“Is that why she kept her maiden name?”she asked.“Because of her popularity online?Sort of to maintain the brand?”
“It’s funny you ask that,” Molly said.“I expressed those same concerns to Lauren but she didn’t want to hear it.She was more than willing to change her name.In fact, she even sounded giddy about it.It was actually Jason who insisted she keep her own.He said the same thing I did: that she’d done too much to build up her business and that her name was crucial to her professional identity.He said that he didn’t want to be responsible for harming that in any way.Of course, once he said it, she relented.”
“Let me ask you this,” Jessie said.“We’ve talked a fair bit about how powerful Jason’s presence is.Did you ever encounter any women who seemed resentful that he was with Lauren?Anyone who sounded more than just casually envious?”
Molly sat with that for a moment.
“I’d like to say yes and give you a name because I know that would be a lead for the case.But I honestly can’t think of anyone that jumps out at me in that way.Now admittedly, I wasn’t around them very much as couple because he was so rarely in town, and when he was around, they wanted private time.But I feel like I would have noticed if someone expressed anything like that in front of me.”
Just then, her phone rang.When she looked at the screen, her whole body slumped.
“This is the funeral home,” she said.“I told Jason I would help coordinate the memorial.Do you mind if I answer?”
“Of course not,” Karen said.“In fact, we’ll get out of your hair.I think we have everything we need for now.We’ll reach out if we have additional questions.”
Left unsaid was what Jessie knew Karen was thinking.It was the thought on her mind as well.As forthcoming as Molly had been, they were no closer to solving this than when they’d first walked into her house.
They had no credible suspects.They had no compelling leads.All they had was a seemingly happy, if extremely unconventional marriage.And that alone wasn’t much to go on.
They were spinning their wheels and getting nowhere.All while a killer walked the streets.It was infuriating.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“Do you think that maybe Lauren was having an affair?”
Jessie was surprised by the question.Her partner had asked it after an hour of them sitting in the Central Station bullpen, poring over the same files they’d already reviewed yesterday, hoping to uncover something they’d missed the first time around.
“What makes you say that?”she asked.
“I’m just wondering if she got lonely at some point, with her life partner being gone so much of the time,” Karen mused.“Maybe it led to a moment of weakness.And maybe the person she was weak with didn’t let it go.Maybe they thought ‘if I can’t have her, no one can.’”
Jessie shrugged.“I suppose it’s worth looking into.It’s not like anything else is panning out.But I’m a little dubious.From all we know, it seemed like Lauren was over the moon for Jason.Maybe it was a front, but I’d be surprised.”
“You care if I pursue it anyway?”Karen asked.“It’s not like we’ve got anything else that seems hugely promising.”
“Go for it,” Jessie said.“In the meantime, I want to look into their marriage a little more deeply.I know that Molly told us she never saw anyone get jealous around the couple.But like she said, she wasn’t around them that much.Maybe there’s something in the data that we overlooked.”
“Like what?”
“We’ve concentrated on Lauren’s calls, texts, and emails, looking for anything threatening.But not so much Jason’s communications.Maybe they’ll reveal something.”
“You should definitely look into it,” Karen said.“Anything’s worth pursuing at this point.”
*
Jessie did pursue it.And with Jamil’s help, she hit paydirt.
“They weren’t actually married,” she shouted excitedly as she returned to the bullpen from the research department, where she’d been for the last forty-five minutes.
“What?”Karen said, looking up incredulously.
“Jamil was having trouble locating their marriage license in county records,” Jessie explained, walking over.“Resolving that wasn’t a top priority with all the other avenues to explore.But while I was digging into Jason Mannix’s communications, looking for something that might suggest a stalker or even infidelity on his part—I didn’t find anything by the way—Jamil discovered why there’s no marriage license.They never got one.”
“Could they have gotten married in some other jurisdiction and had a paperwork snafu?”Karen wondered.
“Jamil checked that too,” Jessie said.“They got married in a small ceremony at The Maxwell House in Pasadena.We reviewed old pictures from Lauren’s Instagram.That’s L.A.County.So it should be in the system, but it’s not.”
Karen didn’t look convinced.“I still feel like it could just be some bureaucratic screwup, but assuming it’s not, what are you suggesting?”
