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“When did thehazmat team get involved?” Ryan asked.
“After theirinitial inspection of the scene, one of the responding officers noticed a metalcanister partially hidden under the bed,” Watt told them. “That immediatelyraised alarm bells. Everyone knows about the recent spate of poison killingsand has seen what those canisters look like. The moment they saw this one, theyevacuated and called for the hazmat team.”
“Were they able tosend you the photos they took?” Jessie asked, feeling slightly guilty forsounding like that was a greater concern to her than the officers’ welfare.
“They were,” Wattsaid, unfazed. “I have them here and can forward them to you as well.”
He held out hisphone. The first image was of the trophy. That was blood and hair on the marblebase of it. The second photo was a wide shot of Avery Sinclair lying on herbedroom floor. Blood had pooled around her head.
The third photowas a close-up of her wounds. Even with all her experience, it was hard forJessie to take. Maybe what she saw was made worse by the images she’d just seenof Sinclair looking so put together on her realty website bio page. But thewoman in the photo was unrecognizable.
The killer hadstruck at least four blows to separate parts of her head. Her face was coveredin blood and there were deep indentations in the top of her skull, herforehead, her cheekbone, and an eye socket. Jessie looked away, trying not tothink about the two young children who would learn later today that their mommywas gone and not coming back.
“Did the hazmatteam provide an estimate for when we might be able to get in there?” Ryanasked.
“Nothing firm,”Watt replied, “but if you give me a minute, I can try to get an update.”
“That would begreat,” Ryan told him.
Watt dashed off inthe direction of the house. When he was out of earshot, Ryan said what Jessiehad been thinking.
“What was thepoint of even coming all this way?” he growled in frustration. “If the hazmatteam isn’t going to let us in anytime soon, we’re just spinning our wheels. Wecould have looked at those photos back in Marina del Rey.”
Jessie couldn’tdisagree and was about to say so when their phones rang. It was the number forresearch. Jessie put the call on speaker.
“Please tell usyou have something,” she pleaded.
“Nothing hugelypromising,” Beth answered. “We’re still in the preliminary stages of lookingfor shared connections between Sinclair and the other victims, but so far we’recoming up empty.”
“What have youchecked?” Ryan asked.
“Since Sinclairhad two children,” Beth continued, “we looked to see if she was using DanielleRobertson as a tutor, but based on an initial review of her finances, itdoesn’t appear that she used any tutor at all for them.”
“What about LandonPowers?” Jessie wondered. “Any sign that she ever used him as a trainer.”
“Not that we canfind so far,” Beth answered. “She belongs to a gym, but not the one Powers isbased out of and her personal trainer is a woman.”
Jessie couldn’thelp but sigh. Both she and Ryan were quiet for a moment before she realizedthat the other researcher hadn’t said anything.
“Has Jamil foundanything?” she asked.
"He's lookinginto another lead right now, but so far, it hasn't gone anywhere."
Sergeant Watt wasjogging back over. Jessie could tell from his expression that the news wasn’tgood.
“The hazmat teamtells me it will be at least another hour before they can authorize entry intothe home, probably two before anyone can get up to the bedroom.”
Jessie was aboutto express her dissatisfaction verbally when she was interrupted by Jamil’svoice.
“Excuse me,” hesaid over speaker, his tone suggesting he was excited about what he was aboutto share.
“Go ahead,” Jessietold him, trying not to get her hopes up.
“I was followingup on a hunch,” he said. “When I learned that Avery Sinclair was a realtor, itmade me think back to how Danielle Robertson mentioned a realtor coming by atleast one of the other victims’ homes. I noted that when Sinclair won realtorof the year, the runner-up was a guy named Mitchell Vaughn, Jr.. The namesounded familiar, so I just cross-checked it.”
Jessie felt atingle in her fingers as she listened, sensing that something significant wasabout to be revealed. She stayed quiet as Jamil continued.
“It turns out thathe was involved with at least two of the other victims. When Tabitha Reynoldsand her husband got divorced, Vaughn was the realtor when they sold their home.And when Naomi Hackett’s family moved down here from the Bay Area, he was therealtor for the family they bought their house from.”
