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“Any chance he’smaking a break for it out the back door?” he wondered.
“Let’s give him afew more seconds before barging in,” Jessie advised. “It is a tad lateto be calling on people.”
“Who is it?” amale voice suddenly demanded from behind the door.
“LAPD,” Ryan said,holding up his ID and badge in front of the peephole. “We have a few questionsfor you, Mr. Ashton. Can you please open the door?”
There was a briefpause before the man responded.
“How do I knowthis isn’t some elaborate ruse to get access for a home invasion?” Ashtonasked, sounding legitimately concerned.
Ryan looked atJessie, and she could tell he was annoyed. Before he said something toexacerbate the situation, she intervened.
"Mr. Ashton,if you're concerned, you can call the department directly," she said."Give them Detective Hernandez's badge number and ask them to verify thathe's out on this call. They'll reach out to him with you still on the phone toconfirm what we're saying. We can have one big conference call."
There was anotherbrief pause, then the door opened to reveal a short, salt-and-pepper-haired manwith wire-rimmed glasses. He had a beady intensity to him that Jessie suspectedmight help with his work but didn’t make him seem like a fun hang.
“I recognize you,”he said. “You’re Jessie Hunt, right? The profiler?”
While shegenerally disliked being recognized for her past exploits, she sensed that, inthis case, it might actually help advance the investigation.
“That’s correct,”she told him.
“I know you’relegit, so I guess I can assume he is too,” he said, nodding at Ryan. “What’sgoing on?”
“Mr. Ashton, aclient of yours died today,” Jessie said, taking the lead. “We’re following upwith all her co-workers, close acquaintances, and business connections. Andyou’re next on our list. May we ask you a few questions?”
That descriptionwas an exaggeration, as she and Ryan had so far only spoken to RayleneFlorence, but Ashton didn’t need to know that.
“Um, okay,” hesaid hesitantly. “Do I have to let you in, or can we do it out here?”
“Coming in isalways nice, but it’s up to you,” she told him. How he chose to respond couldprove useful information in its own right.
“I think I’dprefer to do it out here,” he said.
“All right,”Jessie replied, trying to hide her suspicion. “How well did you know TabithaReynolds?”
He looked at her,then at Ryan. He was clearly stunned, though she couldn’t tell if it was atlearning about Reynolds’s death or because he was surprised that they’d foundhim the same night.
“Is she the onewho died?” he asked, his voice quavering.
“She is,” Ryantold him. “How well did you know her?”
Ashton pressed hispalm against the door frame for support as he answered. “I mean, like you said,she was a client. I started working with her last year when her fashionbusiness took off. Because she’d never had her own business and she wasn’t usedto having so much income, she wanted to determine how best to allocate it. Weset up a plan and put it into action. That’s pretty much the gist of it. I meetwith her twice a year to review everything and decide if we want to make anychanges. I think we last met about six weeks ago, maybe early November. I cancheck my phone if you want.”
“Please do,” Ryansaid.
Ashton pulled hisphone out of his pocket and began tapping. As he did, Jessie looked over at herhusband and partner. He was on edge, ready for anything that might happen. Butbased on how Ashton had reacted so far, there was no indication that he was onthe verge of doing anything precipitous. Of course, Ryan had been a cop a lotlonger than she’d been a profiler, so she wasn’t inclined to dismiss hisconcerns.
“Yeah,” Ashtonsaid a moment later, we met on November 2nd. She came to my office,which is just a few blocks from here.”
“Did you noticeanything unusual at that meeting?” Jessie wondered. “Did she mention anyconcerns that you found out of the ordinary?”
“I honestly can’tremember anything like that,” Ashton said. “I could check my notes but ifnothing springs to mind right now, then it was probably a pretty standardmeeting.”
“Where were youearlier today?” Ryan asked forcefully, clearly hoping to get the man out of hiscomfort zone.
It worked, asAshton looked taken back.
