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“Just that Averywas at our place a few weeks ago for a girls’ night and Danielle—she likes thekids to call her Junior, by the way—was working with my son, Braden. He andAvery’s boy, Rhett, are the same age and she asked if Danielle was helpful. Istarted singing her praises, so they talked briefly, and Avery took hernumber.”
“So Avery wasgoing to hire her for sure?”
“I wouldn’t gothat far,” Willoughby said. "Avery seemed convinced, but I'm not sureDanielle was."
“Why not?” Jessieasked.
“Because Averywas, for lack of a better word, kind of bitchy to her. Avery has a lot of goodqualities, but she can be sharp-elbowed with her barbs, and she was tossingthem off fast and furious that day. Danielle knows how to deal with entitledpeople. Hell, I’m entitled. But Avery is a lot, and the poor girl lookeda little put off. I’m not sure she wanted to deal with someone so biting on aregular basis.”
“Thanks very much,Mrs. Willoughby,” Jessie said. She felt like she had more than enough.
“Of course,” thewoman replied. “Let me know if you need anything else. I just want our childrento be safe.”
Jessie had barelyhung up with Willoughby before she was suggesting a theory to Ryan and theresearchers, who had been on speaker the whole time.
“I think I canexplain why Sinclair was killed with that trophy instead of the poison,” shesaid.
“Please,” Ryanasked. He clearly knew better than to get in the way when she was on a roll.
“If Sinclairwasn’t a client yet, there was no easy way to plant a poison canister in herhouse,” Jessie said. “That means she would either have had to talk her way in,maybe at a scheduled meeting, or perhaps an impromptu one. Either way, I thinkthat when she tried to plant the canister in Avery Sinclair’s bedroom, Sinclairfound her. A struggle ensued, with Sinclair dead from blunt force trauma andRobertson rushing out because the poison canister went off accidentally.”
“Ms. Hunt?” Jamilsaid cautiously.
"You're notgoing to shoot down my theory, are you, Jamil?”
“No,” he assuredher. “I have some new information, but I didn’t want to interrupt you.”
“Interrupt away,”she told him.
“I got more robustGPS data for Danielle Robertson’s movements in recent months,” he said, “and Ido find multiple instances of both her vehicle and phone in the Playa Vistaarea in the last couple of weeks. Neither of them are ever within more than acouple of hundred yards of Naomi Hackett’s apartment but she was definitelynearby. The last time she was there was on Saturday.”
Jessie viewed theinformation as a net positive.
“As far as I’mconcerned, none of that disproves my theory,” she insisted. “Robertson couldhave just left her phone in her car while she went to Hackett’s apartment.”
“That’s certainlypossible,” Ryan agreed, "and you've offered a more than credible theory.Unfortunately, everything about it is just as circumstantial as the case wehave against Vaughn, maybe more so.”
“What do youmean?” Jessie wanted to know.
“Well, for onething, Danielle Robertson isn’t exactly an imposing figure,” he said. “AverySinclair was taller than her. I could more easily see Vaughn getting the upperhand on her in a struggle. And Robertson doesn’t seem like any more of ascience expert than Vaughn. We can certainly talk to her again, but unless wehave something more bulletproof, I don’t see Parker recommending that ChiefDecker postpone his news conference.”
Jessie knew thatRyan wasn’t intentionally trying to undercut her. He was just doing his job,poking the same holes in the case that Parker would. But it was stillfrustrating. She tried to focus on the merits of his arguments and not take itpersonally. As she pondered what he’d said, one point he’d made struck her asunconvincing.
“Are we sure thatRobertson isn’t more knowledgeable about science than we’re giving her creditfor? She is an aspiring teacher after all, and just because she said that shedidn’t understand upper level stuff doesn’t make it true.”
“What did she sayshe majored in again?” Ryan tried to recall. “Was it Child Development?”
“That washer major,” Beth informed them, the tone of her voice suggesting she had comeacross something interesting. “But reviewing her academic records, it lookslike she only switched to that after her freshman year.”
“What was itbefore that?” Jessie asked excitedly.
Beth paused for along beat before answering.
“Biochemistry.”
Jessie felt asudden desire to punch her fist in the air. But before she even got the chance,she heard a familiar voice on the other end of the line.
“Excuse me,”Captain Parker said. She had apparently walked into the research departmentback at Central Station. "I know you all are in the thick of it right now,but I need to take a moment of your time.”
