CHAPTER TWELVE

Jessie learned quickly that Ryan was right.

While finding Marcus Blackwell wasn't a challenge, getting to him would be. Jamil had quickly determined that Blackwell was at his Century City office by checking street cameras nearby, one of which showed his red Ferrari pulling into the garage ten minutes earlier, at 12:41.

"Let's do the math," Ryan said as he sped to the location. "If he did commit this murder, he would have left the Beverly Gardens shopping complex parking garage right after the incident at 11:17. I doubt he drove his $500,000 Ferrari SF90 Stradale to and from the scene. It's so recognizable that it would essentially be an admission of guilt. So let's say he drives another car to one of his…how many homes does he have in the city, Jamil?"

"According to his property records, three," answered the researcher, who was on speaker. "He's got a condo that takes up the top floor of a residential tower in West Hollywood."

"I assume that's where the sculpture-throwing excitement occurred," Jessie noted. "Sorry, go on, Jamil."

"He's also got a beach house in Malibu and a mansion in Beverly Hills," Jamil continued. "If he did this, I'd put my money on him going to that last one to change. It's only a five minute drive from the murder scene."

"And from there to his office in Century City?" Ryan asked.

"At this time of day, it looks like it's about fifteen minutes," Jamil answered.

"So," Ryan calculated, "he leaves the parking garage and gets home by 11:25 at the latest. He arrives at work at 12:41 after a fifteen-minute drive. That means leaving the mansion around 12:26. So he had essentially a full hour to clean himself up and deal with the car. That's feels like enough time to me."

"Maybe," Jessie said, less certain. "I could see him removing any evidence from his body in that time, but the car might be harder to clean. If we can find out what he was driving, maybe we can get a warrant to search it. "

"Beth and I will work on that," Jamil said.

"Great," Ryan replied, "but before you do that, can you give us a rundown on Blackwell? I know of the guy, but I've never read his resume. And maybe you can give us the abridged version because we're almost to his office."

Jessie looked up to see the two giant, triangular towers that comprised the Century Plaza Towers. They would be at their base in less than a minute.

"Sure," Beth volunteered. "Marcus Blackwell, fifty-three years old. Chairman, CEO, and founder of Blackwell Enterprises International Group, or BEING. Estimated net worth is $144 billion."

"Jeez," Jessie couldn't help but mutter under her breath.

"Everyone knows the guy as this self-made billionaire, which is kind of true," Beth continued, "but his competitors might take issue with that."

"Because he ripped them off?" Ryan recalled.

"That's their claim," Beth said. "He made his first billion off a social media site called People Pages, which was accused of simply copying Facebook. By the time that lawsuit went to court, he'd already created Peopster, which, despite its name, was a Twitter knock-off and not a porn site. The there was PeopTube—also not a porn site but one that operated suspiciously like YouTube."

"Wow, it's like he's not even trying to hide it," Jessie marveled.

"Right," Beth said. "And those are just the biggies. He has almost a dozen other platforms, sites, and apps that mimic more well-known ones. He's been able to fend off serious legal consequences for years through appeals and delays. Occasionally, he settles with the smaller companies but never with the big ones."

"I can't believe he hasn't been nailed for any of this yet," Ryan said as they reached the entrance to the parking garage.

"According to what I've read," Beth said, "it's been hard to hold him accountable partly because these sites are just slightly different enough from the originals to muddy the waters. Plus, many people, including some jury members, seem to find the way he flaunts these obvious knock-off sites to be charming. Some court watchers also think his celebrity status, or more accurately, his infamy, has helped him. The fights, the car crashes, dating famous women like Isabella Moreno, have made him seem like a lovable rogue to some people. "

"Yeah, well, we're about to find out how loveable he really is," Ryan said. "We're almost to the parking garage and will likely lose you down there, so we'll end it here. Is the squad car almost here?"

"I just got an alert that your backup officers are waiting for you on the lobby level," Jamil replied.

"Great," Ryan said. "Let them know we'll be joining them momentarily. And please text us if you learn anything pressing while we're up there."

"Will do," Beth promised.

Ryan pulled into the garage, which immediately dropped precipitously downward. To Jessie, it felt like they were entering the belly of the beast.