CHAPTER EIGHT
Jessie couldn’t believe that this was it.
It was early evening, and despite hours of research and investigation, they had no new suspects.
Unfortunately, they hadn’t found anyone to replace him.
None of Caroline’s work colleagues had criminal records.
Her work emails, which they got full access to, indicated no ill will between her and anyone there.
Not surprisingly, the marketing executive had a diplomatic manner that went over well with everyone.
Her personal email and social media revealed little more.
Any disputes with friends or acquaintances were minor.
Even her exchanges with Jordy were fairly tempered, considering their status.
Her friends, after getting over the shock of her death, said the same thing: Caroline was easy to like and impossible to hate.
No one could think of a motive to kill her.
And the friends that knew her well agreed on something else: that it was unlikely her murder was related to a romance gone wrong.
Everyone said that she hadn’t dated since the divorce, that she told them she wanted to work on herself some more before re-opening that door.
That eliminated another potential source of suspects.
By the time Jessie and Ryan left Central Station for the day, they were both ready for a mental break. As Ryan pulled out of the parking garage, Jessie followed her standard, now-almost-automatic routine of scanning nearby pedestrians and drivers for a potential Ash Pierce sighting.
The hitwoman knew where they worked and lived.
Since the police station was secure and their house was essentially a residential citadel, Jessie figured Pierce might have better luck pursuing her along the route between the two.
But so far, she hadn’t seen any sign of her.
That fit with what Hannah had told her, that her attempts to track Pierce online and through security camera footage had yielded nothing.
It was like, over the last month, she’d dropped off the face of the earth.
While still scanning for threats, Jessie figured now was as good a time as any to smooth over the conflict that had been simmering between her and Ryan since this morning. She could tell that, despite his attempts to hide it, he was still put off by her pregnancy joke before they left the house.
“So,” she said from the passenger seat, trying to sound as casual as possible, “I was hoping to follow up on something with you.”
“What’s that?” he asked, his eyes on the road.
“I wanted to apologize again for my crack this morning when you were getting out of the shower. I didn’t mean to come across as so flippant.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he said unconvincingly.
“But I do worry about it,” she said, refusing to let it go.
“Look, I know we took a pause in discussing this, and I respect that. You said that you were worried that the…bloodlust that I was feeling over the last eight months was a dealbreaker when it comes to having kids. That was totally justifiable. If I can’t control myself, if I have the urge to inflict physical damage on people I deem unworthy, that’s an issue that could complicate parenting, to put it mildly. ”
“We really don’t have to get into this now, Jessie,” he said, almost pleadingly.
“I think we do,” she insisted. “Because the status of my recovery has kept us in a holding pattern. Until you feel like I’m safe as a potential parent, we can’t discuss whether we still even want to pursue children, whether it be through pregnancy or adoption.
And that’s the discussion we really need to have—is this something we’re really ready for? Is it something we still want?”
“Okay,” he replied, glancing over at her, “I guess when we feel you’ve got a handle on those violent urges, we can revisit those questions.”
“I think we’re there.”
“What?” he asked, incredulous.
“It’s been two and a half months since I went to that facility in Sicily. I’ve been back on the job for a month. And I feel like I’ve developed—or at least am developing—a real ability to restrain those urges. I believe that I’ve made real progress.”
“I thought you said the coping techniques they gave you at that facility weren’t as effective as you hoped because you had to hide behind a bland diagnosis of ‘anger management issues’ rather than tell them the specifics of what set you off.”
“That’s true,” she conceded. “I obviously couldn’t come out and say, ‘I have a recurring desire to mete out violent retribution against wrongdoers and a little while back, I acted out on that impulse with a knife to the heart.’ That would have had consequences.”
“So what makes you think you’ve come so far then?”
“Because that wasn’t the only place I learned coping techniques,” she said.
“What does that mean?”
She was about to answer when she got a text from Captain Parker that made her sigh.
“What’s wrong?” Ryan asked.
“Parker says Chief Decker wants us to call him with an update on the Caroline Sheffield case. He promised her aunt an update and hasn’t heard anything new in hours.”
“That’s because we don’t have anything new,” Ryan said, irritated.
“Agreed,” Jessie said, “But we have to be a little more diplomatic when we tell him that. I suggest we tell him that we’re starting fresh tomorrow and anticipate having some promising leads by then.”
“So you want to lie?” Ryan asked.
“I don’t want to disappoint the man, so I’m choosing to be optimistic.”
But even as she said it, she silently conceded that Ryan was right. It would be a lie.
They had nothing.