CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

It took less than an hour to find him.

Jessie and Ryan had gone to the apartment of Albert Short, the car service driver who dropped Chloe Henshall off at her home yesterday, to have a little chat. But to their surprise, even though it was barely 7:30, he wasn't home. They were returning to their car when they got a call from Jamil.

"He's finishing a job," the head researcher said without an initial greeting.

"What?" Ryan asked, apparently as confused as Jessie.

"I'm guessing that Albert Short wasn't home," Jamil noted. "That's because he's already on a job. I called the car service he works for, Lux Lifts L.A., and they said he just picked up a customer at the airport."

"Okay," Ryan replied. "Where's the drop-off point?"

"That's the good news," Jamil told him. "He's going to the Marriot at L.A. Live near the convention center. So you don't have to drive all the way out to LAX. Just come back downtown and wait for him at the hotel."

"That's great," Jessie said as they got back in the car. Since there were no major hills involved, she was letting Ryan drive again. "We'll head back now and wait for him to show up. Any other updates we should know about?"

"Actually, yes," Beth piped in. "Sergeant Cutter called us a few minutes ago. He didn't want to bother you in case you were already questioning Short, so he asked us to pass along some info from the coroner, Dr. Roone."

"What did he say?" Ryan asked excitedly, as he started the car and pulled out.

"There were all the usual caveats about preliminary time estimates and not being bound by them," Beth reminded him, "but according to Roone, it looks like Chloe Henshall was also strangled to death. He also estimated that the time of death was yesterday between 2 p.m. and 10 p.m. Cutter said it wasn't official, but that Roone believes the murder occurred well before 4 a.m."

"If that bears out, it would put Sean Henshall in the clear," Ryan noted, saying what everyone was thinking.

"With that in mind, we've already begun reaching out to the service providers we got from the Henshall's kitchen corkboard and Chloe Henshall's personal computer," Jamil told them.

"I know it"s early morning, but any luck so far?" Jessie asked.

"Actually, more than we expected," Jamil said. "Her hypnotherapist, Claudine Monterey, answered right away and said that Henshall cancelled her appointment yesterday because a meeting was running longer than expected."

"We also got hold of their dog walker, Charlie Warner," Beth added. "He said that he normally only does walks for them a couple of days a week, but that Henshall called him and asked him to do an extra one yesterday for the same reason, because her meeting was running long, and she didn't think she'd make it back on time for the early afternoon one. He managed to fit it in around 1 p.m. and said he didn't notice anything unusual with the dog or see anyone suspicious in the neighborhood."

"I spoke to the housekeeper as well," Jamil said. "Her name is Maria Contreras. She said she typically cleans on for them on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. She was actually on her way over to their house now when I reached her. She started crying on the phone and had to pull off the road."

"Anyone else?" Jessie asked, making mental notes of everything they'd said.

"We still haven"t been able to reach most of the other folks on the list," Beth conceded. "She does have a Pilates instructor who comes over regularly. I left her a message, as well as one for everyone in her book club, which meets on Wednesdays. I was hoping to find out if something unusual happened during their meeting this week."

"We're also waiting to hear back from her personal trainer, Paolo Asanti, who Erin Podemski also used," Jamil said. "I've left multiple texts and voice messages and have yet to hear back."

"That's interesting," Ryan noted.

"It is," Jamil acknowledged, "But we can't find anything showing that Sydney Ashe used him too. Same thing with the dog walker, Charlie Warner. He also walks the Ashe's dog sometimes, but not the last few days because he said the dog was at the vet for surgery. And from what we know, Erin Podemski didn't even have a dog."

Jessie sighed in frustration. Every time it seemed like they were close, a roadblock shot up.

"There is one provider who seems to have serviced all three victims," Beth reminded Jamil, "the gardener. We left a message with the owner, a guy named Karl Van Hart, and are waiting for a callback from him."

"Right," Jamil agreed, "but we only know that all three victims used the same company, Hollywood Green Thumb. We don't yet know if the same individuals worked at each house."

"Still," Ryan said, "that sounds promising. Keep calling on that one and let us know if anything pops."

"We will," Jamil promised. "One last thing. I just got off the phone with the pet therapist for the Henshall's dog. Her name is Cassandra Canine. I looked it up and yes, she did legally change it to that. Anyway, She sounded very upset when I told her about the murder. When she finally calmed down, she asked if I knew if Missy needed a session to work through her grief. She said that she and her therapeutic aide, Henry, could go right over. I recommended she hold off."

"Truthfully, the dog looked like she might need one," Ryan muttered under his breath.

"That's odd for sure," Jessie said to Jamil, frowning at her husband's crack, "but was there more to it? Did she work for the Ashes too?"

"That's the thing—she wouldn't say," Jamil explained. "She claimed that her client list was confidential, that it was a doctor/patient confidentiality situation and that we'd need a court order to get the list. I just thought it was worth noting."

"It is strange," Ryan admitted. "I guess go ahead and pursue the order. At this point, we shouldn't leave any stone unturned."

"Yeah," Jessie added. "We'll see what happens with Albert Short, but it probably couldn't hurt to ask all these folks to come in, especially the ones who worked for multiple victims."

"Will do," Jamil said. "Anything else you need?"

"No," Ryan told him. "I think this stuff should keep you two busy for a while."

"For sure," Jessie heartily concurred. "Thanks for all the hard work guys. Keep in touch."

She was about to hang up when Beth stopped.

"Hold on," she exclaimed. "I just found one more thing. The driver, Albert Short, has a record. He was charged with robbery, though he ultimately pled down to shoplifting and got probation. And a year later he was busted for assault. Served two months for that one."

"Send us the records," Ryan requested.

Jessie couldn't help but notice that his foot was suddenly pressing harder on the gas.