actually. My suspect showed up again today at the park where he deals. But all his sales were to legitimate adults—no minors and definitely not my client’s kid. But I guess I shouldn’t complain. I get paid whether they conduct a transaction or not.”
“Sitting in a car all day in the middle of the summer does not sound like a good time to me,” Jessie admitted.
“It’s not so bad. I keep the A/C on. I listen to podcasts. But I do get a little stir crazy. I actually had an idea, if you’re feeling breezy.”
“Breezy?” Jessie repeated, immediately tensing up.
“Yeah, if you’re willing to loosen the reins a little, I mean.”
Jessie didn’t like the sound of that but didn’t voice her concern.
“What did you have in mind?” she asked.
“How do you feel about letting Hannah come along with me tomorrow?”
“Um.”
“Hear me out,” Kat appealed. “Nothing’s going to actually happen. Even if both the dealer and the kid show up, all I’m doing is taking pictures. We’ll never get out of the car. But she’ll feel like she’s part of this exciting stakeout, at least for a while. Plus, it’ll give her something different to do. And with all that ‘sitting around’ time, maybe she’ll break down and share a thought or two.”
“About what?”
“I don’t know. How she feels about Garland’s death or Ryan’s stabbing or her and her sister almost being murdered by her sister’s ex-husband. You know, stuff like that.”
“I don’t know,” Jessie said reluctantly.
She wanted to say yes, to give Hannah an outlet to discuss all the feelings she was clearly holding in. But she had hoped that she’d be the one her sister would open up to. Moreover, sending her to the scene of a potential drug deal seemed unwise for any number of reasons.
“Plus,” Kat said, lowering her voice and looking in the direction of the bedroom where Hannah was, “maybe she’ll open up about whether you’re right to be concerned that she might be a sociopath.”
“You don’t think you’re getting a little ambitious with the list of stakeout revelations you’re expecting?”
“Hey, you know better than me how being stuck together in a tight space for an extended period with nothing to do can lead to unexpected heart-to-hearts. Maybe this will be the straw that breaks the Hannah’s back. Worst-case scenario, she’s bored in a park for six hours. Plus, I can send her to get lunch for me.”
“Ah, the truth comes out,” Jessie declared.
She thought about it while she nibbled on an asparagus spear. If there was anyone she trusted to get Hannah to open up, it was Kat, herself an expert in navigating trauma. And even though it was an inherently sketchy situation, Hannah would be in the care of a former Army Ranger. Not letting her go felt selfish.
“I guess it’s okay with me if you can convince her.”
“Good,” Kat said, “because she already said yes.”
Jessie, realizing she’d just been played, jabbed her fork into a potato.
“You are a very sneaky person, Katherine Gentry.”
“Thank you,” Kat replied, a Cheshire grin on her face.
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
Jessie’s eyes popped open. The nightmare was over.
She was in bed and the early morning light was streaming in through a crack in the curtain. Hannah was asleep in the twin bed across the room, breathing softly, occasionally whimpering to herself.
Jessie lay in bed for several more minutes, trying to focus on the tasks of the day. But the nightmare kept creeping back in. Despite all her therapy, all her attempts to better understand the traumas that had defined her life so she could banish it, the pain was still there, constantly simmering just under the surface, ready to bubble up and boil over any time she took her eye off it.
She couldn’t help but wonder about Corinne Weatherly. What had sent her down the road from promising, up-and-coming actress to a vindictive, bitter, grasping narcissist trying to salvage her career with a horror movie reboot? Was that just who she was destined to become? Or had she also suffered some trauma that had twisted her into something her younger self would find unrecognizable?
Jessie decided that if she was going to get an answer to that question and uncover the motive for her murder, she’d need to look backward into Corinne’s personal and professional history. She was especially interested to see what role Miller Boatwright had played in her evolution. After all, it was his name on that mirror. And it was a white rose from his movie lying