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“When I asked whatjob she would have that prepared her for murdering innocent people, she seemedslightly taken aback and coughed a little. I couldn’t tell if she was stallingto come up with a convincing answer or if she was sincere in her confusion andstunned that I was so confrontational with her. But when I watch and listen tothose parts of the exchanges on the video now, I’m not sure if it was just myimagination.”
“The footage andthe audio are just too compromised to determine anything like that,” Katpointed out. “What does your gut tell you?”
Hannah took amoment to really think about that question.
"My gut tellsme that she's lying," she finally answered. "I think she knew who Iwas. And I still think that this is all an elaborate con game to either gainsympathy before a jury or get her security detail to lower their guard. But amI a hundred percent sure? No. She never made a false move or said a false word.She never gave any clear indication that she knew that I was testing her, oreven that she knew who I was. She never misstepped. And if she is fakingthis, that’s the scariest part.”
“Why do you saythat?” Kat asked.
“Because if she’soperating at this level right now, only weeks out of waking from a coma anddays after having major neck surgery, what will she be like when she’s back atfull strength?”
Kat ran herfingers through her dirty blonde hair, clearly troubled by the same issue.
“Maybe we couldhave Jessie talk to her,” she suggested. “She’s a professional criminalprofiler.”
“Maybe,” Hannahreplied, “but she’s only had minimal interaction with Pierce. She hasn’t seenher in action like we have. She hasn’t seen her weave an entire false narrativeabout her life or coldly prepare to kill someone. I feel like we’re better ableto catch her in a mistake than Jessie is.”
“What then?” Katwondered, her tone irritable.
Suddenly, an ideaoccurred to Hannah.
“There’s noquestion that Jessie is an amazing profiler,” she said, “but I can think ofsomeone else who has experience with that job, someone who used to work withthe LAPD and the FBI, profiling killers, and then left that job to spend thelast decade probing people’s minds for more altruistic reasons.”
“You’re talkingabout Dr. Lemmon?” Kat assumed.
“I am,” Hannahconfirmed. “Think about it. She doesn’t have any of the baggage that you or I,or even Jessie does. She’s had decades of experience studying killers, as wellas working with everyday people dealing with mental and emotional challenges,and she’s an expert at telling the difference between the two. If she asked tointerview Pierce, the LAPD would surely welcome her evaluation.”
“But wouldPierce?” Kat asked.
“That’s the bestpart,” Hannah said, warming to her own idea. “If she’s legit, then she shouldwelcome the opportunity to prove it to someone as respected as Dr. JaniceLemmon. And if she’s lying, she has two options. She could refuse to talk withLemmon for fear the doctor would uncover her deception, which would be a badlook. Or she’d view it as an opportunity to outmaneuver someone withunparalleled authority with law enforcement. If Lemmon gave her the ‘allclear,’ it would do wonders for her credibility. Whether she’s telling thetruth or not, Ash Pierce should want to leap at this chance.”
As Hannah made thecase, she saw something happen that had been incredibly rare in the last fewdays. She saw Kat break into a smile. If for no other reason than maintainingthe hopeful grin on Kat Gentry’s face, Hannah decided that this had to happen,and soon.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
“You can’t explainit to me?” Ryan asked, clearly frustrated as he sat across from Jessie at theconference room table.
She was equallyexasperated. Not with him, but because she was unable to find the words toconvey what was eating at her.
“I’m trying,” shesaid, “but every time I think I’ve got a handle on the idea, it fades away,like I’m trying to grab a wisp of smoke.”
“Okay,” he saidcalmly, “tell me what you were thinking about when you got the tingly feeling.”
“It was somethingabout Hannah,” she said, “and how, despite how far she’s come, she can still beimmature. That’s when the bells went off in my head.”
“What, like shereminded you of one of our suspects who was immature? Selfish maybe? That’scertainly true of some of them, although we could say the same thing about someof victims too. Maybe that was it?”
“Maybe,” Jessiesaid, unconvinced.
Ryan continued. Itwas clear to Jessie that he hoped that by throwing out suggestions, he mightunlock whatever thought she couldn’t access.
“Clarissa Langley,for one, seemed more interested in ensuring that her seven-year-old son getsinto a good college than in letting him enjoy his holiday break,” he noted.“And Naomi Hackett doesn’t even live with her family during the week becauseshe’s so fixated on her tech startup.”
Jessie was aboutto chastise Ryan for criticizing Hackett for the exact same professional“selfishness” that so many hard-charging men regularly displayed, when anotherthought burst into her brain. This wasn’t about selfishness or immaturity.She’d been thinking about Hannah earlier because sometimes her little sisterwas still, at heart, just a kid. That was the idea that had been circlingaround in her head all this time: this was about the kids. She looked up atRyan.
“Did we everfollow up on the GPS location data for our suspects other than MitchellVaughn?” she asked, “to determine when they were last at the victims’ housesand make sure those dates and times matched what they told us?”
Ryan’s facescrunched up in uncertainty.
