Page 26 of The Perfect Appearance

"No, ma'am," he replied respectfully, even though she was only three years older than him.

They watched as he carefully backed out of his parking spot and headed for the exit. He even waved politely as he passed by.

“So that was a bust,” Grover said. “What now? Tell your doctor friend we came up empty?”

Jessie fought the urge to smirk. Grover might not know it, but they weren’t done by a long shot. She looked at the time. It was 5:10.

“If I was officially working this case and had access to all the department resources, we could keep grinding away at this,” she said. “But if we start making inquiries after normal business hours, it might draw unwanted attention. I think we’re done for the night.”

“Just the night?” he asked, taken aback.

She started for his car, not even looking back as she answered.

“Grover, when you were in the British SAS, did you bail before completing your mission? Because this is my mission. I intend to complete it. We start fresh tomorrow.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Jessie waited in her garage for the all-clear.

Grover had instructed her to remain in the locked, secure space until he had checked the entire house. Even though she had spent almost $100,000 on security upgrades that made the home virtually impenetrable to outsiders, she didn’t mind the caution. That was what she was paying him for. After close to five minutes, there was a knock on the garage door to indicate they were good. She unlocked it and finally stepped into her own home.

“While you get settled, I’m going to check in with the rest of the security team to see how Hannah and Kat are doing,” Grover told her. “Maybe you can find out when you expect Ryan back home.”

“I will,” she said. “But I want to connect with Dr. Lemmon first.”

He nodded and headed to the living room while she retreated to the bedroom to make her calls. Janice Lemmon picked up on the first ring.

“No good news?” the doctor said by way of greeting.

“How did you know?” Jessie asked.

“It’s almost 6 p.m.,” she answered without her usual pep. “Late enough that pursuing the investigation without attracting attention would be challenging. I assume that if you had uncovered anything worthwhile, you’d have let me know right away. So this is your ‘end of day, we came up empty’ status report.”

"Unfortunately, that's all true," Jessie admitted. "We thought we had a decent lead, but it petered out. I'm going to review the materials and see if I can brainstorm a new angle for the morning. Sorry, I don't have more for you."

“I understand,” Lemmon said. “If this was easy, the assigned detectives would have already solved it. I appreciate you taking the time, especially when you’re supposed to be housebound.”

“Hey, I’m not an invalid,” Jessie reminded her. “I’ve been out and about.”

“You know that’s not what I meant,” Lemmon told her. “Speaking of, how has your head been today?”

“Not too terrible,” Jessie said. “I’ve been a little rough around the edges—a couple of headaches, a few zone out moments—but I managed.”

"Well, don't push it, not on my account. Doctor's orders."

“I’ll do my best,” Jessie said, keeping her promise vague.

Once she hung up, she immediately called Ryan. With everything he had going on, she thought it might straight go to voicemail, but he picked up on the fourth ring.

“Hey,” he said. “You okay? I didn’t run into you around the station today.”

“I’m fine,” she assured him, not mentioning that she’d spent the bulk of the day out of the office and in the field. “Grover and I are back at the house. He’s checking in with the bodyguards right now.”

"Please let me know how Hannah and Kat are doing when you find out," he requested. "How did your review of the Britton case go?"

“Not great,” she conceded. “So far, every lead I've looked into has run dry. But I plan to dive back in tomorrow. How are things going in the manhunt and woman hunt?"

“I checked in with Jack Dolan,” he said, referring to the FBI agent leading the search for Ash Pierce. “He sounded pretty frustrated.”

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