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After severalseconds of silence, Beth spoke.
“She’s gone now.”
“Can you shut thedoor, Beth?” they heard Jamil say quietly.
Jessie and Ryanexchanges a curious glance, waiting to see why the researcher was suddenlybeing so cautious.
Once they heardthe door close, Jessie asked.
“Why so secretive,Jamil?”
“Because while youwere all talking, I found something else,” he said, “but I didn’t exactly comeby it legitimately, so I didn’t want the captain to know.”
“Color meintrigued,” Jessie said. “What is it?”
Jamil sighed.
“I don’t feelgreat about this, but I think it was worth the risk,” he said. “I was goingthrough Danielle Robertson’s personal information, and I found a reference toher having a juvenile record. As with all juvenile files, it’s sealed andinaccessible without a court order. But I hacked the system anyway.”
Everyone was quietfor a moment, stunned that a straight arrow like Jamil Winslow would do such athing.
“We can deal withthe moral issues associated with that decision later,” Ryan eventually saidwith mild disapproval. “But since it’s already done, what did you find?”
“Apparently whenshe was in middle school, Robertson was the victim of vicious bullying,” Jamilsaid. “It started out with teasing and name-calling. Other girls would refer toher as “Junior” and “Chip” as in ‘chip off the old block’ because her last namewas Robertson, as in “Robert’s son.” Really dumb stuff. But it eventuallyescalated to the point where some girls would text her, telling her that sheshould kill herself.”
“Oh my god,”Jessie muttered.
Jamil continued,clearly attempting to push through because the material was so unpleasant.
“This group ofgirls apparently cornered her in a classroom after school one day andrelentlessly berated her, telling her different ways that she should endthings. When one of them shoved her against the teacher’s desk, Robertsongrabbed a stapler and began beating that girl about the head with it. The othergirls called a teacher for help. By the time Robertson was pulled off the firstgirl, she was unconscious. She ended up losing an eye.”
No one could thinkof anything to say, so Jamil pressed on.
“She was going tobe sent to a juvenile detention facility, but when the enormity of the bullyingshe faced was uncovered, her lawyer managed to get her placed in a diversionprogram at a psychiatric facility. When she was released a year later, her familymoved to a different town for high school. There were no subsequent issueslisted in her record. She graduated with honors, got into a great school andgraduated in four years. You know the rest.”
“So are wethinking that the horrors she suffered in middle school a dozen years ago madeher some kind of ticking time bomb that exploded this week?” Beth asked.
"It could bemore complicated than that," Jessie said. "We don't know what kind ofindignities she suffered in that psychiatric facility. She may come out seemingrecovered, but it’s possible that she just shoved down whatever was churninginside her.”
She looked atRyan, whose expression suggested he was less skeptical than before. But shecould tell he still wanted more. She gave it to him.
"Plus, we allheard what Shane Willoughby said. It seems like Avery Sinclair was the adultversion of the mean girls that Danielle knew as a teenager. I don’t know aboutTabitha Reynolds or Naomi Hackett, but Clarissa Langley didn’t sound like a barrelof laughs. Maybe the accumulation of nastiness from these women eventually madeher snap.”
“Maybe,” Ryanconceded, “but that’s still not as direct a motive as Mitchell Vaughn losing arealtor award to Avery Sinclair last night and her ending up pummeled to deathwith that very award today. I realize we don’t have motives yet for him withthe other women, but that doesn't mean they don't exist."
Jessie couldn’tdisagree, even if she felt increasingly confident that Robertson was theirkiller. She wracked her brain for something so substantial that even Ryancouldn’t dismiss it. And then it hit her. In all her haste to make the piecesfit, she’d passed over the one tidbit that Robertson had provided for them.
“Hold on, Jamil,”she said, “didn’t you say that Robertson’s school bullies called her ‘Junior?’”
“Yes, that andChip.”
Jessie stared hardat Ryan.
“Shane Willoughbytold us that Danielle preferred the kids call her Junior. Why do that when thename is fraught with so much pain?”
“Maybe that washer way of taking ownership of the word so that it lost its power over her,” heoffered.
“Or maybe shenever really got over it,” Jessie countered, “and having children call her thatwas a way of continuing to beat herself up all these years later.”
