The Perfect Secret (A Jessie Hunt Psychological Suspense Thriller—Book Eleven)

by Blake Pierce

  That’s when Decker walked in.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, immediately sensing something was amiss.

  “Look at this,” she told him, handing over the lawsuit.

  She watched as he read it. His face turned into a frown that grew increasingly severe. But as he finished the last page, he broke into a wry grin.

  “I consider it a good thing,” he said, handing it back to her.

  She was stunned at his reaction.

  “I’d love to hear how you came to that conclusion,” she said.

  He started to speak, then stopped himself.

  “Care to join me for a walk?” he asked.

  She nodded. Neither of them spoke until they were in the courtyard.

  “This means you’ve got them rattled,” he said when they got to a secluded section. “They don’t file twenty-two-allegation lawsuits against someone they’re not worried about.”

  Jessie appreciated the sentiment but didn’t want him to forget about the practical concerns.

  “They may be worried,” she said. “But I’m the one who’s going to have the huge legal bill.”

  Decker shook his head paternally.

  “Don’t worry about that,” he said. “The consulting contract you signed for this case protects you. The department will foot any legal fees you incur during the course of your investigation. The higher-ups may be scared of Otis but they also know that if they cave on this, it will be open season for harassment lawsuits against cops doing basic police work.”

  “But I’m not a cop,” she reminded him.

  “This is the rare occasion in which you actually have the best of both worlds. You’re a private citizen not bound by every department rule. But you have the legal resources of the LAPD at your disposal. I suspect the consultant policy may be revised if this lawsuit bankrupts the department. But that’s a concern for another day.”

  Jessie allowed herself to be heartened by what he said, even if some small part of her feared the department would cut her loose if things got too messy. Instead of obsessing over that, she moved on.

  “Any luck overturning the stay for our search warrant at the Otis Estate?” she asked.

  He responded with a wry chuckle.

  “Still working on it,” he said. “I think it may happen, but not today. The key is, once it’s overturned, you have to be ready to execute the warrant immediately. I suspect Otis will find another judge to reverse it again ASAP, which means you’ll only have a brief window to get in there and look around. Make sure all your ducks are in a row.”

  “Detective Bray’s been working on it,” she assured him. “She says we can have units on site within ten minutes of any ruling, day or night.”

  “Good,” he said. “What else have you got for me?”

  She walked him through what she’d learned from the cold case files that Detective Parker had flagged for her. With each revelation, the creases in his forehead seemed to get deeper.

  “Obviously, don’t tell anyone about this,” he said when she was done. “Not Detective Bray, not your young researcher friend, no one. I’ve created a secure cloud account for just the two of us. Send a copy of the files there. Otherwise, don’t distribute them anywhere. We’ll share them when the time is right.”

  Jessie nodded.

  “I’m assuming all these precautions mean you’re no closer to uncovering the mole who stole the thumb drive from Parker’s locker?”

  “I don’t have anything official on that,” he said cryptically. “But I wouldn’t say ‘no closer.’ There’s movement.”

  “Well, whoever did it is definitely not a free agent,” she said, telling him about her visit to Beto Estrada without naming names.

  He listened intently as if what she was saying comported with suspicions he already had but wouldn’t share. When he replied, it was more generally.

  “Once the mole is caught, we can make our next move.”

  “What would that be?” Jessie asked.

  “Get someone to go on the record—maybe the mole, maybe someone from one of these cases who hasn’t settled, maybe a new victim, maybe the source who gave you the file. Once someone speaks out, the floodgates should open.”

  “You think someone will really speak out against Jasper Otis?” Jessie asked skeptically, “Because I’m pretty sure my source won’t.”

  “We’ll see,” he said with more confidence than she would have expected. “I have some tools at my disposal that I prefer not to share just now. I may be old, Hunt, but I’m also wily.”

  “But—” she started to say.

  “No more ‘buts’ tonight. It’s getting late. Don’t you have folks waiting for you at home?”

  Jessie looked at her watch. It was already 5:36 and she’d promised Hannah she’d be home for dinner at six. A rush of angst passed through her as she realized she was in danger of violating her promise.

  “Yes,” she said. “If I’m not home in twenty-four minutes, I may have to sleep in the backyard hammock.”

  She was already halfway across the courtyard when she heard Decker call out “good luck.”

  *

  Jessie made it with three minutes to spare.

  After dinner, John the night nurse helped Hannah with the dishes. Jessie retreated to the guest bedroom to change. Suddenly the weight of the day hit her. She had a source afraid he was a dead man walking. She’d uncovered a massive sex-trafficking ring that had been essentially ignored for a decade. She kept hitting dead ends in her murder investigation. A billionaire mixed up in both was suing her into the ground. Her wheelchair-bound, barely verbal boyfriend looked completely wiped out from his first full day at home. And, though Hannah was all smiles, Jessie got the unsettling feeling that her half-sister was hiding something big. Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door.

  “It’s open,” she said.

  Hannah opened it, a look of trepidation on her face.

  “Can I talk to you about something?” she asked.

  “Of course. Come on in.”

  Hannah entered and closed the door behind her, a sure sign that this wasn’t going to be a chat about her calculus grade.

  “I have to tell you something,” she said. “When you hear it, you might be a little pissed at me. But you have to promise not to interrupt or say anything until I’m done.”

  “Okay.”

  “I need you to promise,” Hannah reiterated.

  “I promise,” Jessie said, wanting to give the girl space to be honest but terrified at what she might be about to hear.

  Hannah proceeded to walk her through the events culminating in this afternoon’s drive with Rico. She mentioned the first approach from Elodie weeks ago; how it seemed to fit with Jessie’s suspicion about a sex ring; that she’d engaged Elodie today; the ride she’d taken with Rico; what he’d revealed and what he expected of her tomorrow.

  “I recorded the whole conversation with him,” she concluded. “I got his license plate number. I couldn’t risk taking his picture without him noticing but I was able to sneak one of Elodie. I have all of it on my phone.”

  She seemed to be done. Jessie waited an extra moment to be sure before speaking.

  “Are you okay?” she finally asked.

  “I had a little moment after it was over,” Hannah admitted. “Kind of a delayed freak-out where I realized it could have gone bad and you might have found my head in a dumpster. But yeah, I’m okay. You think this stuff will help with the case?”

  Jessie looked at her little sister and took a deep breath, trying to give the impression that she was evaluating the value of the information, which she couldn’t accurately assess yet. Hannah had an expectant expression her face, as if she was waiting to be thanked for her contribution to the investigation.

  This was a delicate moment. Her little sister had put herself in real danger—danger that still existed—without seeming to have any real sense of what she’d gotten herself into. She appeared more excited by the intrigue
of the situation than concerned for her own safety.

  And yet, she’d been trying to help. Jessie had spent so much time worrying that Hannah might be conscienceless. Discovering now she had put herself at risk in the hopes of helping other young women was strangely heartening. She didn’t want to quash that instinct. Moreover, she’d been honest about it when she knew that it could get her into trouble. Jessie wanted to reinforce that impulse, not undermine it.

  “Thank you for telling me,” she began delicately. “I’ll definitely take all the information you got and see if it can be useful. I really appreciate that you were trying to make a difference.”

  “But you’re pissed,” Hannah said, her hopeful expression starting to turn sour.

  “No,” Jessie said quickly. “I’m not pissed. I’m concerned, for the very reasons you mentioned. This Rico guy is expecting you to go with him to meet his boss tomorrow. That obviously can’t happen. They may have already done a background check on you based on your name. You’re no longer safe. That’s what I’m focused on—making sure that nothing bad happens to you. I was just hoping we could make it to the end of the year without any kind of threat to your life.”

  “Wishful thinking,” Hannah muttered.

  “Probably, but a girl can dream. So we’re going to do what we need to do to keep you safe. I’ll reach out to the right folks to follow up on this. If it’s connected to the trafficking ring I mentioned, we’ll pursue that. Even if it’s not, we’ll roll these people up and take some bad actors off the street. You’ll be responsible for making that happen. You should feel proud about that. I just wish you would have discussed it with me beforehand.”

  “In a million years, you would never have let me get in that car,” Hannah insisted. “And I never would have gotten the recording.”

  “You’re probably right,” Jessie admitted. “But can you blame me?”

  They left it there. As soon as Hannah stepped out of the room, Jessie texted Gaylene Parker.

  “Need to talk in person first thing tomorrow.”

  Within seconds, she got a thumbs-up emoji. With that done, she helped Ryan settle in for bed. He’d been quiet all evening, which she’d attributed to his exhaustion. But once they were in his bedroom alone together, he motioned for her to sit beside him on the bed.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked slowly.

  She smiled. Even in his exhausted state, with her doing her best to hide her struggles, she couldn’t fool him.

  “Just having a rough workday,” she said. “You know how it is. Sometimes everything seems to come in waves. It’s just a real storm right now.”

  “Otis?” he asked.

  She stared at him, amazed.

  “How did you know that?” she asked.

  “Watch news,” he huffed. “Hear you on the phone. Ears still work.”

  She worried he was upset that she’d underestimated him, but he was smiling as he said it.

  “I forgot,” she admitted. “You just can’t shut off that detective brain, can you?”

  “Never,” he said with more vigor in his voice than she’d heard from him since the injury.

  “I don’t want to bore you with the details, especially before bed,” she told him as she grabbed his hand and squeezed. “Let’s just say that solving a murder connected to a vindictive, amoral billionaire who may be involved in a criminal conspiracy that I can’t talk about definitely makes for a tiring day.”

  He squeezed her hand back.

  “Look…at me,” he said firmly.

  She did. He continued, clearly, and without pausing for breath.

  “No one better at this than you. No one better to bring this guy down. Stay strong. Love you.”

  Only after he said it did he sink back against his pillow, worn out by the effort of what he’d needed to convey.

  “Thanks, babe,” she said, wiping tears away with her free hand. “You don’t know how badly I needed to hear that.”

  But his smile told her that he did know. And he was right. She could do this. And she would.

  CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

  Jessie only slept until 4:30. There was a lot to do this morning. Her first call was to Decker.

  “A team is ready to execute a search warrant on Otis’s house the second the stay is lifted,” he told her.

  “Excellent,” she replied. “By the way, Hannah’s going to need undercover cops watching her at school today for reasons I’ll explain when we talk in person.”

  “Speaking of in-person conversations, check in with Jamil when you get to the station. He has some updates for you.”

  When Nurse Patty came to relieve Nurse John, Jessie and Hannah left too. Ryan was still asleep so Jessie asked Patty to call when he woke up so she could say good morning.

  “Our plan for your school day is being revised,” she told Hannah when they were in the car. “We’ll be making a pit stop at the police station first. I’ll explain everything soon.”

  Once they arrived at the station, everything happened in quick succession. She pulled up in front.

  “We’re here,” she texted Decker.

  A minute later he and Detective Parker emerged and hopped in the back seat of the car. Jessie made the two-minute drive to Nickel Diner, where she’d had so many heart to heart conversations with Garland Moses. But this visit would be different.

  When they walked in a server ushered them to the secluded banquette in the back corner, one that Decker had called to reserve. All three law enforcement professionals were equally paranoid that the police station wasn’t safe for extremely sensitive conversations. And after their multiple chats in the courtyard, Jessie noted that she was worried that someone might have even placed a listening device out there. The hope was that moving quickly and unexpectedly, they could stay ahead of prying ears.

  “Give it to us quick. I don’t know how long we have,” Decker said as soon as they sat down. He pulled out a small box and placed it on the table. “This is a high frequency blocking device. It should offer some temporary protection.”

  Jessie dived in, giving the basics of Hannah’s story while simultaneously sending Decker and Parker the audio recording, license plate, and photo of Elodie Peters. She mentioned the planned meeting with Rico’s boss this afternoon. Parker, her head down, furiously took notes the whole time. When Jessie finished, the detective spoke quickly.

  “Here’s what I recommend. Based on your request to the captain earlier, we already have two undercover officers lined up for the day, one male and one female. They’re both experienced in high school environments. We’re already coordinating with the school for at least one of them to be in each of Hannah’s classes throughout the day. The other will tail Elodie.”

  “Won’t that seem suspicious to her?” Hannah asked. “Two new kids showing up in her classes?”

  “Unlikely,” Parker said. “We’ll rotate them. They won’t interact with her more than necessary. There’s no reason she would make any connection. Hannah—after school you will ride with one officer to the corner where Rico expects to meet you and identify him in his vehicle. That will be the extent of your involvement.”

  Jessie was relieved to hear that, even as she saw that Hannah was disappointed.

  “Wouldn’t it be better for me to play along so that he takes me to meet his boss?” she asked.

  “It’s too risky,” Parker said. “The minute you get in his car, hell, the minute he sees you, you’re in jeopardy. As Jessie said, they may have already looked into your background. If they have, they might have figured out that your story doesn’t add up. We don’t know how Rico will react. We don’t know if he’ll have people with him. There are just too many variables. Instead, one officer will escort you home while the other follows Rico in conjunction with other unmarked units. We may ask you to text Elodie to have her tell Rico you’re not feeling well and need to postpone.”

  “Why?” Hannah asked.

  “We’ll need some excuse for you not to show up, no mat
ter how lame,” Parker explained. “We don’t want Rico to get spooked. We still want him to go to his boss’s place this afternoon.”

  Hannah seemed unhappy with the plan but Parker, unmoved, fixed her steady gaze on the girl.

  “Your job, other than to text Elodie that you’re cancelling the meet, is to have a normal day. Go to your classes. Do your work. If Elodie approaches you, act as if everything is still on for this afternoon. Don’t try to record her or get additional information. We don’t want to spook her either and have her warn Rico off. Is that all clear?”

  Hannah nodded that it was. Parker continued.

  “Great. We’re going to take a few extra precautions when we leave here. The captain and I are going to head out now and walk back to the station. You two will leave a couple of minutes later. Your sister will drop you off at the Pershing metro station,” she said to Hannah as she held up her phone. “This woman, who is one of the undercover officers you’ll be with at school all day, is currently sitting on a bench outside the station entrance. Her name’s Marie. She’ll follow you down the escalator. At the bottom, she’ll pass you. Follow her without making contact. She’ll lead you to a separate exit, where you’ll both be met by a car. Once you get in, she’ll explain the details from there.”

  When she was done, Decker turned to Jessie.

  “When you get back to the station, find me and we’ll deal with the other pending matters.”

  With that, the captain and Parker got up and left. Jessie and Hannah waited two minutes before doing the same. As they walked out, it occurred to Jessie that after seating them, no one from the diner had approached them, even to offer coffee. Apparently Captain Decker had trained the staff here well.

  A few minutes later, they pulled up at the station entrance. Marie, the undercover cop, was scrolling disinterestedly through her phone. Jessie was amazed at how young the girl looked in person. She had to be in her early twenties but with her floral dress, sneakers, and high ponytail, she could easily pass for sixteen.