,” Grover said under his breath.

“They’d have no reason to,” Jessie reminded him. “Because of how the killer was listed in the appointment book, they’re only looking at new patients. Benes hasn’t been to see Britton in a year. He’s likely not on their radar at all.”

“I assume you’re about to change that,” Grover said.

“I can’t,” she replied, “at least not yet. How am I going to explain having this info on the guy? Without their consent, I accessed the case evidence and used it to conduct a parallel investigation. That’s not going to go over well unless I have ironclad proof that Benes should be a suspect. If we can bring that to them, then they’ll have to overlook how I skirted department policy and stepped on their toes. But without something solid, I’m just going to piss them off. We have to get something substantial on him.”

“And how do you propose to do that?” Grover asked warily.

“By confronting him directly.”

“What are you talking about?” Grover asked, outright appalled. “We can’t confront anyone.”

“Why not?”

“I can’t believe I have to explain this to you,” he marveled. “First of all, walking around in public confronting people is hardly keeping a low profile when I’m supposed to be protecting you. It could alert the very people we’re trying to hide you from. Also, there’s the little fact that confrontation can be dangerous. You don’t know what this guy is capable of. He already threatened one woman at the very least. My job is to keep you safe, not put you in harm’s way where you could re-injure your head or much, much worse.”

“Okay, then you do it,” she replied flatly.

“Do what?”

“You talk to him,” she told him. “Approach him and get a feel for whether he’s an immediate threat. If he is, that’s that. We’ll call the case detectives right then and there. But if your years of experience lead you to believe that I could chat with him without putting myself in danger, you call me, and I join you. I'll defer to your judgment. If you give the go-ahead to talk to him, I'll keep at a safe distance so that he can't lash out at me. What do you say?"

“I say that this is a terrible idea,” he told her emphatically.

She noted that, despite the severity of his words, he was no longer rejecting the idea outright.

“AndIsay that I promised Janice Lemmon that I would do everything I could to help find out who killed her friend. Leaving this lead uninvestigated would be an abrogation of that responsibility,” she told him, leaving out the other, less altruistic reason she had to keep pushing on this case. “I’m not asking to enter into hand-to-hand combat with the guy. I just want to talk to him, with you there,afteryou’ve deemed the situation safe. How am I being unreasonable here?”

He struggled to find an answer. After a few seconds, she decided not to give him the chance.

“So let’s stop wasting time,” she continued. “I have his work address. We can be there in fifteen minutes.”

CHAPTER TEN

They pulled up in front of Quentin Benes’ office just before 5 p.m.

“He should be coming out soon,” Jessie said, ignoring the tingle of adrenaline she felt itching to explode inside her.

Benes worked in a call center situated in a cookie-cutter strip mall in Leimert Park, where he didn’t have to interact with anyone other than disconnected voices on a phone line. There was only one entrance and exit to the place, leading out to the employee parking lot, which would make locating him easier.

“You’re sure he didn’t already leave?”

“Not according to the receptionist who answered my call,” Jessie said. “He’s supposed to get off work in three minutes. And since I’m guessing he won’t be dawdling to talk to his co-workers, I bet he walks out that door in four minutes. You might want to get ready to say ‘hi.’”

Grover shifted uncomfortably in the driver’s seat.

“What exactly is the plan again?”

“It’s pretty straightforward,” Jessie said, quietly relieved that he was no longer balking about even being here. “When you see him, follow him to his vehicle. First, try to determine his anxiety level. Is he glancing over his shoulder nervously? Does he look like a guy who’s worried about getting busted at any moment?”

“Okay, then what?”

“Before he gets to his vehicle, engage him in conversation,” Jessie instructed. “He probably won’t be enthused by that, but at least you’ll be able to gauge how much of a threat he is. Maybe you can glean whether he has a weapon. How twitchy is he? See if he assumes that you’re police or if he just thinks that you’re some overly chatty dude? We can’t jump to conclusions, but if he’s armed, super-nervous,andwonders if you’re a cop, we might be on to something.”

“How am I going to keep him from acting on that potential nervousness without having to break out my old military skills?”

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