CHAPTER TWELVE
“Why are you so giddy?”
Jessie was taken aback by the question.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“We’ve been in this car for twenty minutes,” Karen told her. “And for the last ten you’ve been sitting there silently with a goofy grin on your face.”
Now that her partner said it, Jessie realized it was true. Even though it was barely 8 A.M., which was early for an interview, they were on their way to talk to Lauren Mitchell’s sister, Molly. That should have been her focus. But it wasn’t. Of course, she couldn’t tell Karen the reason why.
What was she going to say—that she was still on a tingly high from the late night and early morning romantic wrestling that she and Ryan had engaged in?
That felt inappropriate. Should she admit that in recent weeks, since they agreed to table the talk of starting a family, they’d been immersed in the kind of activity that could very possibly create one?
Karen might be a parent herself, but she wouldn’t want to hear any of that. Jessie stifled a giggle.
“Sorry, I was just daydreaming a little,” she said. “How far away are we?”
“Just a few blocks, actually,” Karen said, her sidelong glance suggesting she didn’t buy Jessie’s answer.
“Let’s hope Molly can offer more insights into her sister than her husband could,” Jessie replied, doing her best to get her partner to shift her focus.
“I’m optimistic,” Karen said, taking the bait. “When I spoke to her last night after you left the station, she offered to let me come over and talk with her then. But I told her this morning would be fine. She was the one who suggested we come this early.”
She pulled to a stop in front of a pleasant cottage house.
They were on a tree-lined street in Atwater Village, a suburban community about twenty minutes northeast of her sister’s home.
They were just getting out of the car when the front door opened and a young woman that Jessie assumed was Molly Mitchell came out.
She was wearing a professional blouse and longish skirt.
Jessie wondered if she was dressed for work or for the unpleasant duties associated with helping put her sister to rest. As the young woman walked over, Jessie couldn’t help but notice that she looked more like Lauren’s twin than her younger sister.
They had the same thick brown hair, and eerily, the same brown eyes.
The only difference was that while Lauren’s were now vacant, Molly’s were alert and red-tinged. It was almost like staring at a ghost.
“Detective Bray?” she said as they got out of the car.
“Yes, and this is our police consultant, Jessie Hunt,” Karen told her.
“Yes, I recognize you from the news,” Molly said, unsettled. “Don’t you mostly go after serial killers. Is that what this is?”
“Not that we know of,” Jessie answered. “I’m a criminal profiler, so my job is to try to create a suspect profile for any case I’m assigned to.
That’s what we’re trying to do with your sister’s killer.
And that’s why we want to talk to you: to give us details about Lauren’s life that might help us determine what kind of person could do this. ”
“Well, thanks for coming by so early,” Molly said, “Please come in the house.”
“Thank you,” Jessie said as they followed her back up the path to the house. “We’ll try not to take up too much of your time. It looks like you’re dressed to go somewhere.”
Molly glanced down at her outfit. “Oh no, not really. I’m taking bereavement time. I just thought that spending the day in sweats or pajamas would make me feel even worse. By dressing like I have a purpose, I’m hoping it gives me one.”
Jessie admired the mentality. She doubted that if Ryan or Hannah were killed, she could keep it together like that. Once they got inside, Molly led them into the modest living room and pointed them to the small couch. She sat in a high-backed chair across from them.
“Do you have new information since we spoke last night?” she asked eagerly.
“I’m afraid not,” Karen told her. “We’re following up on multiple leads but so far nothing has been that promising.”
Molly shook her head and sighed heavily.
“I’m sorry,” she said, her tone quavery. “I’m still having trouble wrapping my head around the fact that you are looking for leads in the murder of my big sister. I’m trying to keep pushing forward so I don’t break down, but it’s hard.”
“We understand,” Jessie said. “And we’re very sorry for your loss. We want the same thing that you do: to find out who did this and get justice for Lauren.”
“Okay,” Molly said, her voice a little stronger now. “That helps to hear. What can I tell you? I want to help in any way I can.”
“We appreciate that,” Karen said. “Let’s start with this. When was the last time you spoke to Lauren?”
“Yesterday morning,” Molly answered.
“What did you discuss?” Jessie asked.
“We were thinking of going to a movie,” she explained. “I mentioned going this weekend but she said that Jason would be in town and she wanted to maximize her time with him. So, we were tentatively shooting for early next week when he’d be out of town again. We were debating what to see.”
“Did you talk about anything else?” Karen asked.
“No, not really. We talk just about every day so sometimes the conversations aren’t all that exciting. If I had known it would be our last, I would have treated it with more significance. I’m not even sure I told her that I loved her when we hung up.”
Her eyes welled up and she inhaled sharply to get control.
“That’s very helpful,” Jessie said, giving her a moment to regroup. “Even hearing about the normal, day-to-day stuff gives us a sense of what was on her mind. It sounds like she didn’t express any anxiety over anything specific when you spoke.”
“No,” Molly confirmed. “She was looking forward to us having a sisters’ night out. We hadn’t done that all month. And she was really excited that Jason was going to be back in town for four consecutive days, which was a lot for him.”
“Let’s talk about that a little bit,” Jessie said. “When we spoke with Jason, he wasn’t especially helpful on the daily routine of Lauren’s life. He admitted that being away so much made that hard and sounded remorseful about it. Was his absence of a source of tension for them?”
Molly sat with the question for a moment.
“I wouldn’t use the word ‘tension.’ She told me she knew what she was getting into when she married him.
But she also said that he’d mentioned easing back on the travel sometime soon and that she was excited by that prospect.
Truthfully, she was so smitten that she treasured any time they had together and was loathe to complain. ”
“He does seem to be a charismatic guy,” Jessie said, both telling the truth and fishing a little.
“Right?” Molly agreed. “It’s really something. I don’t think I’ve ever met a more magnetic guy. At the wedding, I thought our mom might try to jump him.”
“Forgive the question,” Karen said, “but do you ever have that desire?”
Rather than take offense, Molly smiled at the question.
“I can see why you might think that,” she allowed.
“And I will confess that the first few times I interacted with him, there were a few stirrings. But truthfully, after a while I came to a realization about him: he’s almost too much.
At a certain point, feeling that overwhelmed by another person’s charm can become exhausting. There’s no emotional down time.”
Jessie understood what she meant. Just a short period in that interrogation room with Mannix had worn her out.
For a brief moment, she wondered if her most recent lusty encounters with Ryan were a residual effect of her time with Mannix.
But then she remembered that they’d been going at it like bunnies since well before she ever met Mannix.
Before she could ask another question, Molly went on.
“That’s why, as weird as I found their marriage, I could see why it worked for them.”
“What do you mean?” Karen asked.
“I just think that if he was around all the time, it would be emotionally draining,” she explained.
“Then again, as you may have seen in Lauren’s videos, she’s no shrinking violet either.
So in that way, they were well-matched. I mean, she didn’t get all those views online because of the houses.
It was because people were drawn to her. ”
That reminded Jessie of the question she’d wondered about yesterday. There was no better person to ask.
“Is that why she kept her maiden name?” she asked. “Because of her popularity online? Sort of to maintain the brand?”
“It’s funny you ask that,” Molly said. “I expressed those same concerns to Lauren but she didn’t want to hear it.
She was more than willing to change her name.
In fact, she even sounded giddy about it.
It was actually Jason who insisted she keep her own.
He said the same thing I did: that she’d done too much to build up her business and that her name was crucial to her professional identity.
He said that he didn’t want to be responsible for harming that in any way.
Of course, once he said it, she relented. ”
“Let me ask you this,” Jessie said. “We’ve talked a fair bit about how powerful Jason’s presence is. Did you ever encounter any women who seemed resentful that he was with Lauren? Anyone who sounded more than just casually envious?”
Molly sat with that for a moment.
“I’d like to say yes and give you a name because I know that would be a lead for the case.
But I honestly can’t think of anyone that jumps out at me in that way.
Now admittedly, I wasn’t around them very much as couple because he was so rarely in town, and when he was around, they wanted private time.
But I feel like I would have noticed if someone expressed anything like that in front of me. ”
Just then, her phone rang. When she looked at the screen, her whole body slumped.
“This is the funeral home,” she said. “I told Jason I would help coordinate the memorial. Do you mind if I answer?”
“Of course not,” Karen said. “In fact, we’ll get out of your hair. I think we have everything we need for now. We’ll reach out if we have additional questions.”
Left unsaid was what Jessie knew Karen was thinking. It was the thought on her mind as well. As forthcoming as Molly had been, they were no closer to solving this than when they’d first walked into her house.
They had no credible suspects. They had no compelling leads. All they had was a seemingly happy, if extremely unconventional marriage. And that alone wasn’t much to go on.
They were spinning their wheels and getting nowhere. All while a killer walked the streets. It was infuriating.