by Blake Pierce
She closed the shower door and as it clicked shut, something in her mind clicked too. She realized what had been bothering her, the itch she couldn’t quite scratch. She had been imagining Hannah in Michaela’s position, a potential victim of a horrible crime.
But the more she thought about it, the more Hannah reminded her of someone else. The bold, pointless lies told so easily, the utter disregard for anyone’s well-being besides her own, the seeming lack of empathy for those around her.
Hannah reminded Jessie more of Richard Kallas than of Michaela Penn. And though she’d just spent ten minutes in a hot shower, Jessie suddenly felt horribly cold.
CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE
For a criminal profiler, Jessie Hunt felt pretty stupid.
She hadn’t figured it out when Ryan insisted on driving them back downtown after being discharged from the hospital. She hadn’t figured it out when he suggested they use their much deserved forced day off after tangling with a murderer to go bowling at the Lucky Strike at L.A. Live in the middle of the afternoon. She hadn’t even figured it out when she walked into the place and saw balloons and streamers.
It wasn’t until everyone jumped out to yell “Happy Birthday” that she realized what was going on. To be honest, she had completely forgotten that today was her thirtieth birthday. But apparently Ryan hadn’t.
How he’d managed to coordinate all this while in the middle of two investigations, courtroom testimony, and a hospital-requiring run-in with a sociopathic killer was beyond her. She looked over at him and was amused by his Cheshire cat smile.
“You’re sneaky,” she said playfully. “You said I needed to clear Thursday evening.”
He shrugged nonchalantly as if it was no big deal. Before he could say anything, they were swarmed by people. Hannah was there, with Garland, Kat, and a guy Jessie didn’t recognize but assumed was Deputy Mitch Connor.
Dr. Lemmon stood nearby as did Agent Jack Dolan and Patrick “Murph” Murphy, the federal marshal who’d protected her when her father was stalking her. Detectives Trembley and Callum Reid and officers Beatty and Nettles from Central Station were in attendance, as was Ryan’s ample-gutted buddy from Westside division, Detective Brady Bowen. Even Captain Decker had showed up.
They all hugged her gingerly, aware that she had been hospitalized recently.
“Hey, at least you got out fast this time,” Kat said drily. “I’m used to you convalescing in hospital beds for weeks at a time.”
“Me too,” Jessie said. “Thanks for stopping by to watch Hannah last night. I hope it didn’t mess up anything with that mountain man deputy over there.”
“Nah. Mitch and I needed a little break to come up for air, if you know what I mean,” she said, winking obviously.
“I do know what you mean, Katherine. But thanks for leaving little to the imagination. Just try to keep your clothes on until the party’s over, okay?”
“I’m not making any promises,” he friend said, already returning to the lane where Mitch was waiting for her.
When she walked off, Hannah came over, looking more tentative than usual.
“How are you doin’, big sis?” she asked, using that term for the first time.
“I’m getting by,” Jessie told her. “Sorry for abandoning you to the care of relative strangers for the night.”
“That’s okay. Until a few months ago, you were a relative stranger. Besides, Kat and the snarky geriatric are both way cooler than you. So it worked out.”
Her wry smile indicated that she was mostly kidding.
“You didn’t ruin any of Garland’s doilies, I hope?” Jessie asked.
“Nope—didn’t even see any. He must have hidden them somewhere to keep my grubby fingers off them.”
“Smart move,” Jessie noted.
“Perhaps,” Hannah conceded. “But what he doesn’t know is that however much money he saved by hiding his home valuables from me, he’s about to lose in bowling. We just made a friendly wager. And I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but before my life went to hell, I was in the bowling club at school. And I was good.”
“Seriously?”
“Yep. I’m about to clean him out after I have a little cake. Don’t warn him.”
“I won’t,” Jessie promised, crossing her heart.
She watched Hannah head over to the cake table and felt an unusual sense of relief. Bowling parties, cake, and casual, pleasant interactions were at such a premium she wanted to savor the moment. When there was finally a lull in the well wishes, Captain Decker came over.
“It looks like half of Central Station is here, Captain,” Jessie noted. “Who’s going to solve all the crimes and stuff?”
“Actually, I’m about to announce that they all have to get back in a minute. But I figured the bad guys would give us a thirty-minute break. They do that, right?” he said, smiling sardonically.
“Well, thanks for coming, even if only briefly,” she said.
“I would have stopped by regardless, Hunt. I wanted to give you an update on things. I figured you wouldn’t mind, even at your party.”
“You figured right,” Jessie told him. “What’s going on?”
“First of all, what I couldn’t tell you last night was that after our little chat at the doctor’s office, I went directly to headquarters to talk to Chief Laird. I insisted on the immediate revocation of your suspensions and any disciplinary actions. He caved on that pretty quickly. Then I addressed your concerns about Commander Butters and Valley Bureau. It turns out that Internal Affairs was already conducting a months-long investigation of both. That’s part of why you were waved off. They didn’t want you interfering and screwing up a potential case.”
“How aggressively could they have been investigating if this stuff was going on in nearly plain sight?” Jessie demanded.
“A fair question—one I broached with him. He didn’t have great answer for me. But after I brought all of your allegations to his attention, he immediately called in the I.A. team and put the wood to them. In the approximately sixteen hours since our meeting, several things have happened.”
“Should I be sitting down for this?” Jessie asked.
“Maybe,” he replied. “First, Laird got court orders to immediately expand the use of the wires already up on several officers. He rightly suspected that there would be a lot of chatter in the wake of Kallas’s arrest. Investigators checked the footage from the Travelodge where you alleged Butters met with Michaela Penn.”
“And?”
“We have matches on the dates where her GPS phone data shows her there. We see him arriving, opening the motel room door when she arrives, and leaving separately hours later. There are also cash withdrawals earlier on each of those days that correspond with the rate she quoted on that agency’s website. In addition, your FBI agent friend, Dolan, is having the cash in Michaela’s envelope tested for fingerprints. It’s a long shot but if even one bill has his prints on it, it could be dispositive. And there’s more.”
“Please don’t let me stop you,” Jessie insisted, trying not to sound giddy.
“They found an unmarked car in the Van Nuys Station motor pool with paint scratches that match Hernandez’s car. They also have conversations on those surveillance wire recordings between Butters and Costabile, as well as between Costabile and multiple Valley Bureau officers, that will be hard to explain in court.”
“What kind of conversations?” Jessie asked.
“Without getting too specific, I’ll just say there were references to rushed cremations, and hiding evidence, as well as past and future threats and attacks against people who were ‘getting in the way.’”
“That’s pretty specific, Captain.”
“I may have said too much,” Decker replied, smiling. “In any case, it’s my understanding that a massive sweep arresting over a dozen cops, including at least eight in Valley Bureau, will be happening in about…what time is it now?”
“It’s one thirty-eight,” Jessie told
him.
“In about twenty-two minutes, which is another reason we have to go. Some of our people will be assisting.”
“I’d be happy to help,” Jessie said, unable to hide the glee she felt.
“That’s okay, Hunt. I don’t want you anywhere nearby when this goes down. You should focus on eating cake and throwing that heavy ball down a long hunk of wood for the next little bit. We’ve got this.”
“Yes, sir,” Jessie replied.
Decker started to turn to leave but then seemed to remember something.
“One last thing,” he added. “Detective Parker in Vice wanted me to let you know that Filthy Films is being temporarily shut down.”
“Only temporarily?” she asked, aghast.
“I’m afraid so,” he said. “They’re investigating but she doesn’t think they’re going to be able to prove anyone knew Michaela Penn was underage. They did the minimum required to check her identity. I think we can both reasonably surmise that they knew her info was bogus. But proving that will be difficult. However, all of the Missy Mack films are being pulled from their site.”
“That won’t stop people from seeing them,” Jessie said. “Those movies will still be all over the aggregator sites. They may even become more popular because they’ll be extra taboo now.”
“You’re probably right,” Decker conceded. “But we’ve done all we can on our end.”
“So we move on and footage of a seventeen-year-old dead girl having sex continues to circulate on the internet?”
Decker sighed. It was clear that he didn’t have any good answer for that.
“Happy birthday, Hunt. I’m really glad you’re alive to celebrate it,” he said. Before she could respond, he turned and yelled to the bowling alley generally. “All on-duty personnel, it’s time to go. We have a pressing assignment.”
As the Central Station folks unhappily filed out, Garland Moses walked over.
“You don’t have to go too?” she asked.
“Me? No. I’m about to sweep the floor with your sister in bowling. Besides, my days of personally arresting multiple corrupt cops are well in the past, Ms. Hunt.”
Jessie shook her head in disbelief.
“You already know about that? How do you get access to everything so fast? It’s almost like…”
She stopped suddenly, her mind racing.
“Almost like what?” he asked curiously.
“It’s almost like you have inside information that, if you wanted to, you could share with trusted law enforcement personnel in the hope that they could correct miscarriages of justice before they got swept under the rug.”
“That is quite a lot and oddly specific, Ms. Hunt,” Garland replied with an inscrutable smile.
“Yeah,” she agreed. “I guess I’m a real Chatty Cathy.”
“If you say so,” he said noncommittally.
“Speaking of chatty folks,” she said, deciding to let him off the hook for now. “How did it go with Hannah last night? Are you two besties now?”
Garland’s smile faded and she saw immediately that something was wrong. All her fears from before, the connections she’d made between Hannah and Richard Kallas, resurfaced.
“What?” she asked.
“Let’s save it for another time,” he suggested.
“No. What is it? You profiled her, didn’t you, like I asked?”
“I had a pleasant conversation with her,” he answered calmly.
“Then why is there a massive pit in my stomach right now?”
“Listen, Jessie,” he said, using her first name for what she suspected was the first time ever. “We can discuss this in greater detail at a more appropriate time. For now, just know that you don’t need to overreact. Hannah and I spoke a fair bit and most of our time together was quite agreeable.”
She was about to press him on what “most” of their time together meant when her phone rang. She didn’t recognize the number but something made her answer anyway.
“Hello,” she said.
There was a moment of silence before anyone spoke. The delay reminded her of the full second before she got the call threatening Hannah. Sure enough, when a voice finally began to speak, it was digitally altered.
“You should have quit when you had the chance, little lass. I may pay a price now. But one day, maybe sooner than you think, you will. I hope it was worth it.”
Then the call ended. Though there was no way to prove it, she knew who had made the call. She could only recall one person ever referring to her as “little lass.” It had happened just the other day, when she bumped into a cop in a police station hallway and, with no one else nearby, he’d threatened her.
The call had come from Sergeant Hank Costabile.
Now she had a new enemy.
NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER!
THE PERFECT ALIBI
(A Jessie Hunt Psychological Suspense Thriller—Book Eight)
“A masterpiece of thriller and mystery. Blake Pierce did a magnificent job developing characters with a psychological side so well described that we feel inside their minds, follow their fears and cheer for their success. Full of twists, this book will keep you awake until the turn of the last page.”
--Books and Movie Reviews, Roberto Mattos (re Once Gone)
THE PERFECT ALIBI is book #8 in a new psychological suspense series by bestselling author Blake Pierce, which begins with The Perfect Wife, a #1 bestseller (and free download) with nearly 500 five-star reviews.
A suburban wife and mom escapes from the grasp of a psychotic serial killer—only to wind up murdered weeks later.
Was it a coincidence?
Or is there a serial killer out there playing a sick game of catch and release—and catch again?
Can famed FBI agent Jessie Hunt, 29, shake off her personal trauma and enter this killer’s mind? Can she save the next victim—and maybe even herself—before it is too late?
A fast-paced psychological suspense thriller with unforgettable characters and heart-pounding suspense, THE PERFECT ALIBI is book #8 in a riveting new series that will leave you turning pages late into the night.
Book #9 in the Jessie Hunt series—THE PERFECT NEIGHBOR—is now also available.
THE PERFECT ALIBI
(A Jessie Hunt Psychological Suspense Thriller—Book Eight)
Did you know that I've written multiple novels in the mystery genre? If you haven't read all my series, click the image below to download a series starter!
Blake Pierce
Blake Pierce is author of the bestselling RILEY PAGE mystery series, which includes sixteen books (and counting). Blake Pierce is also the author of the MACKENZIE WHITE mystery series, comprising thirteen books (and counting); of the AVERY BLACK mystery series, comprising six books; of the KERI LOCKE mystery series, comprising five books; of the MAKING OF RILEY PAIGE mystery series, comprising five books (and counting); of the KATE WISE mystery series, comprising six books ; of the CHLOE FINE psychological suspense mystery, comprising six books; and of the JESSE HUNT psychological suspense thriller series, comprising seven books (and counting).
An avid reader and lifelong fan of the mystery and thriller genres, Blake loves to hear from you, so please feel free to visit www.blakepierceauthor.com to learn more and stay in touch.
BOOKS BY BLAKE PIERCE
EUROPEAN VOYAGE COZY MYSTERY SERIES
MURDER (AND BAKLAVA) (Book #1)
DEATH (AND APPLE STRUDEL) (Book #2)
CRIME (AND LAGER) (Book #3)
ADELE SHARP MYSTERY SERIES
LEFT TO DIE (Book #1)
LEFT TO RUN (Book #2)
LEFT TO HIDE (Book #3)
THE AU PAIR SERIES
ALMOST GONE (Book#1)
ALMOST LOST (Book #2)
ALMOST DEAD (Book #3)
ZOE PRIME MYSTERY SERIES
FACE OF DEATH (Book#1)
FACE OF MURDER (Book #2)
FACE OF FEAR (Book #3)
FACE OF MADNESS (Book #4)
&
nbsp; A JESSIE HUNT PSYCHOLOGICAL SUSPENSE SERIES
THE PERFECT WIFE (Book #1)
THE PERFECT BLOCK (Book #2)
THE PERFECT HOUSE (Book #3)
THE PERFECT SMILE (Book #4)
THE PERFECT LIE (Book #5)
THE PERFECT LOOK (Book #6)
THE PERFECT AFFAIR (Book #7)
THE PERFECT ALIBI (Book #8)
THE PERFECT NEIGHBOR (Book #9)
CHLOE FINE PSYCHOLOGICAL SUSPENSE SERIES
NEXT DOOR (Book #1)
A NEIGHBOR’S LIE (Book #2)
CUL DE SAC (Book #3)
SILENT NEIGHBOR (Book #4)
HOMECOMING (Book #5)
TINTED WINDOWS (Book #6)
KATE WISE MYSTERY SERIES
IF SHE KNEW (Book #1)
IF SHE SAW (Book #2)
IF SHE RAN (Book #3)
IF SHE HID (Book #4)
IF SHE FLED (Book #5)
IF SHE FEARED (Book #6)
IF SHE HEARD (Book #7)
THE MAKING OF RILEY PAIGE SERIES
WATCHING (Book #1)
WAITING (Book #2)
LURING (Book #3)
TAKING (Book #4)
STALKING (Book #5)
KILLING (Book #6)
RILEY PAIGE MYSTERY SERIES
ONCE GONE (Book #1)
ONCE TAKEN (Book #2)
ONCE CRAVED (Book #3)
ONCE LURED (Book #4)
ONCE HUNTED (Book #5)
ONCE PINED (Book #6)
ONCE FORSAKEN (Book #7)
ONCE COLD (Book #8)
ONCE STALKED (Book #9)
ONCE LOST (Book #10)
ONCE BURIED (Book #11)
ONCE BOUND (Book #12)
ONCE TRAPPED (Book #13)
ONCE DORMANT (Book #14)