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“That’s why Ithought I might be in trouble,” Powers explained.
“Why?” Ryanpressed.
“We never hookedup,” he answered. “I mean, there were lots of opportunities. I trained her atboth her Palisades house and her apartment in Playa Vista. And I thought shemight be into me, so I made a move. Turned out I was way off. She said she washappily married and that she didn’t feel comfortable working with me anymore,so she ended our sessions. I thought maybe she was accusing me of somethingmore than hitting on her, which is all it was, I promise.”
“It seems like alot of your professional relationships end up getting personal, and then endingbadly, “Jessie observed. “You ever get frustrated by that? Maybe a littleangry?”
“No way,” he said.“Usually someone just ghosts the other person. I’ve never been mad about it,and no one has ever come after me. Stuff just fizzles out, you know?”
As Jessie studiedthe man, she had to admit that she found it hard to buy him as a killer. Hedidn’t strike her as the kind of guy who could properly set up an aerosolizedpoison canister without accidentally gassing himself. Then again, she had metmore than one murderer who threw off suspicion by playing dumb. Regardless ofher doubts, she pressed on.
“Where were youyesterday between the hours of 4 p.m. and 9:30?”
“Um, I know thatpart of that time I was training a couple of people at their homes. I had asession here in Santa Monica at six and another one in Venice after that. I cangive you their names if you want.”
Jessie noted thatthose windows of time didn’t exonerate him. Tabitha Reynolds had died betweenfour and six. Naomi Hacket had passed away between nine and nine-thirty. Beyondthat, the canisters’ timers could have been set well in advance in order to providehim with an out. Traditional alibis wouldn’t be of much help in this case.
“What about onWednesday between three and seven?” Ryan asked, though it was clear from histone that he was also aware of the limitations of this line of questioning.
Powers eyes litup. “I was at a convention in Anaheim all day on Wednesday. I left at about sixin the morning and didn’t get back until around ten at night. Does that get meoff?” he asked hopefully.
“Actually, no,”Jessie said, though with each passing moment, one thing became increasinglyclear. With or without an alibi, they didn’t have enough to arrest LandonPowers right now.
They had to lethim go. The question was: were they releasing an innocent man? Or a killer?
CHAPTER TWELVE
Avery Sinclair waseasy to watch without being noticed.
For the persondoing the watching, it was hard not to sneer at how the woman went about herday with unmatched arrogance, walking along in her high heels and businessskirt, with her long, red hair bouncing perfectly with each step.
Slumping downbehind the steering wheel to avoid being spotted in their car parked on thestreet, the observer took note of how Sinclair moved through the world as if itwas hers for the taking, oblivious to the possibility that she might be in anydanger.
As she walked backto her Porsche 718 Cayman after exiting the mansion that she was preparing toput on the market, she looked absently at her phone. She had no clue that theperson who was going to snuff out her existence was less than a hundred feet away,surveying her every move.
For Sinclair, thiswas just another perfect mid-morning on another untroubled day, one where shecould demean others, engage in petty cruelties, and still enjoy living in thelap of luxury. But what she didn't know was that these happy, easy times were aboutto come to an end. Someone was going to make her last moments on this earth aliving nightmare. And if things went according to plan, that nightmare wouldend suddenly and painfully.
Avery Sinclair gotin her Porsche and sped off. Her observer, parked just across the street, lether go. There would be time to catch up later.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Hannah knew thiswas a bad idea.
But even as shestepped out of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center elevator to the fifth floor, shealso knew that she wasn't going to turn back. She'd promised Kat that she wouldhelp her, and that was exactly what she intended to do.
Of courseyesterday evening, when she’d started reviewing all the research material thatKat had collected on Ash Pierce, she hadn’t anticipated that it would end upwith her being on the same hospital floor where Pierce was being held. But asthe hours wore on, she couldn’t tear herself away.
Kat had compiled adetailed record of the claims Ash Pierce had made over the last month regardingher memory loss. In addition, she pulled dozens of medical research articles onamnesia, with a focus on patients whose memory loss occurred after experiencinga coma, as Pierce asserted hers had.
While the studieshad a wide variance in conclusions, few of them found examples of what Piercewas claiming: that she had lost her memory of the entire time from just priorto the coma all the way back to her life as a Marines Special Operationselement leader, and then as a CIA assassin, covertly targeting foreignadversaries. Conveniently, her recall excluded her later work as a hiredhitwoman, which included the assignment to torture and kill both Hannah andKat.
In the end, whileHannah was extremely dubious about Pierce’s credibility, she didn’t feelconfident enough to dismiss her claims outright. She decided that an in-personvisit was required. Of course, she hadn’t mentioned that in her chat with hersister this morning. Jessie would not have approved.
Though Hannahwasn’t entirely sure what her plan was, she knew her ultimate goal. She wouldget in to see Pierce so that she could look her in the eye, speak with her, andmake some determination about whether this whole thing was real or fake.
But now, as shewalked down the hospital corridor toward the secure unit where Pierce was beingheld, she found herself surprised. She was feeling something that was so rareas to be alien to her: nerves, along with a bit of fear.
The last two timesshe’d been face-to-face with the hitwoman hadn’t gone swimmingly. Last summer,she’d raced to the desert just in time to save Kat, who had been duped andtortured by Pierce. The assassin had underestimated Hannah, and she’d managedto knock her adversary out with a police baton. It took everything in her powernot to keep slamming the woman’s head with it until it became a pulpy mess.
