CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
An hour later, they’d made some progress, though not as much as Jessie would have hoped.
Jamil had accessed Jennifer Nash’s communications and found that she kept in occasional touch with both victims, as well as several others from Thornfield who seemed to be in the same social circle. But nothing appeared overtly suspicious.
“I want every woman who was included in any of these communications to be contacted directly,” Ryan told the researchers as soon as the connection became clear.
“We have three alumni from the same graduating class murdered over the last three nights. The others in their friend group need to know that precautions are in order.”
“Reach out to both of them, as well as Amanda Krantz,” Ryan instructed. “Give them the basics on what’s happening and advise them to take extra safety precautions over the next few days.”
“What about girls who weren’t in their graduating class?” Beth asked.
“What do you mean?” Ryan asked.
“It’s just that there are also a couple of girls from the class below them who also got included in these chats on occasion,” Beth explained. “Riley Sinclair and Tess Singleton. Should we call them too?”
“What do you think?” Ryan asked Jessie. “Overkill?”
“It looks like the killer’s focus is on friends in the senior class so far,” Jessie said, “but that could just be a coincidence. The connection among the victims might be something unrelated to that. I say we should cast a wide net. Warn everyone who could be at risk. I’d hate for us to filter out a potential victim because they didn’t fit a profile that we don’t yet understand and then have something happen to them. ”
“Agreed,” Ryan said, turning back to the researchers. “Call all of them. And don’t just warn them. Ask for their input. If they’re aware of some obvious connection among the victims that we’re missing, we want to know about it.”
While the researchers made the calls, Jessie and Ryan focused on confirming Nash’s time of death. According to the police report, Nash’s art studio landlord found her dead just before 10 P.M.
He said he’d also checked on her just after 5 P.M. and got no response when he knocked on the door, although that didn’t necessarily mean she was dead at that point.
While there were no security cameras outside the building, Nash’s studio did have an alarm system, which was activated at 2:37 P.M. and deactivated at 3:04.
That matched with what the detectives who were originally assigned to the case last night had learned.
Nash had stepped out to the dry cleaners to pick up a dress that she planned to wear for a show she had scheduled for this Saturday.
The dry cleaners had security footage showing Nash entering the business at 2:49 P.M. and leaving at 2:52 P.M. That was apparently the last time anyone saw Nash alive.
The original detectives had concluded, and Jessie agreed, that the alarm deactivation at 3:04 indicated that Nash was returning to her studio.
The medical examiner’s preliminary estimate for time of death—between 4 and 8 P.M., also fit the timetable.
She was killed after she returned to her studio at three and before the landlord found her at ten.
Even more likely was between three and five, when the landlord stopped by and got no reply after knocking.
According to him, Nash had a playful tradition of handing him a paper check just after 5 P.M. on the due date.
He said that for her not to be there and not to warn him of that in advance was extremely unusual.
With that knowledge, they turned their attention to the only credible suspect they currently had.
Even though there was no indication from her correspondence that Jennifer Nash had ever dated Alexander Krantz, they still needed to find out where he was yesterday during her time of death. It wasn’t hard.
The two of them had actually been questioning him at his office for the first part of the afternoon.
When they left to talk to his wife, Officer Devery had stayed with him to ensure he didn’t call Amanda and try to align their stories.
Devery didn’t leave his presence until Ryan gave him the all clear around 5:30.
So, for the most likely window of death, Alexander Krantz had the best alibi possible—he was actually in the company of the police.
Even after Devery left him, Krantz’s alibi seemed ironclad. According to his geolocation data and traffic camera footage, he’d gone straight home, picked up Amanda, and taken her to a West Hollywood restaurant, where they were captured eating. Jessie couldn’t see any way that he had killed Nash.
She sighed as she looked at the restaurant footage.
They seemed to be at a dead end in the investigation.
There was no indication that any of these women had alienated someone either back at school or more recently.
The one juicy motive—romantic resentment related to Alexander Krantz’s dating habits—didn’t seem to be an issue for any of them.
Besides which, Krantz had an impenetrable alibi for the most recent murder, if not the first two.
A small part of Jessie wondered if Krantz had somehow enlisted someone else to kill Jennifer Nash for the express purpose of giving him an alibi when it came to the one victim he apparently hadn’t dated. Ash Pierce wasn’t the only person who did professional hits in this town.
Jessie felt like she was grasping at straws with the theory. Then again, she’d encountered weirder, more elaborate methods of murder. She was debating whether to review Krantz’s financials for any unconventional payouts when she heard a small gasp from Beth.
“What is it?” she asked.
“I’ve been looking for any legal filings the victims made,” Beth said. “I figured that maybe someone was out to get them for reasons unrelated to their shared friendship. And I think I found something.”
“What?” Ryan asked.
“Way back in 2013, just six months after she graduated, Caroline Sheffield filed a formal complaint against Dr. Marcus Carroway. He was the headmaster at Thornfield when she was a student. She alleged that he tried to engage her in an improper relationship and attempted to touch her inappropriately during a meeting in his office.”
“What became of the complaint?” Jessie asked eagerly.
“It was dropped,” Beth said. Then she looked up, and the gleam in her eye told Jessie something big was forthcoming. “But it’s not the fact that it was dropped that’s interesting. It’s when.”
“What do you mean?” Ryan pressed.
“The complaint was withdrawn exactly one day after Carroway resigned as headmaster at Thornfield,” Beth said. “That can’t be a coincidence, right?”
“That’s a great question,” Jessie said, pulling out her phone. “Did you guys already call Amanda Krantz to warn her to take extra precautions?”
“I got off the phone with her ten minutes ago,” Jamil confirmed.
“I’m calling her back,” Jessie said as the phone rang.
Amanda picked up almost immediately.
“Ms. Hunt,” she said. “Your researcher already called me to put the fear of God in me. You didn’t have to follow up. Alex and I are already planning to leave town for a few days starting tonight.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” Jessie said, “but this isn’t about that.”
“What then?”
“What can you tell me about Dr. Marcus Carroway? In particular, any allegations that might have been made against him?”
For several seconds, there was silence on the other end of the line.
“He never did anything to me,” she finally said, “but I definitely heard rumors about him.”
“What kind of rumors?” Jessie pressed.
“That he would get girls in his office for academic meetings and then proposition them. That he would offer extra help getting them into elite colleges if the girls…accommodated his needs.”
“Do you know if he ever tried that with any of your friends?”
“Like who?” Amanda wanted to know.
“Maybe Caroline?”
“I don’t know,” Amanda said uncomfortably, “We never discussed anything like that. I guess that could mean that he never pursued her. Or it’s possible that he did, and she was just too embarrassed to talk about it.
Caroline was always a people-pleaser, and she might not have wanted to create a whole scandal. ”
“Would it surprise you to learn that she filed a complaint against Carroway after she graduated?”
Amanda was quiet, taking in the news.
“Yes and no,” she eventually answered. “That’s a bold move for the Caroline I knew back then.
But she went on to become this big-time studio marketing executive, so maybe that was the beginning of her finding her future self.
Plus, she might have waited until after graduation because at that point, he couldn’t do anything to torpedo her future. ”
That last theory made a lot of sense to Jessie.
“Thanks, Amanda,” she said. “That’s all for now. But please make sure to send us the contact information for wherever you and Alex decide to go tonight. And remember to stay alert to your surroundings.”
She hung up and turned around. Beth had an excited look on her face.
“What is it?” she asked the young researcher.
“I found Carroway,” she said. “He teaches at a private school in Camarillo.”
“He’s not the headmaster?” Jessie asked.
“Nope,” Beth said. “It looks like those days are over. He teaches history.”
“I guess he was banished to the boonies,” Ryan noted. “Camarillo is over an hour away from here, even without traffic.
“Well, partner,” Jessie said, standing up, “it looks like we’re headed to the boonies.”