CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT
Riley Sinclair was frustrated.
Originally, she thought she was done for the night. She had wrapped up all her last-minute department closing tasks. It was only then that she discovered that Jimmy, the junior librarian in the department, hadn’t returned all the books on the cart to the stacks.
She was tempted to do it herself now. But he’d never learn if she did it for him. And frankly, she was annoyed by his lack of attention to detail. She was considering reaming him out in the morning, though she thought there was a sixty percent chance that he’d start crying if she did.
Besides, there was this whole security situation. Calling Peele to send someone up here to walk her to the car would be time-consuming. Putting extra books away would only drag the whole thing out. She might as well just call it a day.
Waiting for the escort would be doubly annoying, considering that she wasn’t in any danger. The thought made her chuckle silently. All these elaborate security procedures are to protect her from the killer. Was she going to strangle herself?
Riley headed to her office to turn off the light. Then she’d call security. She supposed she had to keep up appearances if this was going to all work out. She was mostly home free, at least based on what Jessie Hunt had told her.
Alex Krantz was in custody, just as she’d planned all along.
And all the women who deserved to be killed were dead now.
There would be no future victims, meaning no more chance of getting caught in the act.
She’d done the job that she set out to do, the one that first came to her when she saw Caroline Sheffield at the Brentwood Country Mart last month.
Riley recalled how that moment had led to this one and still couldn’t believe that it had all come together.
She had been sitting in the central courtyard of the Mart, sipping a coffee and eating a scone, when she saw Caroline walk by.
The woman was wearing her Lululemon gear and holding her Prada bag as she window-shopped at a tony jewelry store.
Caroline didn’t notice her, and Riley was fine with that.
She didn’t want someone she’d mostly lost touch with after high school, seeing her in her blue jeans and a ratty weekend work shirt.
She didn’t want to have to explain her current life situation, which was a dumpster fire.
So she took her breakfast and scurried away before Caroline turned around.
But that didn’t stop her from doing a deep dive on Caroline once she got home. They were technically friends on several social media platforms, though Riley rarely checked them. But she did now.
And as she pored over the details of Caroline’s life, the envy grew to the point where she found herself hating the woman and her perfect life. Marketing executive for a Hollywood studio. Divorced but apparently loving it, based on the photos she plastered all over social media.
And then Riley noticed the others. She saw a group photo with fellow Thornfield alums Diana Hartwell and Jennifer Nash from some brunch mini-reunion several months back.
They looked so happy holding their mimosas while lounging in their designer clothes.
Riley looked into the other two and found that their lives were as flawless as Caroline’s. Not like hers.
Yes, Riley had graduated from Thornfield with a 4.
4 GPA and gone to Brown University. Yes, she’d gotten her degree in Comparative Literature, followed by a master's in Library and Information Sciences from the University of Maryland. Then she’d returned to Los Angeles, where she was offered the prestigious position of manager of the Children’s Literature Department at the vaunted Los Angeles Central Library, a crown jewel of the downtown area. All this by the age of 25.
Things kept getting better. She managed to luck into an amazing apartment in Echo Park, just a few minutes from work.
It turned out that the prior tenant had committed suicide there by blowing his brains all over a wall.
That had depressed interest in the unit, to put it mildly.
But she wasn’t bothered by that kind of thing. That’s what paint was for.
So she snapped it up, getting a real bargain on the rent. Soon after that, she met Perry, an assistant manager of a nearby upscale restaurant. He wasn’t the richest guy in the world, nor the best-looking. But he was funny, warm, and easy to like.
Then things began to fall apart. After a year, the apartment manager bumped up the rent.
And while her title at the library was prestigious, her salary wasn’t.
And there had been rumors recently that, amid potential budget cuts at city hall, the library might lay off some people.
If she were let go, it would be a disaster.
Despite her advanced degree from an Ivy League school, she was still a civil servant with massive student loans. Unlike her wealthy fellow Thornfield alums, she attended the school and college on scholarships and loans. There were no rich, doting parents to bail her out.
When it became clear that she’d have to move, she broached the idea of moving in with Perry. That’s when he told her that he thought they should break up.
“You’re great,” he’d said, “but—and don’t take offense at this—you’re just too plain for me. I need to see what else is out there. I’m looking for my soul mate, not just someone I get along with.”
At first, she was just shocked that he had told her not to “take offense.” But once that wore off, the depression and panic set in. She was on the verge of getting kicked out of her place. She might lose her job. Plus, she was apparently not soulmate material.
That was when she decided to take a mental health day and drove all the way to the west side of town.
It was rejuvenating to wander around the farmers' market and then stop by the chic Brentwood Country Mart to imagine how the other half lived.
And then she saw Caroline, which sent her spiraling further.
She probably would have let it go and gone back to her life, putting her nose to the grindstone and muddying through, if not for that one social media photo.
She was about to leave Caroline’s page when she caught a glimpse of another group picture, only this one included Amanda Krantz.
It took a moment to process that the woman was formerly Amanda Black and that she was married to Alexander Krantz. That’s when it all flooded back.
Despite what she had told Jessie Hunt, she remembered Alex Krantz vividly.
How could she not? She recalled that night at the Thornfield Academy/Griffin School Fall Dance, when she’d slipped into the music room briefly and accidentally walked in on Alex and Jennifer Nash going at it in the back corner behind the drum set.
They were too focused on their activities to notice her as she quietly snuck back out.
But as she left, she caught a glimpse of Alex’s naked, thrusting backside.
After that, she couldn’t get him out of her head.
And she didn’t want to. She found herself dreaming about him.
She thought she saw him everywhere. She lost her appetite.
Something had to be done. That’s why she insinuated herself into the friend group in the first place—because Caroline had started dating Alex, and getting in with those girls allowed her to be close to him.
After they broke up, Riley worried that she wouldn’t see him anymore. But he soon started dating Diana. That meant she could still be in his orbit. Admittedly, he never really took more than a passing notice of her.
She kept waiting for the moment when he’d look at her and realize that she was the one for him. But it never happened. He graduated from Griffin. All the senior girls left Thornfield for college, where she was stuck for another year.
Once she graduated and moved across the country, her feelings for Alex eventually faded to the point that she barely remembered that they’d existed at all.
She led her life—maybe not happily, but at least comfortably—right up until it fell apart on the day before she saw Caroline at the Mart with her fancy clothes and pricey purse.
Once she saw the photos of Amanda, with Alex’s arms constantly wrapped around her and adoration in his eyes, she knew she couldn’t let any of it stand.
So over the course of several weeks, she came up with a plan that would accomplish twin goals: teach these women a much-needed lesson and win Alex’s love.
First, she’d kill the women he dated back at Thornfield.
Some might consider that excessive, but it was the only way to get Alex.
Besides, they seemed like bitches anyway, at least in their photos.
After eliminating them, she’d kill his wife, leaving evidence that tied him to her murder.
Once she made the decision, everything fell into place. It all went so smoothly.
When she arrived at their homes, she made sure to hide her identity, avoid cameras, and wear gloves. To her amazement, each woman welcomed her into their place, happy for the unexpected but welcome reunion with a high school friend they hadn’t seen in forever.
They’d chat for a while, and in the first three instances, she even got them to show her their wardrobe.
She’d invariably admiringly grab a scarf, which would end up being the murder weapon.
It was a good thing that even during her depression, she didn’t stop with the workouts, especially the weight training.
If not for that, strangling them would have been much harder.
Finally, she took care of Amanda. For that one, she used one of Alex’s ties and then scrupulously placed it on the loveseat beside her body. She knew that any good investigator would eventually uncover the romantic connection between him and each woman who died.
Of course, she made one misjudgment. She had assumed that other people knew about the one-night stand between him and Jennifer.
But apparently neither of them had ever revealed it, which meant her death didn’t fit the pattern.
Luckily, Riley was able to fix that discrepancy when she told Jessie Hunt about the “rumors” regarding a hookup. The pattern was re-established.
Now Alex would go on trial. That’s when the most important part of the plan would kick in.
At first, she would just show up in the gallery and offer him moral support.
She might even do a TV interview or two, which he would surely see, insisting that she believed in his innocence.
Others would be horrified by the allegations, but she’d be stalwart in her belief in him.
Of course, her support wouldn’t be enough to keep Alex from getting convicted. When he was in prison, she would visit him, first as a friend, then as something more. She would be the one person who stood by him in his darkest hour. And that would ultimately win him over.
Eventually, inevitably, they would marry.
They’d have conjugal visits, and maybe even a child.
In that way, she would have him all to herself, on her terms. She could see him when she wanted.
Every visit would be like manna from heaven to him.
Stuck in a violent, frightful place, he’d long for the affection and the touch of a woman.
He would never have the opportunity or the desire to cheat on her. She would be his queen.
And if, for whatever reason, he rejected her support, either at trial or any other point, she could simply walk away. She would return to her life, however imperfect, while he rotted away.
Her work was done now. All she had to do was let it play out. The circumstantial evidence against Alex was enough to put him away. The die was cast for him. The only decision remaining for him was whether his time behind bars would be a nightmare or a love story.
She glanced at the clock. It was time to call security to escort her to her car. She needed to keep up appearances. She was just locking her office door when she was startled by someone behind her.
“Hello?” a familiar voice said.
She turned around to find that someone had ignored the “closed” sign and stepped through the doors to the department.
It was Jessie Hunt.