The Perfect Impression by Blake Pierce
CHAPTER THIRTY ONE
“Can I ask you something?” she purred.
“Of course,” he said, clearly taking note of the change in her tone of voice.
“Sorry, give me a second. I’m just so stiff from being stuck in cars and boats all day,” she said as she stood up and stretched, lifting her arms high above her head and allowing her sweater to rise up as well, exposing the shapely abdomen she’d worked so hard in recent months to regain. She blinked languorously, pretending not to notice as his eyes bored in on her belly button.
“Are you sure that you’re gay?” she asked playfully.
“Why do you ask that?” he said, guarded even as he watched lasciviously as she rubbed her upper arms to “warm herself.”
“I don’t mean to invade your privacy,” she said, bending over slowly to adjust her shoe and making sure to let her back curve over just so. “It’s just that I noticed a few things.”
“Like what?” he wanted to know.
“Like when we were questioning you in the hotel conference room and that girl came in, you really seemed to notice her.”
“I don’t remember,” he said slightly defensively. “I was drunk and nervous and confused. That whole stretch is a blur to me.”
“Right,” she said, sitting back down. “I get that. But I couldn’t help but notice you eyeing me just now too. And you don’t seem drunk or nervous or confused at the moment.”
“I wasn’t—” he began before she cut him off.
“Never mind,” she said, waving his impending denial aside as she stood up again. “I didn’t mean to put you on the spot. It’s just that, what with this case basically solved and your and your friends’…casual attitude to traditional relationship mores, I guess I was curious. But this isn’t the appropriate time or place. I should leave.”
She started to go, but not too quickly. She was just a few paces from the door when he called out.
“Hold up,” he said, his voice betraying just a hint too much interest.
“Yes?” she replied, turning around slowly.
He paused, as if having second thoughts.
“You’re sure Ari is responsible for Gabby’s death?” he pressed.
“Pretty much,” she said, shrugging. “She has no alibi. At this point, it’s just a matter of dotting i’s and crossing t’s.”
He nodded. Seemingly satisfied, he went for it.
“I feel like I keep saying this, but I wasn’t totally forthcoming with you before.”
“About what?” she asked, her eyes as wide as she could make them.
“I might not be as gay as I let on,” he muttered.
“As gay?”
“Like, not at all,” he conceded. “The truth is that, while Melissa and I still have great affection for each other, the passion just isn’t there anymore. But I couldn’t very well tell her that. So I just kind of suffered in silence. But Steve and Gabby mentioned this swinging idea a few years ago, I thought it was perfect. Unfortunately, Melissa wasn’t that into it. She didn’t like the idea of me with another woman. So I came up with the gay thing. I said that was why we weren’t intimate anymore. I told her that I had never acted on it but that I had these desires. I told her I still wanted to be with her, which I do, but that I was conflicted. Amazingly, she didn’t seem to view that as the massive threat to our marriage that another woman would be. So we came to this arrangement.”
“What arrangement exactly?” Jessie asked, trying to sound intrigued.
“The deal was: I could have liaisons with men and she could too. I told her she shouldn’t feel guilty about it because I wouldn’t be jealous.”
“Because you were actually sleeping with other women too?” she said.
“Right,” he confirmed. “Whenever I’d hook up with someone, I’d tell her it was a man. But the truth is that I’m not into guys.”
“What about Philip Blake?” Jessie asked, knowing he’d be suspicious if she didn’t bring it up.
“I really did help him up to his room. But I didn’t go in. I don’t know what his intimate interests are. But I know what mine are—women. Especially women like you.”
“Like me?” she asked, trying to look flattered.
In the distance she thought she could hear a siren and silently cursed. She wanted backup but not the cavalry coming in all at once, undermining her delicate maneuver. Luckily, Ferro seemed oblivious to it.
“Yes, you,” he said. “We could have a really good time without any strings attached.”
“But your wife is asleep in the house right now!” she exclaimed, hoping she sounded equally scandalized and titillated.
“She’s so zonked that she wouldn’t hear a thing,” he assured her.
Jessie pursed her lips as she played at considering the idea. She noticed that the sirens had faded into the distance and wondered if they were having the same trouble finding the place that she had.
“I’m not saying no,” she replied coquettishly. “But wouldn’t that be a violation of your intermingling policy? The Landers said it was the cardinal rule for the group.”
He smiled, apparently delighted by her hard-to-get routine.
“First of all, you’re not in our group, so it doesn’t count. And secondly, it’s more of a guideline than a rule.”
Jessie knew she was at a crossroads. If her suspicion was correct and she wanted to get confirmation of it from Ferro, she needed to pull the ripcord fast. The guy wasn’t thinking with his upper half right now. He was primed to accidentally reveal whatever sins he may have committed. But he wasn’t going to do that once he heard those sirens, no matter how horny he was.
So she took the leap. Stepping back toward him, she extended her hand and he took it. She pulled him toward her and leaned in close, grazing his neck with her nose, before pulling back slightly and looking into his eyes.
“Was it just a guideline with Gabby?” she whispered.
She knew immediately. His eyes went wide in shock, unable to hide the truth of his indiscretion.
“How did you—we just—” He was fumbling for the words.
Now came the dangerous part. It was clear that he’d slept with her. But what else had he done.
“Did you know she was pregnant?” she demanded, studying his face, waiting for his involuntary reaction. “Did she say she was going to have the baby? Threaten to tell her husband? Tell your wife?”
When his eyes narrowed into slits, she knew she had the answer to that question too. And she saw from the way his mouth curled into a twisted grimace that he hadn’t been enthused about the news, apparently unhappy enough to grab a steak knife. Just then the sirens returned. This time, she could tell that he heard them too.
His eyes widened again as he turned to look at the door. With him distracted, Jessie used the opportunity to take a large step back, creating a few feet of distance between them. She started to turn, ready to run outside to the safety of the advancing squad cars. But then an unexpected thought shot through the anxiety: what about Melissa?
If Jessie ran out now, she was leaving the woman alone and vulnerable in a house with a man who had killed someone less than twelve hours earlier. If he was willing to snuff out a life just to protect his secret, what was he willing to do to his wife to protect himself from arrest? That was assuming that Melissa really was asleep; that he hadn’t already done something awful to her. Jessie turned back around to face him.
“It’s over, Rich,” she said, though it most certainly wasn’t. But by saying so, she hoped that she could defuse the situation; that he might just confess and offer his wrists to be cuffed.
Ferro’s attention returned to her. His teeth were grinding. She imagined this was how he looked in Gabby’s bedroom that night. He clenched his fists tight. She could sense that he wanted to pounce.
Jessie did a quick calculation. Though he didn’t have a knife this time, he was still an imposing presence. He had about four inches and fifty pounds on her and looked like he was in good shape. With the element of surprise she might have been able to take him. But under the current circumstances, she didn’t like her odds. So she tried to change them.
“I know you’re angry, Rich,” she said talking slowly, stalling for those sirens to get louder and closer. “But don’t make a bad decision here. Gabby’s death was a crime of passion. You were drunk and panicked. You might be able to plead down. But you’re not drunk now. And I’m LAPD. Harming me is death penalty stuff.”
“No it’s not,” he hissed, taking a small step toward her. “Remember what you said to get us to talk to you? You’re not LAPD. You’re a civilian consultant. It’s not the same thing.”
The sirens didn’t seem to be getting any closer. She wondered if they were just doing doughnuts in the cul-de-sac out front. She took another step backward, getting into a defensive stance, even as she tried to stall one more time.
“A confession would really help you,” she said. “I’ve dealt with a lot of people in your situation. An expression of contrition, of remorse, can go a long way with the court. I’ll testify on your behalf if you get down on your knees right now, put your hands behind your head so I can handcuff you, and give me a full statement.”
“But Ms. Hunt,” he said, his body taut and still. “What if I don’t feel remorse? What if I feel relieved?”
That’s when he leapt at her. Despite anticipating it, she wasn’t prepared for either his speed or his ferocity. He bowled into her, knocking her down with the sheer force of his size and momentum. She toppled backward but managed to break her fall with her arms, avoiding her head hitting the hardwood floor.
As she scrambled away from him on her back, certain that he was going to leap on her and pin her down, she prepared to lift her knee up to connect with his gut when he dove at her. But to her surprise, he didn’t try to jump on her.
Instead, he grabbed her by her left foot and tugged her back toward him. Before she could gather herself, he yanked her up off the floor and in one motion, grabbed her by the waist and tossed her through the air toward the massive living room windows.
Worried she might crash through them, fear briefly gripped her. But then it became clear that she wouldn’t go quite that far. Still, she did fly over the leather chair she’d been sitting in before her hip slammed into the arm of the loveseat just beyond it. The momentum sent her careening over it and to the floor beyond.
As she skidded to a stop, Jessie felt her heart thumping almost through her chest. She sensed panic just beneath the adrenaline and knew that if it took over, she was lost. Though time was precious, she remained still for a moment, just long enough to instruct herself to remain calm and assess her situation.
Her hip was stinging badly but otherwise, she seemed okay. Ferro was already stomping toward her as she used the loveseat to pull herself upright. The sirens sounded very close now but she doubted anyone would get inside before things got much worse.
Despite Melissa Ferro’s defenseless status, Jessie was tempted to try to make a dash for the front door. But with her throbbing hip and Ferro’s physical advantage, she knew that she’d never make it. So she decided in that moment to do what he had done to her and take him by surprise. Squaring up, she waited until he was too close to avoid her and threw herself at him.
He was startled, briefly pausing as she slammed into him, making sure to thrust the point of her elbow toward his abdomen. He toppled backward, crashing into the side table with the mugs of tea, which crashed to the floor. For a brief moment she was on top of him.
But it only took a second for him to get the upper hand. Though he was coughing from getting the wind knocked out of him, he seemed otherwise unfazed by their collision. He rolled over so that he was above her, pinning her down with his extra weight. Even as he gasped for breath, he wrapped his hands around her throat, squeezing with so much strength that she thought her head might pop off.
She flailed around desperately for anything to hold him off. The sirens were unceasing now and she thought she heard banging on the front door. They’d break in soon and get him, but not soon enough to save her.
Her floundering hand brushed against something hard and she grabbed it. It took a second to process that it was one of the tea mugs. With all the force she could muster, she slammed it into the side of his head. It shattered against his skull but he didn’t even blink.
The room was getting blurry. She felt her strength starting to wane. As consciousness began to fade, a sudden image of Hannah and Ryan flashed through her head. Both were stone-faced, silent, wearing black. They looked broken, beaten down by the burden of another tragedy they would have to bear. Seeing the image, she felt sad and small and weak. But worst of all, she felt guilty.