Page 36 of The Perfect Appearance

Benton squinted at the name on the ID, then looked back at her. The sudden slackening of his jaw was proof that he’d made the connection now.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Hunt,” he said quickly, his cheeks flushing in embarrassment. “I didn’t realize that you had been assigned to the case.”

"I'm just here out of the goodness of my heart," she said, not technically lying while also not sharing that shewasn’tassigned to the case. “May I go in?”

“Of course,” Officer Benton told her, stepping aside and pointing at Grover, “but what about him?”

“I assume you’ve heard about the people trying to kill me, Officer Benton?

“Yes, ma’am,” he said.

“Well, this gentleman is my personal bodyguard. He’s very particular about doing his job properly. And right now, his job is making sure that no serial killers jump out of the shadows to attack me."

Benton looked appalled at the idea.

“I’m sorry that you’re having to deal with that, Ms. Hunt,” he said sincerely. “You should be getting a medal, not death threats.”

“That’s very sweet of you to say, Officer,” she replied humbly. “So you can understand why I need him to accompany me. I assure you that he won’t touch anything inside.”

“If you vouch for him, then he can go in,” Benton relented.

“Thank you,” she said, stepping inside before the young officer could reconsider.

They'd barely set foot on the carpeted floor when a rail-thin officer in his late thirties with crew cut brown hair and a scowl marched toward them. Jessie sighed silently. From his uniform, she could tell that this was the sergeant in charge of the scene. If he gave her a hard time, it would delay her chance to look around. And with the detectives arriving at any time, she couldn't afford the pause. But as he got closer, his expression changed from irritation to surprise.

“Jessie Hunt,” he said more than asked.

“Good morning, Sergeant," she replied warmly.

“Good morning,” he said, fighting not to look flustered. “I wasn’t aware you were working this case, Ms. Hunt.”

“I just want to help out in any way that I can, Sergeant…?”

“Delco,” he said quickly. “We’ll take all the help we can get. But I’m afraid the detectives aren’t here yet.”

“That’s okay,” she said casually. “While we wait for them, maybe you could walk me through the scene and share what you know so far.”

“I can do that,” he said, sounding uncertain, “but it’s not a ton yet. “We’ve only been here for about a half hour.”

“Anything you can share is more than what I know so far,” she told him, deliberately avoiding fixing her gaze in the direction of the victim. “But maybe you give me the big picture before we check out the body. I usually prefer to save that for last.”

“Understood,” he said, leading them over to Isabel Shea’s desk. “We checked her appointment book, and it looks like her last client was named Henry Colt. Shea’s notes say that her 9 a.m. cancelled and she filled the slot with Colt, who was a first-time patient.”

Jessie's mind raced. If Holt truly was a new patient, then her initial theory was way off base. When he dressed up in disguise as Tyler Hardigan, it must have been for some reason other than so the psychiatrist wouldn't recognize him. The simple explanation was that he just didn't want to be identified on any cameras. But Jessie wondered if something else might be at work. Could he be ashamed of what he was about to do?

“Dr. Shea noted that he paid in cash,” Delco said, interrupting Jessie’s thoughts, “which is still in her cash box, so we don’t have any financial info to help track down the guy.”

Jessie nodded as she thought about that detail before brainstorming aloud.

“So we know that Holt, who we believe is the killer, showed up for his fill-in appointment at nine and that he was gone by the time the next patient arrived and found the body at ten. Correct?.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Sergeant Delco said.

“And payment was with cash, the same method used by Gemma Britton’s killer,” Jessie noted. “I’d be willing to bet that Henry Colt isn’t his real name, though you should still run it through every possible database.”

"Yes, ma'am," the sergeant said again. "Not to jump the gun, but don't you think it's a little odd that the guy left the money behind?"

“It’s a good point,” Jessie agreed. “He could have just forgotten it or panicked. But I’m more inclined to think it was done intentionally.”

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