Chapter 29 #3
What did Catherine say to that? “Clara’s name has come up in the course of our investigation into Emily’s murder.”
“Oh. Wow.”
“How did Emily know Clara?” she repeated.
“Clara worked at the hotel. She didn’t need to work—she had come into a lot of money when she got her trust fund, which was
after we had split. But she liked being around people, and she was good at her job.”
“Which was?”
“Personal trainer. She pretty much made her own hours. Emily worked in Marketing. They didn’t really work together, but I thought they were friends.
At least friendly, you know. Until Clara applied for a different position.
She’d been at the hotel for like two years maybe?
And said she wanted something new. She had a marketing idea and wanted to work in the marketing department.
Well . . . Emily didn’t think her idea was any good, and she didn’t hire Clara into the open position.
Clara told me Emily got promoted over her, but I think that was kind of a stretch.
Emily did get a promotion, but Clara had no chance at it.
Then Clara accused Emily of stealing her idea and quit.
She was mad, I get it, but Clara wasn’t the sharpest tack.
She wasn’t dumb,” he said quickly. “She was great with people, but when it came to details or math or budgets? She couldn’t be bothered. ”
“Thank you, that helps.”
“You don’t think Clara . . . I mean, she wouldn’t hurt anyone.”
“I don’t think anything yet,” Catherine said, “but I appreciate your time.”
She ended the call. She did think something, but nothing she wanted to share with Charlie Rowe.
Clara lived in her own world. She saw slights where there were no slights. Emily didn’t steal her boyfriend—Clara and Charlie
had split long before Emily came along. Emily didn’t steal her job, but Clara would have considered it a slight that Emily
may have prevented her from getting a position that she wanted. Especially if they were friendly. The accusation that Emily
stole her idea was likely built on a slim premise or stray comment.
Catherine looked again at the timeline. Clara had quit her job at the hotel two months before the wedding. And that’s probably
when she seduced Emily’s father for the sole purpose of exposing the affair and putting a damper on the festivities. She did
it to be mean, but Catherine suspected she got satisfaction out of emotionally destroying a family.
Destroying the Masters family was Clara’s way of destroying her own, though she would never admit it . . . and she probably wouldn’t even recognize it if Catherine laid out the breadcrumbs.
Why was Clara, who had a ten-million-dollar trust fund, working as a personal trainer? Was she bored? Wanted to meet people?
Maybe to seduce or scam them? Did she find joy in tricking people? Did the murders evolve because she became bored with seduction?
Or because she and Garrett had married and she didn’t want to sleep with other men?
How did she meet Garrett Reid?
Michael called her. “We’re done at Hope Davidson’s house. Jim said that Matt and Kara are likely being held in southern Georgia—I
don’t want to drive in the opposite direction and go back to the resort, I want to be closer to where they are being held.”
“The hotel here in Jacksonville has allowed us to use one of their conference rooms,” Catherine said. “I need to talk to Reid’s
lawyer, but he hasn’t returned my call. Meet me here, and we’ll head over to his office to have a conversation with him.”
“Can we do that?”
“Yes. He doesn’t have to talk to us, but he needs to know what we’re dealing with—who he’s dealing with.”
“What are we dealing with, Catherine?” Michael asked bluntly.
She hesitated, only a moment. She was confident, but her previous errors still weighed heavily on her.
“I believe, based on what others have said and the crimes committed, that Clara Dolan is a psychopath. I believe she has Antisocial Personality Disorder. Her deceitfulness, using multiple names, impulsiveness, reckless disregard for safety, rationalization for her acts, lack of empathy for her victims. There are a few traits that don’t quite fit, but psychopathy is not a hard science, and people are unique.
Most people with mental disorders aren’t killers, but those who start killing do so with complete inner justification of their actions.
Without a formal interview, I can’t state this all with certainty. ”
“And Garrett Reid is the same?”
“No. Reid isn’t a naturally violent person. He’s certainly a sociopathic con artist, but I don’t believe he would have ever
turned violent without Clara’s influence. He naturally avoids confrontation. Which is why I want to talk to his lawyer. We’re
going to offer him a deal.”
When Michael ended the call, Catherine turned to Ryder. “I need everything about Becca McCarthy and her disappearance, every
detail you can find no matter how trivial. That’s how we get Reid to turn on his wife.”
Then she called Tony. She would have to convince him to pull out every favor he had to offer a deal to a suspected killer.