“Do you really think it could be her?”Webb asked.
"It's as good a lead as any we've had so far," Jessie said."Sullivan has shown a predisposition for jealousy, justified or not, as well as a propensity for violence.True, it's been many years, but you never know what might set someone off.Maybe her life has fallen apart recently, and she has blamed him.Or maybe she saw him somewhere, perhaps with one of his "wives," and snapped.Maybe she stumbled across an old photo or Facebook post.If she's unbalanced, there's no telling what's going on with her."
What Jessie didn’t say was how easy it was to put herself in Sullivan’s shoes.Her own feelings of bloodlust had returned with a vengeance mere months ago, after years of dormancy.If it could happen to her, why not Sullivan?
She kept something else to herself too.If the woman was capable of slashing tires, burning someone with a hair implement, and possibly killing an animal, then who knows what else she was capable of?Some part of herwantedit to be Sullivan.She wanted to personally take her down.
Jessie felt that unwanted stirring again, the beginnings of the urge to exact vengeance of her own.If Sullivan had really slaughtered four people, including three unsuspecting women and a police officer, then she deserved whatever she got.Jessie sucked in a deep gulp of air, trying to stave off the feeling.
She reminded herself that the murderer deserved one thing: to be brought to justice.Everything beyond that was out of her hands, or at least it should be.She just hoped she remembered that when the time came.
*
They waited just down the street from Sullivan’s house.
As the minutes ticked by, Jessie got antsy.She thought the black SUV stood out like a sore thumb.But it was better than a patrol car.Two other vehicles, both sedans, were parked nearby.Two patrol cars were one street over.
“Did you know she remarried?”Webb asked her, scrolling through his phone.
“No.When?”
“Five years ago,” he said.“It looks like she has a kid too.A daughter, three years old.She works as a hospital administrator in Chatsworth.”
“Have you sent anyone to see if she’s there?”
“No,” Webb said.“I only just read this.But I can.”
“It’s probably a good idea.If she’s there, we can track her movements.Plus, we should talk to her co-workers to see if she was in all day today.But send plainclothes folks if you can.We don’t want to alert her if she is our killer.”
Webb was just starting to make a call when Jessie noticed a car round the corner onto their street, heading in their direction.It was a Red Hyundai Tucson, moving slowly.Jessie got a tingly feeling.
“I think that’s her,” she said, pointing at the vehicle.
Webb looked over.
“Do we know that’s what she drives?”
“I’m sure it’s in the file.Jamil would have definitely included it.But I just have a feeling.That’s a mom’s car.That’s Rebecca Sullivan.”
A moment later, as if in direct response to her comment, the car pulled into the Sullivan’s driveway.
“Tell your people to get ready,” Jessie said, not even pretending that Webb was in charge anymore.“We wait until the driver exits the vehicle to make sure it’s really her.Then we move.”
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
Itwasher.
Jessie recognized the woman as the same one in the various photos Jamil and Beth had sent.
Like so many of the other women that Mannix had courted, Rebecca Sullivan had brown hair.Apparently, that was his type.Sullivan’s was tied back in a bouncy ponytail.She wore black slacks and a professional cream blouse, which seemed like the right attire for a hospital administrator.If she was their killer, she had likely changed at some point.Jessie couldn’t imagine her committing a double murder in that outfit.Arterial spray would have almost certainly got on her clothes.Sullivan pressed the remote control to lock her car and it beeped once.
“That’s a good sign,” Jessie said.“She wouldn’t be locking the car if her daughter was in it.One less thing to worry about.”
Sullivan was walking along the path from the driveway to her front door, though her attention was on her phone.
“I say we go now,” Jessie said urgently.“If she gets inside and locks the door, things get much more complicated.”
“I get it,” Webb said, “but the concern is whether she has a weapon.We don’t want to put agents at risk.”
