Kendra shook her head. “The ERT won’t find anything. He’s too careful. He didn’t leave a single fingerprint or DNA sample at any of his murder scenes.”
“We have to make sure,” Gina said. “He only has to slip up once.”
“Of course.” Kendra turned toward Olivia. “You’re staying with me tonight. Pack a bag, grab your laptop and anything else you might need to work.”
“No way.” Olivia had bounced back and was wearing her defiant face again. “I’m not going anywhere. I won’t let him chase me out of my home.”
Kendra knew exactly how she felt. She adjusted her appeal. “You won’t get a moment’s peace or any work done with the FBI agents who will be powdering and photographing this place in the next few hours. Trust me, you’ll be happier at my place. And you’ll be close enough that they can talk to you if they need you for anything.”
Olivia thought about this for a long moment. “Okay, but just for a few hours.”
“We’ll see.”
“I’m sleeping here tonight,” she said firmly.
Gina looked up from the desk. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. He got in here without any sign of forced entry. He can do it again.”
“I know. Do you think I haven’t thought about that? Nothing like a serial killer to make you feel vulnerable.” She made a face. “I’m calling Kendra’s security guy right away. I laughed at her when she had her place buttoned down, but now I think it’s a good idea. Well, really I thought it was a good idea for her, just not for me,” she amended. “Kendra deals with killers and I deal with bill collectors. But now I believe I’d feel more secure with new locks, steel-reinforced doorframe, maybe a few motion sensors to send reports to my phone when there’s a breach…”
“We can make that happen,” Kendra said. “We’ll call him from my place. He owes me a favor. I bet he can do it today.”
Metcalf pointed to the door. “Only after the Evidence Response Team gives it the once-over.”
Kendra nodded. “Well, then, you’d better have them do the door first. We’ll be one flight up if you need anything.” She turned to Olivia. “Come on, let’s go. I don’t know about you, but I need a drink.”
* * *
“DRINK THIS.” KENDRA HANDED Olivia her martini and took her own vodka and tonic to the couch and pulled out her phone. “I’ll catch up with you as soon as I call to arrange for your security. I’m scared to death you’ll get stubborn and want to chance sleeping at your own place even if you have trouble getting it monster-proofed.”
“No worries,” Olivia said. “All I have to do is remind myself of the moment when I stood there in my office with your murderer staring at me, trying to decide if it was necessary to kill me.” She took a sip of her martini. “You know he has to have had a thought like that, Kendra.”
“Yes.” That had been the most chilling vision that Olivia’s story had brought to mind. Because Kendra could relate to standing there in darkness, sure that someone was there, every instinct screaming, but having to tell herself there was no proof. It was the stuff of madness and nightmares. And she knew that the feeling of being helpless before a threat like that was the worst part of the experience. “But if he’d moved, you might have heard him and been able to defend yourself. You wouldn’t have let him have it all his own way.”
She smiled. “Your confidence in me is amazing.”
“You’re amazing,” she said lightly. “Now hush while I finish making this phone call.”
“You’d better be quick.” She drained her glass. “I’m going to have another drink. You didn’t make this one strong enough.”
Thirty minutes later after much coaxing and a significant bribe, Kendra hung up with the promise of a crew that would show up no later than nine that night to make the security changes. “Done.” She got to her feet and headed for the kitchen. “Now I’m going to put a frozen lasagna into the oven for dinner. You need something in your stomach after those last three martinis I saw you downing.”
“Whatever,” Olivia said. “I’m feeling no pain, but our Zachary is still with me.” She stood up and followed Kendra to the kitchen. “That message keeps playing over and over in my head.”
“Mine, too.” Kendra pulled out the casserole and took it out of the box. “Zachary. We didn’t know his name was Zachary before today. So at least we learned something new.” She put the lasagna on the rack and turned on the oven. “Though I’m fairly confident that isn’t his real name. He’s very clever, I can’t see him giving anything away.” She turned from the oven. “I guess we’ll find out eventually, and Zachary is as good a name as any to call him until we’re sure.” She added, “And maybe the ERT will find something in your condo that will give us even more of a lead. No one is perfect.”
She smiled crookedly. “And he’ll rue the day when he tried to use the amazing Olivia Moore?”
“Why not?”
“No reason. I agree with you, but I believe you’re trying to put a positive spin on a very bad experience. I appreciate the effort, but I’m over the first trauma. So cut off the alcohol and make me some coffee. I might have to think clearly when your buddies at the FBI want to take a statement.”
“Good idea,” Kendra said ruefully. “I wasn’t trying to get you drunk, that phone call lasted longer than I thought it would.” She put dark magic blend into the automatic coffee maker. “I wanted to take the edge off, not blur it completely.”
“Well, I did,” Olivia said. “I almost fell apart when I first heard that message. I was ashamed of being such a coward. I’m sorry, Kendra, you didn’t need me to behave like that when you must have been as scared as I was.”
“Sorry?” She came around the bar and took Olivia in her arms. “You were awesome. I’m the one who should be sorry to involve you. I am sorry.” She cleared her throat. “You didn’t ask for any of this. I almost got you killed.” She took a step back. “Please, believe me. I had no idea that bastard even knew who I was, much less had some kind of fixation on me. I certainly didn’t have any idea my friends would be targeted. I still can’t believe it’s true.”
“I think you’d better start assuming that he meant every word he said,” Olivia said dryly. “And if I was targeted, it was only in a minor way … for him. You’re the one who is getting his attention. So please don’t get all emotional and weepy on me. You’re going to embarrass me.”
“Heaven forbid,” Kendra said unevenly. “Am I allowed to say Zachary chose very well? He probably researched and found out how much I care about you and how scared I’d be if anything happened to you.”
“Yeah, you can say that. Because it’s all past tense now. I’m going to have steel doors and motion sensors and I’ll be on my guard. He made a mistake, didn’t he?”
“A big mistake,” Kendra said fiercely. “He won’t be able to touch you again.”
“Right.” She turned and started toward the couch. “Then get me my coffee, and we’ll sit and relax and wait for the lasagna to cook. If I remember correctly, it takes about forty-five minutes. By that time, with luck, I’ll no longer be blurred and you’ll no longer be stressed.”
“You have a better chance than I do,” Kendra said. “Forgive me, Olivia.”
“Forgive? We don’t use that word between us.” She took the coffee cup Kendra was handing her and curled up on the couch. “It wasn’t your fault that Zachary knew what good taste you had in friends. Now get your coffee and come and sit beside me. I’m hoping we’ll have a little time to ourselves before Metcalf comes running up from my condo. He and Gina let me off easy, but they’re going to want a statement with details, aren’t they?”
“Absolutely. It’s their job and Griffin is going to be a hard-ass over every single aspect of this case. But they’re lucky it’s you they’re interviewing. You’re trained to observe details no one else might.”
She shook her head. “Not like you.”
“Still very, very good.” She sat down with her own cup of coffee. “A
nd just the questions might trigger a memory or two.”
“I’ll have to see what happens.” Olivia reached out and squeezed her hand. “You okay now, Kendra?”
It was like Olivia to be concerned about Kendra after all she’d been through herself today. “As long as you are. No problem.” She leaned back on the cushions. Like Olivia, she was trying to block the vision she was seeing of a shadowy man standing looking at her friend and deciding whether or not he’d let her live. “I only hope we’ll get a chance to eat that lasagna before Metcalf comes bounding up those stairs.”
But her hope was not fulfilled. Kendra had just set the table and put the lasagna on a platter when Metcalf and Gina arrived at the door.
“Lord, that smells good.” Gina was sniffing the air. “Garlic bread?”
“What else goes as well with lasagna?” Kendra asked as she let them in the condo. “I was hoping you’d take a little longer before you came to take her statement. Did you find anything?”
“Nothing suspicious,” Metcalf said. “Everything appears to belong to Olivia and is in perfect order.”
“Duh,” Olivia said. “I’m blind, Metcalf. If it wasn’t in order my life would be chaos.”
“Sarcasm doesn’t become you,” Metcalf said. “But then you’re gorgeous, and you don’t need anything to become you. Evidence Response is still looking, but we’re not hopeful.”
“I’m bringing out a security team at nine tonight. Are you going to let them do their work?”
“More than likely. As I said, we’re not finding much. But I need a statement from Olivia, and Griffin’s not going to take any excuses. I knew she was upset, and I wanted to give her time to settle down, but I have to—”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Olivia said. “Stop waffling. Ask me your questions. But both of you sit down and have dinner first. I refuse to let good food get cold. There’s plenty, isn’t there, Kendra?”
Kendra shrugged. “More than enough.”
“Well, if you insist—” Metcalf said, his gaze on the lasagna. “And after dinner you should call Griffin, Kendra. He didn’t like the way we bolted out of the office after we got Olivia’s call. And when I called him back about Zachary’s message, he nearly blew a gasket.”
“I imagine he did.” She hadn’t thought about Griffin and didn’t want to do so now. But she knew Metcalf had probably covered for her to keep Griffin from bothering Olivia and her during a very stressful time. The longer she waited to call him, the longer Metcalf would be under the gun. “I’ll call him now. You all go on and eat.”
Metcalf frowned. “You could wait until—”
“Eat.” She took out her phone and headed for the living room. “This may not take long.”
Or then again, it might.
“It’s about time you called me,” Griffin said sourly when he picked up. “Metcalf said you were busy, but after all, I do head this investigation.”
“I wasn’t concerned about protocol or whether I was offending you. My old friend had just been exposed to a serial killer, and she was my number one priority. It’s a wonder she came out of this alive.”
“Yes, it is,” he said bluntly. “Reports have been coming in from the profilers in D.C., and they see no clemency in this killer’s behavior. He was far more likely to butcher Olivia to make a statement than to let her go. We’re generating this report to the investigators who are coming here to help work this case. We need her input.”
“Yeah, I’m sure Olivia will be only too glad to be a guinea pig for them to study. You’ll be lucky if she doesn’t take them apart one by one.”
“Then it’s your responsibility to make her see that she has to be helpful if she wants this man captured.”
She tried to hold onto her temper. “I have no responsibility as far as your dream team is concerned, Griffin. Your responsibility is to keep Olivia alive and well. That’s my responsibility also. Don’t drown her in red tape or do anything that threatens her in any way just to give your team a project.”
“We’re trying to do just the opposite, Kendra,” he said soothingly. “I know she’s very close to you. But there’s something intrinsically valuable in a team effort.”
Maybe he actually believed that, she thought wearily. “Then have your team find a way to tell us what he’s going to do next. Because I would never have called this one in a hundred years.”
“Neither would I,” Griffin said. “It blew us out of the water.”
“We just have to keep Olivia safe. And my mother, have you arranged protection for my mother?”
“The minute Metcalf told me that Olivia’s threat was real and credible. Your mother’s fine, we’ll keep her that way.”
“Good. Keeping everyone safe is the primary thing we have to do now.”
Silence. “That’s not exactly true, Kendra. It’s important, but it’s not primary.”
She stiffened. “What are you saying?”
“You’re not thinking of anyone but Olivia. It’s very natural but you have to consider why Zachary came to Olivia. He wanted to get to you, Kendra. He made that very clear. Why do you think he did that?”
“I have no idea. How could I? The man is insane and I know nothing about him. Maybe he picked my name out of the phone book.”
“That’s not what he said. He said he’d been searching. Perhaps we should investigate just what he meant. It could either be a threat … or an opportunity.”
“You investigate it. Right now, I’m not thinking about me, I’m thinking about ways to keep him away from the people I care about.”
“And you’re fighting desperately not to realize that I’m right and you’re wrong. You don’t want to see it. The importance of the entire scenario is the fact that you’re right in the middle and Zachary wants to keep you there.” He went on quickly. “You’re upset, and I’ll cut you some slack, but I’ll keep coming back to you. I have to do it, Kendra.” He cut the connection.
Damn him, he was right. She didn’t want to think about how Zachary’s message was going to affect her, because he’d already shown her how vulnerable she was, how vulnerable everyone who touched her was going to be. But she had to think about it, because Zachary had made a move she couldn’t ignore.
But not right now. She had to take a little time to make certain he couldn’t damage the people she cared about. It was not going to be easy, because she suddenly realized that she was not an island. Her first thought had been for Olivia and her mother, but Zachary might not choose them. She had other friends whom it would hurt her to lose. He might go farther afield because he’d think she wouldn’t expect it.
Perhaps that was what he’d intended, keep her busy and frantic while he made his next move. And he was succeeding, just thinking about what he might do was causing her heart to pound and her palms to sweat.
She couldn’t allow him to do that to her.
All right, one step at a time.
Protect her assets and then use her mind instead of her emotions. Circle the wagons and keep the savage away. Don’t let her mother and Olivia realize how scared she was or they’d insist on trying to rush to guard her.
Circle the wagons …
She stuffed her phone in her pocket and pasted a smile on her face as she strolled back into the kitchen. “For once Griffin seems to be working at high speed,” she said lightly. “He already has a few leads. Things are looking up … Did you save me any lasagna?”
12:35 A.M.
A ping signaled a text on Kendra’s phone on the nightstand.
Lynch.
She hesitated before she reached for the phone. She’d just crawled into bed after making sure Olivia had drifted off to sleep in the guest bedroom. She was tired and on edge and didn’t want to have to spar with Lynch when she felt as if she’d already been on stage all evening.
But if she didn’t answer, there was no telling what effect that would have on Lynch. He was so smart and intuitive that she didn’t want to risk alerting him that things weren�
��t proceeding as she’d like them to be.
Hell, what an understatement.
She grabbed the phone and read the text.
A MULTI-CITY SERIAL KILLER? REALLY? WERE YOU BORED WITH THE ORDINARY GARDEN VARIETY?
Is that all he knew? she wondered, relieved. It must be or he would have instantly mentioned the message from Zachary. SOMETHING LIKE THAT. DON’T YOU HAVE ANYTHING BETTER TO DO BUT TAP YOUR SOURCES ABOUT MY BUSINESS? TALK ABOUT BEING BORED. IF YOU KNOW THAT, THEN YOU MUST KNOW THAT THERE WILL BE SO MANY EXPERTS RUNNING AROUND HERE THAT I’LL HAVE NOTHING TO DO.
He shot back: YOU’LL FIND SOMETHING. PROBABLY INTENSELY TROUBLESOME IN NATURE.
NONSENSE. She paused. DID GRIFFIN TELL YOU?
A slight hesitation. DOES IT MATTER?
NO, JUST CURIOUS. She typed on quickly. WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN GUILIN THAT YOU HAVE ALL THIS TIME TO HARASS ME?
Another hesitation. WHY, TRYING TO GET THEIR STAR OLYMPIC GYMNAST YUN SHULI TO DEFECT. WHAT ELSE COULD BE MORE IMPORTANT?
MAYBE THEIR ENTIRE DIVING TEAM? she asked.
THAT’S NEXT MONTH’S ASSIGNMENT. ONE STAR PROJECT AT A TIME. BUT MAYBE I’LL BE ABLE TO SQUEEZE YOU IN AFTER THE GYMNAST. I’M ALMOST THERE WITH HER. ANOTHER WEEK SHOULD DO IT.
AND WHO INVITED YOU? I TOLD YOU THAT NEITHER ONE OF US IS GOING TO BE OF MUCH IMPORTANCE IN THIS CASE.
YOU DID, DIDN’T YOU? THEN MAYBE I’LL JUST CONCENTRATE ON SNATCHING THAT DIM BUT MAGNIFICENT ATHLETE AND FORGET ABOUT BOTHERING ABOUT YOU. GOODNIGHT, KENDRA.
He was gone.
She put her phone back on the nightstand. She was uneasy, but it might be for nothing. She had attempted to make the text completely normal, but she had been nervous, and she might have blown it. She had never been able to tell how well Lynch could read her. She had an uncomfortable feeling it was far too well.
But so far he had learned only the basics, and she needed to keep what had happened today from him at all costs. That would be the tipping point that could send him here to try to help her. Everyone close to her seemed to think that would be the best possible thing that could happen. She might have thought that herself a few days ago.
Look Behind You Page 10
