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He glanced at thetrain app again. They would arrive at the next stop, Hollywood & Western,in two minutes. He would get off there, leave the station, dump the backpack ina street-level trash can, and catch a cab—which he would pay for in cash—to hisnext destination.
Then, he wouldhole up and wait for the call from the Central Station dispatch sergeant, whowould let him know when it was time to make his move. He was almost in thewind. And soon, Jessie Hunt would be in the ground.
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
Time was runningout.
Jessie looked atthe clock on the wall of the small conference room. It read: 3:34 p.m. They hadless than an hour until Chief Decker's news conference about the poisoncanister murders, and so far, they had nothing to go on.
It wasn’t for alack of effort. They had checked back in with everyone who could be of help.Sergeant Watt from the Avery Sinclair crime scene had filled them in on what heknew.
"There was aRing camera on Sinclair's front door, but it wasn't operating properly,"he had explained when they spoke earlier. "We checked the footage fromjust prior to the 911 call, and it looks like it was damaged. We found a largerock in the rose bushes beside the door, which we think the killer threw at thecamera to disable it. Everything from six minutes prior to the call is blurryand distorted. It's clear that someone approached the house in that time butthere's no way to identify who it is."
“Any luck onfingerprints or DNA?” Ryan had asked.
"No word yeton the latter, but the fingerprints came up empty," Watt said. "Theonly ones we definitively ID'd on the trophy were Sinclair's and a woman namedGail Musco, the emcee who handed it to her last night. And we checked—Musco lefttown for a holiday trip with her family this morning."
Soon after thatdisappointing conversation, they’d gotten a call from Officer Stoller, who hadaccompanied Marian Voytek back to the Vaughn Realty office.
“Ms. Voytek can’tfind any record of Clarissa Langley in their files,” Stoller had told them.“She says that doesn’t preclude them having ever met, perhaps at an open houseor other event. But apparently Vaughn never formally worked with her.”
Jessie knew thatRyan was thinking the same thing that she was: none of this was enough to taketo Parker. The Ring camera neither helped nor hurt Vaughn. Nor did the lack offingerprints on the trophy. That only confirmed that the killer was wearing gloves.And Jessie could hear Captain Parker in her head, making the very point thatOfficer Stoller had. Not having Clarissa Langley as a client didn’t prove thatVaughn didn’t know her. It only proved that he hadn’t created a file for her.
In desperation,Jessie had even gone back to Mitchell Vaughn to plead her case, this timenotably without Ryan. She hoped that the man might providesomething—anything—that could definitively allow them to eliminate him as asuspect. When she had walked into the interrogation room, Vaughn was sittingwith his lawyer, a smallish man in his forties with a mustache and anaggressive comb-over, who handed her card that read: J. August Kinney.
“Mr. Kinney,” shebegan, sitting down opposite both men, “I know your client has invoked hisright to counsel, but I’m imploring both of you to reconsider his lack ofcooperation.”
“Why?” Kinneyasked.
“Because, despiteour initial interaction with Mr. Vaughn, I think there’s a better than decentchance that he didn’t commit these crimes,” Jessie told him. “And if that’s thecase, then it means there’s a killer out there while he’s in here. But in orderto convince my bosses of that, I have to have something to work with. If he canwalk me through where he was over the last week, it could prove helpful to bothhim and us.”
“How can my clientknow that you won’t use what he says against him?” Kinney asked, soundingunconvinced.
“I can’t promiseanything,” Jessie said, “but if he’s not responsible for these murders, thennothing he says will incriminate him, and it might save other lives. As it isright now, the department is ready to recommend charges against your client. Ifyou can give me a compelling reason to advise against that, it will prevent anyfuture damage to his reputation and help us refocus on the real killer.”
“Ms. Hunt,” Kinneysaid, a smarmy smile on his face, “while I can assure you that Mr. Vaughn hadnothing to do with these terrible crimes, and also convey that we wish yousuccess in your investigation, solving this case is not his responsibility.Moreover, here’s what I can promise you. If the LAPD holds a news conference,as I’m hearing it will, naming my client and recommending he be indicted formurder, this department will face a lawsuit unlike anything it’s everencountered before.”
“There’s no needfor threats, Mr. Kinney,” Jessie said.
“I beg to differ,Ms. Hunt,” Kinney countered. “There is no physical evidence tying Mr. Vaughn tothese killings. His arrest was based on hasty assumptions and circumstantialevidence that can be easily rebutted. Furthermore, he is a respected member of thecity’s business community, and you will be irrevocably besmirching his name,likely making it impossible for him to continue to make a living here. Youwould be taking this action despite direct warnings about the impact of makingthese allegations publicly. So let me be clear. Mr. Vaughn will not becooperating with this department in any way. He expects to be releasedimmediately. And if Chief Decker names him to the news media, rest assured thatI will be at a microphone minutes later announcing a pending lawsuit againstthe department for a sum involving nine digits. Have I made myself clear?”
He had, which waswhy Jessie had now returned to the conference room more depressed than whenshe’d left it. Ryan hadn’t even asked how the meeting had gone. It was all overher face.
“Anything fromJamil and Beth while I was gone?” she asked dejectedly.
“I haven’t checkedin with them lately,” Ryan admitted. “I figured that if they had something,they would have called.”
“Well, I’m at mywit’s end,” Jessie said, slumping in her chair. “The frustrating thing is that,even if Vaughn had given us alibis for the times of the murders, it wouldn’thelp much. Just like with Landon Powers and Danielle Robertson, he could haveplanted those canisters much earlier and set them to release at a time of hischoosing.”
Ryan shook hishead in frustration, before raising his hand as if asking for permission tocomment. Only he didn’t wait.
“Maybe we check inwith the families and staff of the victims again,” he suggested. “It’s possiblethat someone remembers Vaughn coming by recently. Unlike Powers and Robertson,who both went to these houses regularly, it would be odd for a relator to showup at their home if they didn’t have business with him anymore.”
"But thatassumes that Vaughn might be our guy," Jessie reminded him, "and Idon't think he is, so that line of inquiry would be following a dead-endlead."
Ryan was quiet fora moment, as if slightly afraid to say what was he was thinking.
“Go ahead,” shetold him. “I can tell you have something on your mind.”
