CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN
No matter how long Jessie washed her face, she didn't feel clean.
She looked up from the sink in the Central Station women's restroom to study herself in the mirror. She looked worn down, which wasn't a surprise. But to her relief, there was no obvious sign of the murderous murderous intent she'd been consumed by only an hour earlier.
In the time since then, both Paulina and Lila had been taken to the hospital. The former was currently in surgery for her shoulder, after which she would be booked. Hopefully sometime after that, Jessie would get to talk to her and find out how right she was in her suspicions about both the woman's motives and her background.
Meanwhile, Lila was being treated for dehydration, but otherwise hadn't suffered any major injuries. She was scheduled to be released in the morning.
Ryan was finishing up the preliminary paperwork on the case right now. Jessie knew there were more bureaucratic hoops to jump through, but right now she wanted to get to Irvine to check on Hannah. It was currently 9:18 p.m., and she hoped that if she and Ryan left soon, they could get to her dorm room by ten.
She dried off her face with some paper towels and was just leaving the restroom when she got a call from Kat. As exhausted as she was, she knew she had to pick up.
"Hey," she said, trying to sound chipper, "how's it going?"
"How's it going with you ?" Kat wanted to know.
"From your tone of voice, I'm assuming you heard what happened?"
"Heard?" Kat said. "I watched it live on my phone. If you thought you were well-known before, get ready for a whole new level. You saved a potential stabbing victim live on the internet."
"Is that what jumped out at you?" Jessie couldn't stop herself from asking.
"Well, there was the part where you almost got stabbed yourself, but I didn't want to focus on that. "
Kat hadn't seemed to pick up on the moment when Jessie had come within a whisper of doing some stabbing of her own. That was heartening. If her best friend hadn't noticed, maybe no one else would. Other than Ryan, that is.
"Yeah," she said, "I'd just as soon put the whole thing out of my head for right now. So seriously, how are you?"
"I don't want to bother you with my issues after what you just went through," Kat said hesitantly.
"Really, I don't mind. Anything to take my mind off this case for a while would be a blessing."
"Okay then, since you asked," Kat said, "I got some unexpectedly disturbing news today."
"What?" Jessie asked as she walked down the hallway to find Ryan.
"Dr. Lemmon, at my request, went to see Ash Pierce."
"I'm guessing it didn't go as you hoped," Jessie said.
"That's an understatement," Kat answered. "Her assessment is that Pierce likely does have memory loss about her time as a hitwoman. In fact, she cut their conversation short so that she couldn't be pressed to give a formal evaluation at Pierce's trial."
Jessie sighed. She understood how frustrated her friend must be, though she didn't have any obvious suggestions to help.
"What do you make of that?" she asked cautiously.
"I mean, who am I to question Janice Lemmon's analysis?" Kat said, the irritation evident in her voice. "She's about as solid an expert as you'll find. In fact, everyone who's met with Pierce, including your sister, came away believing she could be legit."
"But…" Jessie said expectantly.
"But I just can't get there, Jessie," she said. "I know I should just let it go and allow the wheels of justice to do their thing. But my fixation with this is consuming me. I'm so focused on it that I can't even mourn Mitch properly."
"Listen," Jessie said as she walked into the station's bullpen to find Ryan heading her way, "you don't have to believe her. Just press pause on this for a little while. Give your brain a break. After all, it's not like she's going anywhere."
"Yeah, you're right," Kat replied unconvincingly. "Anyway, I'll work it out. I've taken up too much of your time already. You should be giving your brain a break too."
"I'm about to," Jessie assured her. "Talk soon?"
"You bet," Kat said .
Jessie hung up and extended her arms for a hug from her husband. He happily obliged.
"All done?" she asked.
"For now," he said.
"Good, because I want to go see my sister. Let's get out of here."