Who Killed Jenny Schecter? Ch. 25

"The inner ring, then the outer ring," Carmen said.

"Right. Very good. And are we agreed only the Inner Ring had all the necessary data, whereas the Outer Ring only had small bits and pieces?"

"Small bits and pieces, plus no particular motive or animus toward Jenny. And if it was any of them other than Max, we're back to the question of why Max was killed. So the source inside the group had to be Max, if it was anybody."

"Right. Let me ask you another question. Of all the group, who generally held a grudge the longest? Who would never forget a slight or an insult, whether intentional or not? Who kept stuff inside? Who let it fester and smolder."

"Max. No question. And Jenny treated him like shit for years. She helped him, too, but they fought a lot. He earned a lot of it himself. He went more than a little nuts when he was transitioning and taking all that testosterone. She taunted him when she fucked Claude in front of him up in Whistler. He blamed her for making Tom break up with him."

"Let me ask, was that true? Did Jenny cause the breakup?"

"Mmmm. Hard to say, definitively. But probably, yes. Maybe the point is, Max certainly thought so, whether it was true or not."

"Right. It's what Max thought. So next question. Who amongst the group was the sneakiest? Not who was smarter, but who was more cunning? Sly? Who let stuff fester? Who kept anger buried inside? Who carried a grudge longer than anyone else?"

"Max. Max, and Max, and Max. And of course, Max," Carmen said.

"I figured you'd say that."

"Well, it was kind of easy. All the rest of us pretty much let it all hang out about 20 seconds after it happened. I mean, come on, drama queens. Yes, Alice was pissed that Jenny stole her film treatment. But it was out in the open from the first second Alice learned about it, and she sure as hell never kept her anger bottled up. Alice will hold a grudge, but it won't be in secret. Bette, too. She'll hold a grudge, but you can see it on her face. And she's wicked smart, but not what you'd call cunning. And you can read her emotions on her face. Or at least, I can. If she's upset, you can see it between her eyebrows. As for Tina, the words Tina and cunning or sly would never appear in the same sentence. Helena pretty much operates on the surface, she's not sly or cunning. Kit might hold a grudge, too, but she'd come after you inside of 24 hours. And like that time she was pissed at Dawn Denbo. She went out, bought a gun, stood outside the bar ... and couldn't do it. So, no, not Kit. Last but not least, Shane. Don't make me laugh, or even giggle hysterically. It's Max or nobody. Is this what they call profiling? Well, we've profiled Max."

"Yes," Lauren said.

"The trouble is, if Jenny was thinking about the porno website, she still had to come back to the same two suspect groups. Was it someone on Niki's side, or was it someone inside the group, probably Max?"

"And so Jenny hires a private detective to find out."

***

They met Marybeth in the lobby as they came back from lunch and rode up in the elevator with her.

"Jesus, I hate budget meetings," Marybeth said. "You guys making any progress? You saw the Niki transcripts?"

"Yes, we got them, thanks," Lauren said. "We have news."

The elevator door opened and they walked out.

"Good. I need some. What is it?"

"We think we know who killed Jenny. We think we know who the blackmailer and the Creep are."

Marybeth stopped and her eyebrows went up. "Really? Who?"

"Gabe McCutcheon, Shane's father."

"Shane's ... I'll be a son of a bitch!" She glanced at her watch. "Fuck. I have a chief's meeting in five minutes. That gives me two minutes to take a piss and two minutes to eat a pack of crackers for lunch. Give me the headlines."

"Remember you said blackmailers and extortionists are like sharks that keep coming back to their favorite feeding grounds? Well, that made Carmen think of Gabe McCutcheon. He took a bite out of Helena six or seven years ago. We think he came back for another bite, this time from Jenny and Niki. And we think he had help from an inside source."

It didn't take Marybeth more than a nanosecond. "Max. Because he was murdered, too."

"Bingo."

"What kind of evidence do we have?"

"Zip."

"Story of my life and career. Okay, go find some. And find Gabe McCutcheon, get his ass in here. He's now a person of interest."

"Catchy title," Carmen said.

Marybeth cocked an eyebrow at her. "Where's Shane?"

"A problem came up at her work."

"Does she know about her father?" She looked at Lauren. "Have you told her your theory?"

"No. Carmen came up with it last night, and we just now tied Max into it."

"Nancy Drew, huh? Morales, I knew I liked you. Okay, good work. I gotta run. You guys know what to do. And don't tell Shane anything for right now, until we get it firmed up. Okay?"

"That's what we think, too," Lauren said.

Marybeth cocked her finger and fired it at Carmen with a wink, then hurried off to her next meeting.