The Perfect Scandal Read online

  t h e p e r f e c t

  s c a n d a l

  (a jessie hunt psychological suspense—book 23)

  b l a k e p i e r c e

  Blake Pierce

  Blake Pierce is the USA Today bestselling author of the RILEY PAGE mystery series, which includes seventeen books. Blake Pierce is also the author of the MACKENZIE WHITE mystery series, comprising fourteen books; of the AVERY BLACK mystery series, comprising six books; of the KERI LOCKE mystery series, comprising five books; of the MAKING OF RILEY PAIGE mystery series, comprising six books; of the KATE WISE mystery series, comprising seven books; of the CHLOE FINE psychological suspense mystery, comprising six books; of the JESSIE HUNT psychological suspense thriller series, comprising twenty-six books; of the AU PAIR psychological suspense thriller series, comprising three books; of the ZOE PRIME mystery series, comprising six books; of the ADELE SHARP mystery series, comprising sixteen books, of the EUROPEAN VOYAGE cozy mystery series, comprising four books; of the new LAURA FROST FBI suspense thriller, comprising eleven books (and counting); of the new ELLA DARK FBI suspense thriller, comprising fourteen books (and counting); of the A YEAR IN EUROPE cozy mystery series, comprising nine books, of the AVA GOLD mystery series, comprising six books (and counting); of the RACHEL GIFT mystery series, comprising six books (and counting); of the VALERIE LAW mystery series, comprising nine books (and counting); of the PAIGE KING mystery series, comprising six books (and counting); of the MAY MOORE mystery series, comprising nine books (and counting); of the CORA SHIELDS mystery series, comprising three books (and counting); and of the NICKY LYONS mystery series, comprising three books (and counting).

  An avid reader and lifelong fan of the mystery and thriller genres, Blake loves to hear from you, so please feel free to visit www.blakepierceauthor.com to learn more and stay in touch.

  Copyright © 2022 by Blake Pierce. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the author. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Jacket image Copyright Volodymyr TVERDOKHLIB, used under license from Shutterstock.com.

  BOOKS BY BLAKE PIERCE

  CORA SHIELDS MYSTERY SERIES

  UNDONE (Book #1)

  UNWANTED (Book #2)

  UNHINGED (Book #3)

  MAY MOORE SUSPENSE THRILLER

  NEVER RUN (Book #1)

  NEVER TELL (Book #2)

  NEVER LIVE (Book #3)

  NEVER HIDE (Book #4)

  NEVER FORGIVE (Book #5)

  NEVER AGAIN (Book #6)

  NEVER LOOK BACK (Book #7)

  NEVER FORGET (Book #8)

  NEVER LET GO (Book #9)

  PAIGE KING MYSTERY SERIES

  THE GIRL HE PINED (Book #1)

  THE GIRL HE CHOSE (Book #2)

  THE GIRL HE TOOK (Book #3)

  THE GIRL HE WISHED (Book #4)

  THE GIRL HE CROWNED (Book #5)

  THE GIRL HE WATCHED (Book #6)

  VALERIE LAW MYSTERY SERIES

  NO MERCY (Book #1)

  NO PITY (Book #2)

  NO FEAR (Book #3)

  NO SLEEP (Book #4)

  NO QUARTER (Book #5)

  NO CHANCE (Book #6)

  NO REFUGE (Book #7)

  NO GRACE (Book #8)

  NO ESCAPE (Book #9)

  RACHEL GIFT MYSTERY SERIES

  HER LAST WISH (Book #1)

  HER LAST CHANCE (Book #2)

  HER LAST HOPE (Book #3)

  HER LAST FEAR (Book #4)

  HER LAST CHOICE (Book #5)

  HER LAST BREATH (Book #6)

  HER LAST MISTAKE (Book #7)

  HER LAST DESIRE (Book #8)

  AVA GOLD MYSTERY SERIES

  CITY OF PREY (Book #1)

  CITY OF FEAR (Book #2)

  CITY OF BONES (Book #3)

  CITY OF GHOSTS (Book #4)

  CITY OF DEATH (Book #5)

  CITY OF VICE (Book #6)

  A YEAR IN EUROPE

  A MURDER IN PARIS (Book #1)

  DEATH IN FLORENCE (Book #2)

  VENGEANCE IN VIENNA (Book #3)

  A FATALITY IN SPAIN (Book #4)

  ELLA DARK FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER

  GIRL, ALONE (Book #1)

  GIRL, TAKEN (Book #2)

  GIRL, HUNTED (Book #3)

  GIRL, SILENCED (Book #4)

  GIRL, VANISHED (Book 5)

  GIRL ERASED (Book #6)

  GIRL, FORSAKEN (Book #7)

  GIRL, TRAPPED (Book #8)

  GIRL, EXPENDABLE (Book #9)

  GIRL, ESCAPED (Book #10)

  GIRL, HIS (Book #11)

  GIRL, LURED (Book #12)

  GIRL, MISSING (Book #13)

  GIRL, UNKNOWN (Book #14)

  LAURA FROST FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER

  ALREADY GONE (Book #1)

  ALREADY SEEN (Book #2)

  ALREADY TRAPPED (Book #3)

  ALREADY MISSING (Book #4)

  ALREADY DEAD (Book #5)

  ALREADY TAKEN (Book #6)

  ALREADY CHOSEN (Book #7)

  ALREADY LOST (Book #8)

  ALREADY HIS (Book #9)

  ALREADY LURED (Book #10)

  ALREADY COLD (Book #11)

  EUROPEAN VOYAGE COZY MYSTERY SERIES

  MURDER (AND BAKLAVA) (Book #1)

  DEATH (AND APPLE STRUDEL) (Book #2)

  CRIME (AND LAGER) (Book #3)

  MISFORTUNE (AND GOUDA) (Book #4)

  CALAMITY (AND A DANISH) (Book #5)

  MAYHEM (AND HERRING) (Book #6)

  ADELE SHARP MYSTERY SERIES

  LEFT TO DIE (Book #1)

  LEFT TO RUN (Book #2)

  LEFT TO HIDE (Book #3)

  LEFT TO KILL (Book #4)

  LEFT TO MURDER (Book #5)

  LEFT TO ENVY (Book #6)

  LEFT TO LAPSE (Book #7)

  LEFT TO VANISH (Book #8)

  LEFT TO HUNT (Book #9)

  LEFT TO FEAR (Book #10)

  LEFT TO PREY (Book #11)

  LEFT TO LURE (Book #12)

  LEFT TO CRAVE (Book #13)

  LEFT TO LOATHE (Book #14)

  LEFT TO HARM (Book #15)

  LEFT TO RUIN (Book #16)

  THE AU PAIR SERIES

  ALMOST GONE (Book#1)

  ALMOST LOST (Book #2)

  ALMOST DEAD (Book #3)

  ZOE PRIME MYSTERY SERIES

  FACE OF DEATH (Book#1)

  FACE OF MURDER (Book #2)

  FACE OF FEAR (Book #3)

  FACE OF MADNESS (Book #4)

  FACE OF FURY (Book #5)

  FACE OF DARKNESS (Book #6)

  A JESSIE HUNT PSYCHOLOGICAL SUSPENSE SERIES

  THE PERFECT WIFE (Book #1)

  THE PERFECT BLOCK (Book #2)

  THE PERFECT HOUSE (Book #3)

  THE PERFECT SMILE (Book #4)

  THE PERFECT LIE (Book #5)

  THE PERFECT LOOK (Book #6)

  THE PERFECT AFFAIR (Book #7)

  THE PERFECT ALIBI (Book #8)

  THE PERFECT NEIGHBOR (Book #9)

  THE PERFECT DISGUISE (Book #10)

&nbsp
; THE PERFECT SECRET (Book #11)

  THE PERFECT FAÇADE (Book #12)

  THE PERFECT IMPRESSION (Book #13)

  THE PERFECT DECEIT (Book #14)

  THE PERFECT MISTRESS (Book #15)

  THE PERFECT IMAGE (Book #16)

  THE PERFECT VEIL (Book #17)

  THE PERFECT INDISCRETION (Book #18)

  THE PERFECT RUMOR (Book #19)

  THE PERFECT COUPLE (Book #20)

  THE PERFECT MURDER (Book #21)

  THE PERFECT HUSBAND (Book #22)

  THE PERFECT SCANDAL (Book #23)

  THE PERFECT MASK (Book #24)

  THE PERFECT RUSE (Book #25)

  THE PERFECT VENEER (Book #26)

  CHLOE FINE PSYCHOLOGICAL SUSPENSE SERIES

  NEXT DOOR (Book #1)

  A NEIGHBOR’S LIE (Book #2)

  CUL DE SAC (Book #3)

  SILENT NEIGHBOR (Book #4)

  HOMECOMING (Book #5)

  TINTED WINDOWS (Book #6)

  KATE WISE MYSTERY SERIES

  IF SHE KNEW (Book #1)

  IF SHE SAW (Book #2)

  IF SHE RAN (Book #3)

  IF SHE HID (Book #4)

  IF SHE FLED (Book #5)

  IF SHE FEARED (Book #6)

  IF SHE HEARD (Book #7)

  THE MAKING OF RILEY PAIGE SERIES

  WATCHING (Book #1)

  WAITING (Book #2)

  LURING (Book #3)

  TAKING (Book #4)

  STALKING (Book #5)

  KILLING (Book #6)

  RILEY PAIGE MYSTERY SERIES

  ONCE GONE (Book #1)

  ONCE TAKEN (Book #2)

  ONCE CRAVED (Book #3)

  ONCE LURED (Book #4)

  ONCE HUNTED (Book #5)

  ONCE PINED (Book #6)

  ONCE FORSAKEN (Book #7)

  ONCE COLD (Book #8)

  ONCE STALKED (Book #9)

  ONCE LOST (Book #10)

  ONCE BURIED (Book #11)

  ONCE BOUND (Book #12)

  ONCE TRAPPED (Book #13)

  ONCE DORMANT (Book #14)

  ONCE SHUNNED (Book #15)

  ONCE MISSED (Book #16)

  ONCE CHOSEN (Book #17)

  MACKENZIE WHITE MYSTERY SERIES

  BEFORE HE KILLS (Book #1)

  BEFORE HE SEES (Book #2)

  BEFORE HE COVETS (Book #3)

  BEFORE HE TAKES (Book #4)

  BEFORE HE NEEDS (Book #5)

  BEFORE HE FEELS (Book #6)

  BEFORE HE SINS (Book #7)

  BEFORE HE HUNTS (Book #8)

  BEFORE HE PREYS (Book #9)

  BEFORE HE LONGS (Book #10)

  BEFORE HE LAPSES (Book #11)

  BEFORE HE ENVIES (Book #12)

  BEFORE HE STALKS (Book #13)

  BEFORE HE HARMS (Book #14)

  AVERY BLACK MYSTERY SERIES

  CAUSE TO KILL (Book #1)

  CAUSE TO RUN (Book #2)

  CAUSE TO HIDE (Book #3)

  CAUSE TO FEAR (Book #4)

  CAUSE TO SAVE (Book #5)

  CAUSE TO DREAD (Book #6)

  KERI LOCKE MYSTERY SERIES

  A TRACE OF DEATH (Book #1)

  A TRACE OF MURDER (Book #2)

  A TRACE OF VICE (Book #3)

  A TRACE OF CRIME (Book #4)

  A TRACE OF HOPE (Book #5)

  CONTENTS

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  CHAPTER THIRTY ONE

  CHAPTER THIRTY TWO

  CHAPTER THIRTY THREE

  CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR

  EPILOGUE

  PROLOGUE

  Jessie was cold.

  There wasn’t anything she could do about it. Not while she was lying on her side in the back seat of an old sedan, handcuffed, as the car she was in raced along a freeway, heading into the night and away from Los Angeles to an unknown destination.

  Just a few hours ago, she had been about to marry the man of her dreams—her partner Detective Ryan Hernandez—in a sunset wedding at an oceanside resort with a small coterie of friends and family in attendance. But then her longtime nemesis, Andrea “Andy” Robinson, had slipped into the bridal suite, drugged her, and snuck her out a side exit before anyone knew she was gone. Now Andy, currently in the driver’s seat of the sedan, was claiming the two of them were going off to live some kind of new life together.

  “We’re going to find our tiny, shared universe,” were the particular words that stuck in Jessie’s head out of the many that Andy said. It was yet more proof that Andy Robinson was dangerously disturbed, not that more proof was needed. After all, this was a woman who had murdered at least one person, tried once to kill Jessie, and coordinated the killings of multiple other innocent civilians.

  Andy’s blonde hair was whipping wildly about her face as the wind shot through the open window. She glanced back and Jessie caught a glimpse of her face in the rearview mirror via a freeway light. It wasn’t quite maniacal. If someone else driving by looked over at her, they might not notice anything amiss.

  But Jessie Hunt knew better. She recognized the too-wide grin, the strained neck muscles, and most of all, the blazingly blue eyes that somehow seemed even more intense than usual. Andy Robinson was well-practiced at hiding the sickness lurking just below the surface, but the cracks seemed to be showing more now. At the rate she was deteriorating, even people who weren’t trained as criminal profilers would be able to sense that they were in the presence of danger.

  “Don’t worry,” Andy said. “We’ll make a stop at some point soon. I know you must be getting chilly back there. I can’t uncuff you just yet, but I have a blanket in the trunk that I can tuck around you to keep you warm.”

  Or you could just roll up the windows, Jessie thought. She would have said it out loud, but she knew it wouldn’t have done any good. Andy enjoyed the discomfort of the cold and though she would never admit it, she took pleasure in making Jessie uncomfortable and then being the one to offer her a salve for that discomfort. It was a way of maintaining power over her. If Jessie asked for the windows to be rolled up, it would be a sign of weakness and a concession that she had no control over what happened to her.

  She didn’t know what Andy’s plan was, but she did know one thing. If she was going to get out of this alive, she needed to maintain her captor’s respect. It was clear that whatever Andy intended, it wasn’t just to kill Jessie and drop her body in the desert. She longed for something more: some kind of connection, and the harder Jessie made her work to get it, the better chance she had of finding some way out of this nightmare.

  So, Jessie Hunt suffered through the cold in silence.

  CHAPTER ONE

  EIGHT HOURS EARLIER

  7:42 p.m., Saturday night

  Honey Potter had seen a lot of unusual things in her career as a lovemaking coach, but she’d never encountered anything like this. The Peninsula Resort and Spa, where she worked, was in chaos.

  She’d been expecting to attend the nuptials of Jessie Hunt and Ryan Hernandez, who she’d helped with an investigation here at the resort a little while back. Instead, she appeared to be a witness to a cri
me scene. Just a few minutes ago, a woman in a white dress had walked down the aisle, pulled back her veil to reveal that she was not Jessie, and started laughing crazily. Then all hell broke loose.

  The woman tried to run toward the oceanside cliff and throw herself onto the rocks below, only to be tackled by two female guests, one in an evening gown and another in a cocktail dress. Honey later learned that they were both coworkers of Jessie’s, one a detective named Susannah Valentine and the other a police researcher named Beth Ryerson.

  As she was processing the fact that the real bride had gone missing, a crowd of law enforcement surrounded the fake bride. Honey couldn’t hear what was being said but the imposter continued to cackle madly until Jessie’s friend, who Honey knew went by Kat, started to pummel her into submission. The cackling stopped. By the time the others pulled Kat off the woman, she was curled up into a whimpering ball.

  “Take a walk, Gentry!” ordered an older man Honey knew to be Captain Roy Decker, Jessie’s boss, who was supposed to give her away. “You’re lucky I don’t have you arrested.”

  Kat Gentry stormed off angrily in the direction of the bridal suite, followed closely by a youngish woman probably not more than twenty, tall, blonde, and skinny but with a purposeful stride well beyond her years.

  Honey looked around for Ryan to offer to some words of support but couldn’t find him. It would have been hard to miss Detective Ryan Hernandez. With his dark hair, square jaw, and muscled frame, he stood out in most crowds. But it was his high wattage smile and warm, brown eyes that had made even a veteran of the world of lust like her a little weak-kneed when she first met him.

  After a moment, Honey realized that it made sense that he was gone. He would have been far less interested in beating answers out of the woman who took his fiancée’s place at the alter than in finding the woman he loved. He was probably already up at the bridal suite looking for her.

  This wasn’t Honey’s area of expertise. She was used to helping couples rediscover ways to connect with each other or explore new erotic avenues to keep things exciting. She used to do it as an adult film actress. Now she did it as a licensed sex therapist with a very particular specialty. She was way out of her depth in this situation.