Page 11 of The Perfect Deception
A secluded treatment center on a cliff overlooking the sea was a far cry from an L.A.bedroom where someone just had their life snuffed out.But she was going to have face herself “in the wild” at some point.Might as well be now.
She got out of the car, hoping she looked confident.He did the same.They approached the officer standing on the sidewalk where the path led up to the Maplewood home.After flashing their IDs and being granted entry, they walked up the path.Another officer was waiting at the front door.He had salt and pepper hair and looked to be in his forties.
“Detective Hernandez, Ms.Hunt, thanks for coming.I’m Sergeant Hauk, the officer in charge.”
“Were you given a heads up that it would be us coming?”Ryan wanted to know, seemingly surprised that the guy knew who they were.
“No, but I recognize you both from the news.”He sounded slightly sheepish at the admission.“And once I got a sense of the crime scene, I had a feeling this might be up your alley.Wealthy neighborhood.Victim isn’t the homeowner but is found in their bed.It’s got all the HSS trademark elements.”
“Maybe you can tell us a little more about those elements,” Ryan said.“We don’t know much.”
"Sure.Okay, if I fill you in while we head up to the primary bedroom?That's where it took place."
They both nodded and he led the way, passing a carry-on suitcase at the bottom of the winding staircase and jogging up the steps.Jessie didn’t increase her pace to match his.Nor did Ryan.Seeing that, Sergeant Hauk paused until they caught up.
“Sorry.I guess I’m a little excitable on this one.The victim’s name is Cassandra Dominik.She lives a couple of streets over.James Maplewood, the homeowner who found her, says he knew her through the neighborhood but had no idea why she was here.He said that he just returned from a business trip to find her in his bed.He also said that his wife, Olivia, is missing.”
Jessie hadn’t been expecting that last tidbit.This was the first she’d heard of a missing wife.She set aside all the wild theories that were already forming in her head, including the idea that this might have been an affair gone bad; that maybe Olivia had walked in on it and had to be disappeared.Jessie hadn’t even seen the body yet and her mind was spinning tales.She shut it down by asking a question.
“Where is James Maplewood now?”
“He’s up here in a guest bedroom,” Hauk said.“To my non-profiler eye, he seemed pretty messed up.But I guess you all will decide if that’s legit.We have confirmed that at least one thing he told us is true.”
Ryan turned to the Sergeant as they reached the top of the giant staircase.“What’s that?”
“Regarding the business trip, he told the first officer on the scene that he’d just returned from Chicago.Showed us the ticket on his phone.That carry-on downstairs was his.”
Jessie didn’t point out that just because Maplewood had a plane ticket didn’t mean he’d used it.There was no point.When the research crew got into the office later this morning, they could confirm the man’s story using GPS data and surveillance camera footage from the airport.If he was lying, it wouldn’t be hard to prove.For now, she was willing to buy the assertion.
“And he says he knew the victim?”Ryan double-checked.
“Yes.”Hauk started down one wing of the long hallway.“He said he knew her casually from the neighborhood.”
“How credible did the ‘casually’ seem to you?”Jessie asked.
“I wasn’t here yet when he said that.According to the first officers on scene, he was kind of babbling, I guess in some kind of shock.”
“And he expected his wife to be home?”Ryan said.“But she’s not here.”
“That’s what seems to have him the most freaked out.”He stopped at the next door, which was half open.“This is the primary bedroom.”
“Okay.“ Jessie turned to Ryan.“If it’s cool with you, I’m thinking we check out the crime scene first to get a sense of it before talking to the husband.That way we don’t go into that interview blind.”
“Agree, but we shouldn’t wait too long before seeing him.If his wife really is missing, we may have more than one crime on our hands.”
They stepped into the bedroom.Out of the corner of her eye, Jessie saw a human-sized lump on the king-sized bed off to the right.But before she went over, she scanned the rest of the room, looking for anything unusual.There didn’t seem to be any sign of a struggle, no knocked over pictures on the dresser or vases lying broken on the hardwood floor.She noted that the floor was also devoid of any obvious sign of blood.
“Where’s the medical examiner?”Ryan asked.
“Over here,” announced a familiar-sounding voice.
Jessie followed it to find who she expected.Cheryl Gallagher, an L.A.County deputy medical examiner, moved toward them.She wore her standard lab coat.Her blonde hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail, which matched her perpetually tight face.Jessie had worked with her on multiple occasions, and while the woman wasn’t the warmest person of all time, she was good at her job.
"Any conclusions yet, Cheryl?"Ryan's relieved tone indicated that he, too, was glad to have a solid professional on the case.
“As always, I offer my standard caveat that it’s too early to be definitive about anything.But I think we’ll ultimately be able to peg the time of death between 8 and 10 P.M.The cause of death is pretty clear-cut.Her throat was slit.Based on the lack of defensive wounds and the relaxed state of the body, my guess is that she was either asleep when it happened or had been drugged beforehand.We’ll know more on that front once we get the bloodwork back.”
“Are your folks ready for us to take a look?”Ryan asked.
