Page 38 of The Perfect Appearance

“That’s right,” Jessie said. “She’s also my therapist. As you may have heard, I’ve had a few psychologically challenging incidents in my personal history. Janice Lemmon was instrumental in helping me find a path forward so that I could not just function in life but thrive.”

“That’s swell,” Wagner shot back unsympathetically. “But what the hell does it have to do with us?”

Jessie remained calm, refusing to be baited.

“In addition to helping me,” she said, “Lemmon was old friends with Gemma Britton, though they lost touch years ago. When I finished my session with her yesterday, she mentioned Gemma’s death and how broken up she was about it. She was worried that leads were drying up and that it might fall off the radar, so she asked me to look into it informally. Obviously, it's not my case, and I'm on leave right now anyway. But this woman saved my life, and I didn't feel like I could just tell her to take a hike for bureaucratic reasons, so I did a little digging."

“You did a hell of a lot more than that,” Wagner growled.

“That’s fair,” Jessie conceded despite the urge to push back, sensing that directly challenging the guy would only make things worse. “But that’s kind of who I am, Detective. I’m like a dog. Once I get my teeth on that bone, I don’t let go. So I got a little ahead of myself, I admit. I looked at evidence that wasn’t in my purview. I talked to witnesses without permission.”

“You did what?” Ortega demanded, losing the hushed tone pretty quick.

“I’m just trying to be straight with you,” Jessie replied. “I talked to Gemma’s receptionist, Cara Boynton—twice actually. I spoke to Britton’s friends and family. I didn’t have authorization for any of it, but I couldn't stop myself. And now, here I am at your crime scene without any official connection to the case, though I allowed Sergeant Delco to believe otherwise. And I did all of it when I'm supposed to holed up, hiding from a serial killer and a hitwoman who both want me dead. That's why Mr. 'Strong and Silent' over there hasn't left my side. He's my personal bodyguard, and he's probably more pissed than you guys that I'm here right now. He thinks I'm putting my safety at risk."

“You should listen to him,” Ortega muttered.

“Of course I should, Detective Ortega," Jessie admitted in mild exasperation, "but I'm not going to. Listen, guys, I should have come to you directly. I shouldn't have gone behind your backs. But I'm being honest with you: I'm not going to stop investigating this case, especially not now that it looks like we've got a serial killer on our hands."

“We could arrest you right now,” Wagner suggested. “That’d stop you.”

Jessie shrugged.

“You could try,” she acknowledged, “but I’m not sure how well that would go over with my guardian angel here, Mr. Nix. And Captain Hernandez from Central Station might take issue with his wife being incarcerated somewhere that she could be a sitting duck for a professional killer. Not to mention the reaction you’d probably get from Chief of Police Decker, who was a guest at my wedding.”

“I didn’t think you were the type to pull rank like that, Hunt,” Ortega chided.

"You thought wrong, Detective," she said, staring at him hard. "I will do anything in my power to solve this case, not just for my friend, but for the two women who were brutally murdered. They deserve justice, and I aim to get it for them."

Neither man spoke, which was just as well because she wasn't done.

“Now you can certainly throw roadblocks in my way, but that doesn’t seem like the best use of your time. Like I said, I’m on leave. I’m not assigned to this case. I’m not looking for the glory. But as long as I’m here, why don’t you guys use me? We can keep it informal. I’ll stay in the background. But I’m offering my assistance. Let me help you. It’s what I do.”

The detectives looked at each other. Wagner still appeared reluctant, but Ortega seemed to be on board.

“What’s the harm, Brett?” he asked. “We’re nowhere on this thing and she’s the best in the business. Maybe something will pop. If not, we’re no worse off than before.”

Wagner still didn’t look enthused but let out a sigh of resignation that indicated he wasn’t going to fight the idea.

“We’ll do it,” he said, turning back to Jessie, “but under certain ground rules. First, this is all off the books. You don’t do any press conferences. You don’t call our captain for extra resources. Nothing like that. This is all kept close to the vest. No one outside this house needs to know of your involvement.”

He glared at Sergeant Delco at that point, which Jessie thought was unnecessary. Delco had been nothing but professional and helpful so far. But she bit her tongue about that.

“Sounds good,” she agreed, not mentioning that if needed, she would employ the services of the HSS research team. “What else?”

“No more talking to our witnesses or potential suspects,” he insisted. “When we get info, we’ll share it with you, but you’re not to go out in the field, seeking it out. Got it?”

“I do,” she confirmed. “My bodyguard here would require that even if you didn’t.”

Wagner looked like he wanted to add more regulations but seemed to run out of them.

“You want to fill her in, Ramon?” he said to his partner. “Then maybe we can actually take a look at the body ourselves?”

"Sure," Ortega said. "We got the official preliminary coroner's report back today on Gemma Britton's death. Unfortunately, it didn't offer anything we didn't already know. The approximate time of death was listed as between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m., but we already know the window was smaller than that because the receptionist left the office at 4:40 that afternoon. The cause of death was repeated blunt force trauma to the head, resulting in a massive brain bleed. We know the murder weapon was her quartz crystal bowl. As you noted earlier, there were no usable fingerprints at the scene. Same with DNA. Our list of credible suspects, which we can provide if you don't already have it, was always small. The alibis of everyone on the list checked out."

Jessie nodded, deciding it was best not to share how much of that she already knew so as not to rub salt in their investigative wound.

“That a bummer,” she conceded. “But hopefully this new victim will allow us to make some connections that might help.”

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