Sight Unseen

by Iris Johansen

  Lynch still didn’t move.

  “Lynch.”

  “Griffin is in there. Why not me?”

  “I don’t mind Griffin’s being there. He won’t get in my way. You always interfere.”

  He muttered a curse. Then he rapped on the door, and one of the guards unlocked and opened it.

  Kendra entered the room.

  Although she had already seen Colby through the glass, she felt the chill return as she breathed the same air as the man she had so long associated with pure evil.

  “Hello, Kendra.” He smiled mockingly. “I can’t tell you how happy I am to see you at last.”

  She froze for a moment. Could he see how his voice went through her like one of his knives?

  “I want a name,” she said. “Who’s killing these people?”

  Colby tilted his head. “You know … I still get headaches. All these years later, I still get horrible headaches from the concussion I got when you hit me with that rock.”

  “I guess a fractured skull will do that to you. I had to force myself not to make the damage permanent.”

  “That’s no surprise. I thought as much later once I delved into your character.” His smile faded. “You were very clever, Kendra. You forced me to revise my plans. That’s the only reason they all fell apart.”

  “Give me a name.”

  He ignored her request. “I was at a disadvantage. It was your first case, and I didn’t know you. I didn’t know how you worked. But things are different now. I know you better than you know yourself.”

  She gave him a skeptical look. “You always were an egomaniac, Colby.”

  “You may think I’m exaggerating, but I’m not,” he said. “Most people really don’t know themselves very well. It gives me a tremendous advantage.”

  “Oh, because you’re smarter than all of us…?”

  “I’ve had the benefit of a lot of time and a lot of motivation. And I’ve summoned you here for a very special reason.”

  “You summoned me?”

  “You’re here, aren’t you?” He smiled. “Just last week, if someone had asked you to get on a plane, come here, and stand three feet in front of me, there’s no way you would have done it. My, what a difference a few days can make…”

  “I’m here because innocent people are being massacred.”

  “And you thought I might somehow be able to help stop the massacre.”

  “I never thought that. Others did, but I didn’t. I know you better than that, Colby.”

  “And yet here you are.”

  “You’re just an item that needed to be crossed off. We’ll catch this psychopath with or without your help.”

  “Admit it. As you say, you know me and my little quirks. You’re aware that I never hide my cleverness and superiority from lesser beings. You thought that, in all my preening, I just might give you something you needed to solve your case.”

  “You do preen with the best of them.”

  “I do. I really do.”

  “Okay, here’s your chance. How did you get your DNA on Corrine Harvey’s sweater?”

  “I knew that would bother you.” His smile widened, his tiny teeth reminding her of a serpent’s fangs. “It’s kind of a wonderful magic trick, isn’t it?”

  “You’re dying to tell us. You want to show the whole world how brilliant you are.”

  He clicked his tongue. “You know … people think they want to know how a magic trick is done, but they don’t really. When they find out the secret, the wonder disappears. They’re suddenly not impressed. They respect the magician less, not more, regardless of how brilliant and mystifying his methods may be.”

  “We’re not talking about magicians, Colby. Romanticize it all you want, but in the end we’re talking about killers. Thugs.” She forced herself to stare him in the eye. “There’s only you and your puppet on the outside. There’s no magic, there’s no wonder. Just a pair of pathetic psychopaths.”

  If Colby was bothered by her words, he didn’t let it show. He nodded to where Griffin was sitting down the table. “Your FBI handler isn’t happy with your attitude toward me, Kendra. You’re not following the Bureau playbook. Don’t you know you’re supposed to stroke my ego in order to keep me talking, so that I’ll give something away?”

  Kendra glanced at Griffin. He did indeed look tense and upset. She shrugged. “I told you, that may be what these agents are here for, but I wouldn’t waste my time. It wouldn’t work with you.”

  Colby laughed. “Quite right.”

  “So if you’re not going to answer my questions, why did you ‘summon’ me?”

  “It was important to me that I see you one last time, Kendra. I have an announcement to make.”

  “Then make it.”

  He paused. “A drumroll please.”

  “Say it.”

  “I’ve changed our story.”

  “What story is that?”

  “The one where the gifted, formerly blind Kendra Michaels uses her intellect and powers of observation to stop a deranged madman in his tracks.”

  “That story is over, finished.”

  “No. To crib a phrase from Shakespeare, what is past is prologue.” He paused. “Because our story will not end until you know how it feels to truly suffer, Kendra. In every way imaginable.”

  She took a deep breath. Don’t react. Don’t give this creep one shred of satisfaction.

  “You’re trying so hard not to show your fear.” His voice dropped to almost a whisper. “But that terror is part of the new story. The terror and the pain have already begun and won’t leave you until the end. And it won’t even be over when the federal government shoots poison into my veins Monday night. Trust me on that.”

  Kendra felt a chill that went to her very core. She had seen the many horrible ways Colby had backed up his promises.

  “Enough.” Lynch had opened the door and strode into the room. “Get the hell back to your cell and talk to your paper-doll cutouts.” He nodded to guards. “Take him.”

  Colby raised an eyebrow. “Giving up so easily, Mr. Lynch? That isn’t your reputation.”

  “Like the lady said, you’re just another lead to be crossed from the list.”

  Colby rose to his feet as the guards approached. “We all know that’s not true.” His gaze shifted from Lynch to Kendra, then back again. “I do believe he’s a trifle upset, Kendra. Interesting.” He held her gaze. “He’ll be more upset the closer we get to the end of the story.”

  “Bullshit.” Kendra was trying to hold it together, but the interrogation room suddenly felt as it were getting smaller, bringing her closer and closer to Colby and his serpent smile. She had to get out of here. As she walked to the door, her throat was closing, and it was getting harder to breathe. “I’m done with you.”

  “But that’s the delightful twist to the story,” he called after her. “You’ll never be done with me, Kendra.”

  She practically stumbled into the hallway as the guard unlocked the door for her. Lynch was right behind her. He took her by the arm and half walked, half carried her around the corner. “Stop. There’s no one here.” He jammed her up against the wall and stepped closer, taking her in his arms, hiding her from view. “Let it go.”

  “I’m okay.” She wasn’t okay.

  Heads in the warehouse, eyes glued open.

  The smell of the dead in the gully.

  Lifting the corpse off her to try to get to Colby.

  Colby’s looking mockingly at her. “You’ll never be done with me, Kendra.”

  She could hear Lynch cursing beneath her ear. “Stop shaking. You’ll never have to see the bastard again.”

  She hadn’t realized she was shaking. She tried to control herself. But she wasn’t ready to let him go yet. He was pouring strength and warmth into her as he always did. Just a few more minutes …

  It was more like five when she said, “You can let me go now.”

  “No, I can’t. You’re stuck with me. I’m not going to let
Griffin see you like this. He’d enjoy it too much.”

  She didn’t want Griffin to see her like this either. She was becoming better by the moment, but she had to be entirely herself before she faced him. “Griffin didn’t say one word while I was in that room with Colby.”

  “He probably thought that he might get what he wanted if he left it up to a confrontation between the two of you. You were holding your own.”

  “Not toward the end.”

  “Colby didn’t see it.” His lips brushed her forehead. “But I couldn’t stand any more. So I broke it up.”

  And she was glad he had. Colby would not have done anything but torment her. He had made it clear why he’d ‘summoned’ her. “I think … he’s even more evil than when I knew him before. I didn’t think that possible. Yet he’s changed somehow.”

  “Perhaps you blocked him out.”

  She shook her head. “He’s changed. There’s something … new.”

  “Well, you don’t have to worry about him any longer. He dies Monday, and you don’t have to see him again.”

  She drew a deep breath and shook her head. “You heard him. I’m never going to be done with him.” She pushed him away. “And all your promises won’t change that.” She straightened. “They wouldn’t anyway. This is between Colby and me. That’s how it’s been from the beginning. You have nothing to do with it, Lynch.”

  “Not true.” He paused. “And that was only a threat to intimidate you.”

  “No, it wasn’t. He meant every word. I don’t know how he means to follow through, but that’s his intention.” She moistened her lips. “And it will be soon. He would want to see it happen.” She ran a hand through her hair to straighten it. “Now let’s go and find Griffin and the others. Colby was pretty much a waste of time except that it’s almost a sure thing that Myatt was in contact with him.” She moved down the hall toward the interrogation room. “We have to find out how that contact was made.”

  “Wait.” He hurried to catch up with her. “I expected to have at least another ten minutes or so helping to bolster and raise your spirits. What a disappointment.”

  “You’ll recover.” She paused, then said, “You did bolster me. I … wasn’t myself. Thank you, Lynch.”

  “My pleasure.” He smiled. “You’re very, very welcome. But I prefer you to be the Kendra I know. That other ‘self’ scared the hell out of me.”

  “Me, too.” She looked away and her pace quickened. “Me, too, Lynch.”

  San Quentin State Penitentiary

  East Gate

  BOBBY CHATSWORTH SHOVED THE MICROPHONE into the protestor’s face. “Tell us why you’re here. Why this inmate, why this prison?”

  The young woman with the poster froze. Dammit, she looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

  Lily Holt shook her head. She and Bobby had just taped one of the most riveting interviews in British television history, but Bobby was insisting on grabbing a few more lame sound bites from the crowd outside. Oh, well. It was his show. She was only the producer.

  The protestor nervously stumbled through her anti-death-penalty tirade, missing every opportunity to make a cogent point. When she finished, Bobby thanked her and stepped away with his camera operator and soundman.

  “That was terrible,” Lily said quietly. “Why did you choose her?”

  Bobby smiled impishly. “Are you joking? That was brilliant.”

  “No. Your interview with Colby was brilliant. I still have goose bumps. There was one moment there I might have actually peed myself a little. But that woman was rubbish.”

  “Could you ask for a better counterpoint? The intelligent articulate condemned man juxtaposed with the all-heart-no-brains do-gooder? See what I’m going for?”

  Lily nodded. She didn’t like it, but she got it.

  Bobby Chatsworth had made a name for himself as an “activist reporter” on a second-tier satellite news network in the UK, and his extreme positions gave him an engaged audience both on his network berth and video-streaming sites. His red beard, bushy eyebrows, and trademark round spectacles made him ripe for parody on comedy shows and political cartoons, but that only served to grow his audience. He’d recently been advocating the return of the death penalty in England, and in Eric Colby, he had found a terrifying poster boy for his cause.

  “I get it,” Lily said. “Anybody who’s against the death penalty must appear to be a total idiot.”

  Chatsworth smiled. “But on my show, they are total idiots. Got it?”

  “Of course. No sense in examining issues from more than one perspective.”

  “It sounds as if you’d prefer to work at a television station back in, oh, 1965.”

  “If you know of any openings there, let me know. Until then, I’ll keep carrying your sorry bum.”

  He laughed. “That’s my girl. I can always count—” He stopped, looking behind her.

  Lily turned to see what had grabbed his attention. A van passed a security checkpoint and emerged from the prison, prompting the protestors to wave their signs and shout their positions with renewed vigor.

  “Get that van,” Bobby shouted to the cameraman. “Hurry!”

  The van rolled by just as the cameraman lifted his rig and zoomed in on the passenger compartment.

  Chatsworth gave a low whistle. “Would you look at that…”

  “What am I supposed to be looking at?” the cameraman asked.

  Chatsworth watched the van move past the protestors and turn at the intersection. He turned back to Lily. “Believe it or not, Kendra Michaels was in there.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Positive.” He handed the microphone to the soundman. “That guard said we had to cut the interview short because Colby had some important visitors. Apparently, she was one of them.”

  “Why would Kendra Michaels want to see him?” Lily asked. “To share a pint and relive fond old memories?”

  “Hmm. Don’t know. But we really need to interview her. It’s like a gigantic hole in my show.”

  “She was on our list, but she didn’t even return my e-mails. She never comments on her investigations.”

  “I’ve heard that…” Chatsworth thought for a moment. “What if we offer something in return? Something that might be of use to her?”

  “And what exactly might that be?”

  He smiled. “I think we may already have it.”

  * * *

  DON’T THINK ABOUT COLBY NOW, Kendra told herself, as she boarded the flight back to San Diego. She had to overcome the emotion and separate it from logic. It was the only way she could come to any reasonable conclusions.

  “Want to talk?” Lynch asked as he watched her buckle her seat belt.

  She shook her head. “There’s been enough talk. Too much. I just want to rest and close everyone away from me.”

  He nodded. “I’ll try to keep Griffin and the rest off you.” He made his way down the aisle.

  Evidently he succeeded because Kendra spent much of the trip home lost in her thoughts, trying her best not to mentally replay her conversation with Colby. Lynch and the FBI agents spent most of the short plane flight tapping out memos on their laptops and passing around pages from documentation provided by the warden. She knew that there would be a complete copy of the file in her e-mail in-box the next morning, and she’d be better able to focus on it then.

  They landed at the San Diego airport at eight thirty. After a few mumbled good-byes between her and the other agents, Griffin pulled her aside.

  “Look, I’m sorry about the way things went down at the prison. I shouldn’t have asked you to join us.”

  Her brows rose in surprise. “I’m touched.” She paused. “You were right to ask.”

  He blinked at the response. “Your first reaction was that you didn’t want to go.”

  “Damn right. But I thought about it and realized it had to be done.” She looked him in the eye. “So it was my decision. Everything that happened was my responsibility, not you
rs.”

  “That’s very … generous.” He started to turn away, then looked back at her. “I can see how a guy like that can get inside your head, especially with your history with him. I know it took a lot for you to go there. Thank you.”

  She nodded. “Good night, Griffin. See you tomorrow.”

  Griffin walked away.

  “I’m amazed,” Lynch said from behind her. “That’s not a guy who usually makes apologies.”

  “Well, it doesn’t come easily to him. His teeth were practically clenched for the entire conversation.”

  “Baby steps, Kendra. Baby steps.” Lynch motioned toward the terminal exit. “This way. I’m taking you home.”

  She frowned. “Since when?”

  “Since I remembered that you didn’t bring your car here. How did you think you were getting back to your place?”

  “Cab.”

  “Nope. Anyway, there are a few little things I want to go over with the security detail outside your condo. Let’s go.”

  After the quick ride home, Kendra was surprised at what Lynch considered “little things” he wanted to discuss with her security guard.

  “Nelson, until you hear otherwise, your services will no longer be needed,” Lynch said to Agent Nelson the moment he reached him.

  “What?” Nelson and Kendra said in unison.

  “Thank you for your service,” Lynch said. “You’ve done a fine job.”

  Nelson was obviously blindsided. “Uh, I’ll need authorization from Griffin for this.”

  “Then get it. Or don’t get it. Whatever. In any case, Kendra won’t be here.”

  “And just what makes you think that?” she asked.

  “Colby. You wouldn’t let me in the room with the two of you, but that was good. From behind the glass, I was able to watch the two of you as if you were on a movie screen. Every expression, every nuance. His promise of making you suffer was all the inspiration I needed.”

  “Your inspiration, not mine. I don’t recall any discussion about my leaving my home.”

  “That’s because there wasn’t any. I just thought of it a little while ago.” Lynch opened the door and walked with her into the condo and closed the door on Agent Nelson’s troubled face. “Go pack a suitcase. Bring enough for at least a few days.”