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“I sawOlivia—she’s five—last Wednesday. She didn’t have any tests to study for oranything. She’s only in kindergarten, but Naomi thought it might be good toreview the material from the last month or so, just to prevent any learningloss over the holidays.” Robertson suddenly gasped as she seemed to come tosome realization. “Oh my god, I can’t believe that little girl is without hermother now.”
"Ms.Robertson," Jessie said, not allowing herself to get sucked into thatspiral of thoughts for fear it would overwhelm her. After all, this was amurder suspect, and she needed to view her as such.
“You can call meDanielle,” the tutor interrupted.
“Danielle,” Jessiesaid, “when you worked with Olivia, was that at the Hackett’s home in PacificPalisades or Naomi’s apartment in Playa Vista?”
Danielle looked ather, confused for a second.
“I don’t know whatyou mean,” she said, “I only ever went to their house. She has a place in Playatoo?”
“You didn’t knowthat?” Jessie asked.
“No,” she said.“Nothing like that ever came up. I know she runs—ran—a tech company in theSilicon Beach area, but I didn’t know she had a place there too.”
Jessie felt herheart sink at that answer. Ryan must have sensed her deflate because he tookover.
“She stayed theresome weeknights rather than commute home,” Ryan told her.
“I guess thatwould explain why she wasn’t around most times I visited Olivia.”
“So you’ve neverbeen to her apartment, even to pick up a check?” Jessie pressed, hoping to findsome way to keep this lead alive. “It’s not that far from here.”
“I wouldn’t evenknow where it is,” Danielle explained, “and most of my clients pay via Venmo,Zelle, or PayPal anyway. In a lot of cases, with nannies around, me doingtutoring mostly in the afternoons, and parents working late at high-poweredjobs, I’ll go weeks or even months without ever seeing them. In fact, in someinstances, I’ve never spoken to the client in person other than during ourinitial hiring meeting.”
Jessie forcedherself to keep her disappointment to herself as she responded.
“Would you bewilling to let us review the GPS data from your phone and vehicle to confirmwhat you’ve told us?” she asked, more out of obligation than anything.
“Of course,”Danielle said. “I know you have to verify what I’m saying. I just wish therewas something more I could do.”
“Maybe there is,”Ryan suggested. “Did you notice anything unusual when you were at any of theirhomes? Interpersonal conflicts? Or something as straightforward as otherservice providers like yourself who worked for all three women.”
Danielle thoughtfor a second. Even before she replied, Jessie could tell from her expressionthat whatever she had to share would be of little use.
“Like I said, mostof the time, the parents weren’t around,” she explained. “It was just me andthe kids, so it’s not like I observed any fights or anything like that. As faras providers go, there were people in and out of those homes all the time. I alwaysheard doorbells ringing and voices in other rooms.”
“You never sawthese people?” Jessie questioned skeptically.
"Hardlyever," Danielle replied. "I would usually work with the child as farfrom all those distractions as I could, either in their rooms or somewhere elsesecluded. Even at Tabitha Reynolds's, which was a loft apartment, we worked inSamantha's curtained-off space and Tabitha's housekeeper would deal with anyonewho came by. No faces or names jump out at me right now. Still, I could try togo back through my appointments and see if that jogs my memory about anyone whoI saw at all of their homes. It might take a while, though. Could I get back toyou on that?"
“Sure,” Ryan said,handing over Jamil’s business card. “Call our head of research with what youremember. He’ll also send you a waiver to access your GPS data, so we don’thave to get a court order.”
He indicated toJessie that they should head out. She followed behind him, trying to keep herfrustration hidden and sensing that she was failing. Though Danielle Robertsoncould still end up being their killer, just like the personal trainer LandonPowers could, what they’d learned here wasn’t promising.
If Danielle’sstory held up, she likely wouldn’t have had enough personal interaction todevelop a motive for killing them. And if it was true that she’d never evenbeen to Naomi Hackett’s apartment, planting a canister full of poison there washard to explain.
As they walked outof the apartment and back to the car, Ryan kept silent. He was wise to do so.He knew better than to engage her when she was in this kind of mood. Barring asurprise, their two strongest suspects were dead ends.
Jessie wasn’t sureif she was more depressed or pissed. Either way, they were back to square one,which meant their killer was that much closer to finding another victim. Theycould be out there right now, hunting for one. Or worse, they might have alreadyfound one.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Avery Sinclair wasdying.
She’d been wearingfour inch heels all morning and her calves were screaming at her. So when shefinally got home to her Pacific Palisades home, after visiting four propertiesshe’d recently put on the market, she was happy to slip out of those shoes andinto some slippers.
It was a temporaryreprieve. After having a quick bite for lunch, she had two other couples tomeet with, both of whom wanted to list their places early in the new year. Theonly good thing was that the commute would be negligible, as they each livednearby, in mansions even more impressive than Avery’s own home.
