1st to Die (Women's Murder Club 1)

“Something’s going on. Between you and Mr. Chris Raleigh, I bet. C’mon, this is me you’re talking to. You can’t pull that blue-wall-of-silence stuff.”

I told her. From the first kiss at the precinct to the slow, torturous ride home to the burst of heat right there on the hallway rug.

Claire grasped me by my shoulders. Her eyes were as bright and excited as mine. “So?”

“So?” I laughed. “So… it was awesome. It was… right.” I felt a chill of doubt come over me. “I just don’t know if I’m doing the right thing. Considering what’s going on.” I hesitated. “I could love him, Claire. Maybe I already do.”

We stared at each other. There wasn’t much more to say.

“Well.” Claire’s eyes returned to her microscope. “Let’s see what we have here. Hairs from his chinny-chin-chin.”

Three hairs from Jenks’s razor were set on a cellular slide. She loaded it into a scope. The two scopes were side by side.

Claire looked first, leaned over as she focused the new one in. Then she went back and forth. “Mm-hmm,” she uttered.

I held my breath. “What do you think?” I asked.

“You tell me.”

I leaned in. Immediately, I recognized the first hair, the one from inside Rebecca DeGeorge’s vagina. Thick, reddish, a white filament twisted around its base like the coil of a snake.

Then I looked at the hairs from Jenks’s razor. There were three of them, shorter, clipped, but each had that same reddish hue, that same coil of filament around it.

I was no expert. But there was no doubt in my mind.

The hairs were a perfect match.

Chapter 92

NICHOLAS JENKS was in a holding cell on the tenth floor of the Hall of Justice. He was headed to arraignment later today.

His lawyer, Sherman Leff, was with him, looking as if this were all just a formality and the scales of justice were resting on the shoulders of his English-tailored suit.

Jill Bernhardt accompanied Raleigh and me. Jenks had no idea what was coming his way. We had the champagne, the tuxedo pants, matching hairs from his beard. We had him in the suite with David and Melanie Brandt. I couldn’t wait to tell him all the good news.

I sat down across from Jenks and looked him in the eye. “This is Assistant District Attorney Jill Bernhardt,” I said. “She’s going to be handling your case. She’s going to convict you, too.”

He smiled — the same, gracious, confident, and condescending glint — as if he were receiving us in his home. Why does he look so confident? I wondered.

“If it’s all right,” Jill said, “I’d like to begin.”

“Your meeting,” Sherman Leff said. “I’ve no objection.”

Jill took a breath. “Mr. Jenks, in an hour you are going to be arraigned for the first-degree murder of David and Melanie Brandt at the Grand Hyatt hotel on June fifth. Shortly after, I believe a Cleveland court will do the same for the murders of James and Kathleen Voskuhl. Based on what the medical examiner has just uncovered, I believe you can expect a Napa Valley court to follow through as well. We have overwhelming evidence linking you to all three of these crimes. We’re sharing this with you, and with your counsel, in the hope that your response to this evidence might spare the city, the families of the deceased, and your family the further humiliation of a trial.”

Sherman Leff finally cut in. “Thank you, Ms. Bernhardt. As long as consideration is the spirit of the day, we’d like to begin by expressing my client’s deep regret for his emotional outburst toward Inspector Boxer at the time of his arrest. As you might imagine, the shock and the suddenness of such an accusation, so totally preposterous after he had fully complied with your questioning…in his own home… I’m certain you can understand how the wrong emotions might take hold.”

“I do deeply regret that, Inspector,” Jenks spoke up. “I realize how this must look. My being less than forthcoming about my relationship with one of the deceased. And now you seem to have stumbled upon that

unfortunate book.”

“Which,” Leff interjected, “I must advise you, we will be making a motion to suppress. Obtaining it was an unjustified intrusion into my client’s private domain.”

“The warrant was totally justified,” Jill said calmly.

“On what grounds?”

“On the grounds that your client gave false testimony concerning his whereabouts when Kathy Voskuhl was killed.”