Page 50 of So Deadly
Jessica shook her head.“The victims of attacks from fake service dogs are overwhelmingly female.At least the ones that end in tragedy.”
“Men are probably more likely to successfully fight a dog off,” Faith guessed.She smiled wryly.“Not trying to be sexist.”
“But…” Jessica tapped the desk.
“It sucks to have a lead dry up,” Faith said.“I get it.”
Jessica pursed her lips.She got it too, but she wasn’t about to be okay with it.“So, if it’s a woman, then we should just move on with the other names we got when we searched for victims.”
“Jenkins has probably gone through those already,” Faith said.“Call him and ask if he’s come up with anything.”
“If he had, he would have called us,” Jessica grumbled.
She called anyway.And sure enough, Jenkins had nothing.
“Most of them have alibis,” he informed the agents.“The ones who don’t either don’t live here anymore or they have debilitating injuries that make it impossible for them to perpetrate the crimes.The only one whocouldhave done it is Jennifer Suleiman, and we already know it’s not her.”
Faith frowned.Jessica caught the frown and sighed.“Can you put a watch on Jennifer’s place?”she asked.
“I mean… After we already cleared her, it might be tough to get justification for it.Let me think something up.I might be able to send a patrol car to drive through the neighborhood.Finding a reason to stop is gonna be more difficult, but maybe we’ll get lucky and catch the local pot peddler prowling around.”
That sounded a good deal less than promising.“Do your best,” Jessica said.“Thank you.”
“Sure.In the meantime, maybe we look at other angles?Maybe this is a competitor.Maybe he offed Webb because Webb was intruding on his business.Maybe Hayes and Crawford stiffed him on payment.Or her.I guess it could be a woman, but I gotta say, I’m leaning toward a guy wearing woman’s shoes.”
Jessica nodded, somewhat encouraged to hear Jenkins agree with her.“We’ll look into that.Thank you.”
“You bet.”
Jessica hung up and looked at Faith.“Still carrying a torch for Suleiman, huh?”
Faith crossed her arms and bit her lip.“I just don’t like how many coincidences we’re looking at.It’s hard to believe that Jennifer checks so many boxes but somehow isn’t the killer.It’s like Conan Doyle said.‘Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.’”
“Like who said?”
“Arthur Conan Doyle.The guy who wrote Sherlock Holmes.”
“Thefictionaldetective series.”
Faith’s lips thinned.“Yes, but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong.”
“Okay, fair enough, but where’s the evidence?Where are the fingerprints, hair samples, or skin cells matching Jennifer?”
“We haven’t found any of those at the scenes.”
“Okay, but where are the bloody clothes?The evidence of cleaning the place before we got there.Yes, the house was spotless, but it looked more like it had never been dirty than that it had been recently cleaned.”
“Exactly, though.That’s the point.She said she’d been living there fourteen years.You’re telling me in fourteen years, she’s never spilled a glass of wine?Never dropped a meatball on the ground?
“She probably leaps immediately to her feet and cleans the spill.You saw her.She’s terrified of everything.I’m sure stains are included in that list.”
“Yeah, but no decoration?No cute pictures of dogs?No pictures ofPrincess?No plants, no freaking color in the rug or the drapes?”
Jessica sighed, resigning herself to having this argument again.“What’s your point, Faith?”
“My point is that Jennifer’s like… half a person.Like she shows one side of a full personality.She couldn’t even answer half of our questions without stopping and thinking, like she was listening to someone…”
Faith’s voice trailed off as a spark flared in her mind.Jessica frowned.“Are you saying that she has some sort of split personality disorder?”
