CHAPTER ELEVEN

Jessie could feel Ryan stiffen beside her, even as her own spine got rigid.

Her husband had already gone at another witness too hard, and she feared he might do the same here too. It was something she expected from hotheaded HSS detective Susannah Valentine, not the head of the unit. But to her surprise, when Ryan spoke, his tone was all cool professionalism.

"Mr. Ashe, I"m Detective Hernanez with the Homicide Special Section Unit of the LAPD. Your wife"s case has been reassigned to us, and I"m handling it in conjunction with our profiler, Jessie Hunt."

Hearing that name made Ashe briefly pause as he did a double take looking at Jessie. It was clear that he knew who she was. But when he responded he made no mention of it.

"Does HSS have anything new for me, or is it just more dead ends?" he demanded.

"We've only been on the case for a few hours," Ryan replied calmly, "so we're just getting our bearings. That's why we're here. We were hoping you might have had additional insights in the time since the previous detectives spoke to you yesterday."

Ashe shook his head angrily.

"Well, I haven"t," he snarled. "I told them everything I know. Frankly in the time since I spoke to them I"ve been trying to plan a funeral in between keeping my kids from finding out the truth about what happened, so they don"t have nightmares for the rest of their lives. And that"s all happening while I have a movie about to go into production in less than ten days. Everyone involved tells me how sorry they are about what happened, but no one offered to cancel a meeting or sit in for me or delay production. My assistant tells me that that I"ve got over two dozen flower arrangements in my office. But could the studio shell out a couple of million to push production back a few days? No, they send me a gift basket with apricot jam and think that makes up for my wife getting choked to death right outside our bedroom. Do you know that I slept on the sofa in the game room last night? I couldn"t stand to be anywhere near where it happened. So forgive me if I haven"t been trying to come up with other "insights" to make your job easier. What I want to know is why you weren"t the ones here yesterday. Isn"t the first 24 hours the most important in a murder case? Where the hell have you been?"

Next to her, Jessie heard Ryan take a deep breath before answering. She hoped her husband saw what was clear to her: assuming Ashe was innocent, he was grieving in his own messed up way. She sensed from Ryan's restraint that he was trying to give the guy a little grace.

"Your wife"s murder didn"t initially fit the criteria for an HSS case," he explained. "But it does now. This morning, another woman was found strangled not too far from here. We think they may be connected."

That statement was the first to shut Ashe up. He seemed to struggle for words. When he finally did speak, his voice was marginally softer.

"That's why the profiler is here?" he asked.

They both nodded.

"We want to get to the bottom of this," Jessie assured him.

"Well, I guess I can't complain if the great Jessie Hunt is on the case," he said. "I suppose I should be flattered that we made the cut."

"That's one way to look at it," Ryan muttered, the edge returning to his voice.

Jessie jumped in before it got sharper. "We get that you're under an incredible amount of stress, Mr. Ashe. And we don't mean to add to that. But you're right. The first few hours are crucial. Time is ticking away, not just for your wife and the other woman who was killed, but for possible new ones as well. If this is a serial killer, they might be out looking for their next victim as we speak. So anything you can share, no matter how small it might seem, could be helpful."

Just then, Ashe"s cell phone rang. He looked down at it and then grunted in disgust.

"I don't have anything for you," he said. "Leave your card with the nanny and if I think of anything, I'll call. But unless there's something else, I've got to take this. It's the head of the studio and somehow I don't think this is going to be a condolence call."

He didn't even wait for a response, instead spinning on his heel, returning to his office and slamming the door so hard that the floor-to-ceiling windows shook. A moment later, someone Jessie assumed was little Cammie started to cry in the distance.

"I should deal with that," Hayley said.

"We have just a couple more questions," Jessie told her. "I'm sure Marta can handle things for a few minutes."

"Okay," Hayley said resignedly, slumping back on the couch.

"Does he even know your name?" Ryan asked, handing her his business card.

"He does," she answered. "He calls me "nanny" when he"s angry. But when he needs something, it"s "Hayley." He thinks he"s being smooth and charming, but he"s not."

Jessie sat back down and leaned forward so that she and Hayley were only a few feet apart. She locked eyes with the young woman. "Before he came out of his office, we were talking about Sydney going to a particular bar, remember?"

"Uh-huh," Hayley said unenthusiastically.

"And how Gabriel didn't love her going there?"

"I remember," Hayley answered, obviously not excited to return to the subject.

That only made Jessie more keen to pursue it.

"Why did she like going there so much, Hayley?" Jessie pressed, leaning in even closer so that her nose and the nanny's were only a couple of feet apart, "and please remember that you're speaking with law enforcement."

Hayley looked down at the carpet again before meeting Jessie's gaze. "It might have been because of the bartender," she said quietly.

Jessie wasn't hugely surprised that it was something like that and immediately moved on to her next question.

"What bartender?"

"I think his name was Brian," Hayley said uncertainly. "Mrs. Ashe never talked about him to me, but I heard her on the phone with him a few times. I know he works just down the hill at a place on Highland Avenue called The Shot."

"I realize that this is sensitive," Jessie began, "but from their conversations, did you get the impression that Mrs. Ashe's relationship with Brian might be more intimate that just patron and bartender?"

Hayley sighed. "She definitely sounded flirty on the phone," she acknowledged. "And from the way she talked to him, it sounded like they had…familiarity. At least until recently."

"What do you mean?" Ryan asked.

Hayley shrugged before answering. "I don't know anything for sure, but when I was getting the kids ready for the park yesterday morning, I heard her talking to someone and she sounded upset. She said something like ‘he says I bore him now.' The way she said it, it didn't sound like she was talking about her husband. She seemed genuinely hurt, which was rare for her."

"Do you think that Mr. Ashe might have known about this ‘familiarity' with Brian?" Jessie wanted to know.

"I don't think so," Hayley said. "Mrs. Ashe wasn't the most discreet person in the world, but she wouldn't flaunt something like that. I never heard her on the phone with Brian when Mr. Ashe was home. As much as she gave him a hard time, I got the sense that she knew she couldn't push too hard. After all, he's the one with the money and the power."

Just then, Marta came out from the back, holding the bawling Cammie. "She will not settle no matter what I do. You are better with her. Are you done out here?"

"Am I?" Hayley.

Ryan looked at Jessie. She couldn't think of any more questions right now, at least not any she was comfortable asking under the current circumstances. She nodded her head.

"We're good for now," Ryan told her standing up. "But please give Mr. Ashe our card and remind him that we'd like him to call if he remembers anything else. And here's another one for you, just in case something else pops up. Don't hesitate to reach out."

"Of course," Hayley said, standing up and taking Cammie, who almost immediately quieted down.

Marta, looking unsurprised but a little miffed at the baby's quick change in mood, led them back to the front of the house. Once she closed the door, Ryan asked, "thoughts?"

Jessie had one that stood out.

"My initial thought is that we should head down the hill and get a drink. There's a bartender I'd like to talk to."