“Please tell me you’re not with the press,” he said. “I was hoping to get at least a few hours of peace.”
“No, Mr. Estrada,” she said, taking off her sunglasses and pulling out her ID. “I’m not with the press. But I’m afraid I can’t offer you much in the way of peace. I’m Jessie Hunt. I’m a criminal profil—”
“I know who you are, Ms. Hunt. I didn’t recognize you at first with the sunglasses. But in this city, you’d have to live under a rock to not be familiar with your reputation. And any lawyer who isn’t probably doesn’t deserve his degree.”
Jessie wasn’t entirely sure how to take that. Was it stopping multiple serial killers that made her memorable? Almost getting killed on numerous occasions? Or having her social media hacked and getting falsely accused of writing racist, vitriolic Facebook posts? She decided not to ask.
“Then you can guess why I’m here,” she said, settling on cool professionalism as her default response.
“Milly?”
“Yes sir,” she confirmed. “May I come in?”
“No detectives or uniformed officers with you?”
“I didn’t think it would be necessary,” she said confidently. “And since I’ve been tasked as the primary investigator, I wanted to get a jump on things while they’re fresh.”
“Of course, come in,” Estrada said, opening the door for her and leading her to the small living room.
The television was paused. On the screen was a frozen image of Milly Estrada in a swimsuit on a beach, holding a glass of a red, tropical-looking concoction.
“What’s that?” Jessie asked.
Estrada looked at the screen.
“That was from our anniversary vacation two years ago. We went to Maui.”
He picked up the remote and pressed play. Milly Estrada came suddenly to life. She sipped from her straw and waved for him to stop filming.
“Are you trying to get me disbarred?” she asked playfully. “If footage of me half-drunk in a two-piece got out, I’d never score another high-profile client again.”
“Are you kidding?” Beto Estrada asked from behind the camera. “If people saw how you look in that thing, it’d double your client list.”
She smiled broadly as her face turned red.
“Turn that thing off and get over here,” she purred.
A second later the clip ended. Jessie looked down at the floor briefly, feeling as if she’d just inappropriately spied on a deeply personal moment. But she quickly shook it off and looked up again, reminding herself that she was here to do a job and couldn’t let sympathy get in the way. The man in front of her could be a murderer.
“I assume that this has been marked as an HSS case because of where Milly was killed?” he asked, quickly wiping away a tear as he turned off the TV.
“Why do you say that?” Jessie asked, taking a seat in a living room chair.
“Well, Milly was a brilliant litigator and represented many well-known clients. But I’m guessing that if she hadn’t been found at Otis Estate, this would be handled by the regular division detectives.”
Jessie saw no point in denying it.
“That’s correct. The high profile of the man who owns the property certainly elevated it to HSS status.”
He sat with that for a moment before responding.
“I guess if that’s what it takes to get a real investigation going, it’s worth it. I’ve heard that the police in that neck of the woods can be…malleable when it comes to aggressively pursuing their more powerful citizens.”
“That perception seems to be pervasive,” Jessie said, pulling out her notebook. “Do you mind if I ask you some questions?”
“You know, as unpleasant as that sounds, it’s actually preferable to what I’ve been doing, which is sitting here, alternately going through old videos and photos and punching furniture. So fire away.”
Jessie was slightly surprised at his willingness to engage but didn’t waste any time lingering on it.
“Before we get to your ex-wife’s death, I wanted to talk about you for a minute. Am I right to say that Mrs. Estrada handled most of the criminal work and your purview was more civil litigation?”
“That’s right,” Estrada said. “Our firm, Halsey, Burt, Tyler & Estrada, was previously just Halsey, Burt & Tyler. They handled a lot of contract work for tech companies, big banks, and corporate media. That’s how Jasper Otis is affiliated with them. They represented him when he left All News Network and started News Channel America.”
“When did you join up?” Jessie asked.
“We had our own firm in Secaucus, just across the river from the city. We represented some small media outlets, some second-tier personalities