“The Mercedes is his. Was his.” She paused. Her voice was the slightest bit unsteady as she added, “Still doesn’t feel right to say it that way. I guess I’ll get better at it.”
He held out his hand for the key. “May I?”
She used the key’s remote button to unlock the car, then she handed it to him.
Rye slid behind the wheel and surveyed the vehicle’s interior. Immaculate.
He started the car. The engine roared to life, and the touch screen lit up the dark interior. Rye tapped the screen and cycled through the GPS map screens until he found the navigation app’s driving history.
The passenger door opened, and Madeleine leaned in. “Any luck?”
“Maybe.” He pointed toward the screen. “Do you recognize this address? It’s on Scarbrook Road in Croyden. Looks like he went there almost every day.”
Madeleine’s eyes narrowed on the screen. “Croyden? No. Not at all. It’s not a place he ever mentioned going.”
Rye took a photo of the screen with his phone. “I don’t like to ask this, especially in light what’s happened today…” There was no delicate way to ask this question. “But I can’t help but wonder, since your husband was regularly going someplace without your knowledge, if perhaps…”
“You want to know if my husband was having an affair,” she said quietly.
“Yes.”
“The answer is no.” She swallowed hard and looked away from him. “Among other reasons, I honestly don’t think he would’ve made that kind of time for it. Believe me, this was about his work.”
“I do believe you.” He avoided looking at her as he cycled through several more destinations on the touch screen. He snapped photos of a few of the other recurring entries, but none appeared with anything near the frequency of the Croyden address.
He cut the engine and turned toward Madeleine.
Tears were now running down her cheeks.
The mask was off.
“I’m very sorry,” he whispered.
“So am I.” Her eyes were glittering tears. “I loved him, you know. I wanted to make him happy. All these years of loneliness … I didn’t take my first lover for over fifteen years. I was careful. I didn’t want to hurt Porter.” Her lips twisted. “I didn’t have to worry. He wasn’t interested.” She met his eyes. “But in the end, I realized it’s what I felt, not what he felt. If you truly love someone, then you accept who they are and still want the best for them.” Her voice was low and uneven, but rang with sincerity. “And I wish with my whole heart that Croyden address belonged to a woman who could give him what I couldn’t.”
“You’re a very wise and generous woman,” he said gently. “I’ll find out what happened to your husband, I promise.”
“Thank you. I believe it will help to know.”
She took the key and slammed the door closed.
San Diego
6:50 A.M.
THIS IS YOUR WOULD-BE KIDNAPPER.
Kendra had been jolted wide awake by her buzzing phone. It signaled a one-sentence text message from Griffin.
The phone buzzed again.
LOOK FAMILIAR?
She scrolled to see that he’d included a photo. It was a man with a broad face, close-cropped brown hair, and penetrating eyes.
Those eyes …
MEET WALLACE DEAN POWERS.
Her bedroom door flew open. Lynch, wearing only a pair of black lounge shorts, held his phone in front of him. “Griffin included me on the text. They must have gotten a DNA hit on the skin cells from under your fingernails.”
Her phone rang and the caller ID screen lit up with a most unflattering picture of Griffin. Kendra had gleefully snapped it when he was scratching his lip, but it looked more like he was picking his nose. She swiped to answer, leaving it in front of her in speaker mode. “That’s one of the guys, Griffin. He tried to grab me. I know those eyes.”
“Good. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a hit off the other guy you mauled.”
“I wish I’d mauled them. This man’s skin was under my left nails, wasn’t it?”
After a clicking of keyboard keys, he replied. “Yes, left.”
“I knew it. That’s the second man. Deeper voice, maybe from the Midwest.”
“Very good. He did some jail time for a domestic abuse charge about four years ago, committed in Missouri. That’s why his DNA was in the system.”
Kendra looked at the man’s photo on her phone. “And his name is Wallace Dean Powers … Anything else?”
“He lives in Downey. He’s an unemployed high-school physical education instructor.”
“He’s a gym coach?” Lynch asked.
“That’s our best information.”
“Well, I guess thugs have to come from somewhere,” Kendra said. “It’s not like you can pick up the phone and call Henchmen-R-Us.”
“Hmm, you’ve just given me an excellent idea what to do with my retirement years,” Lynch said. “Griffin, do we know anything else about this wife-beating jock?”
“Very little. No prior associations, no clue who he might be working with now. But I’m hoping that we can ask him ourselves in the next couple hours.”
“You’re bringing him in?”
“Yes. We’re coordinating with Downey PD as I speak. I’ll text you directions to our staging area in the neighborhood. If you want in, meet us there at 9:15 A.M.”
“We want in,” Kendra said as she jumped out of bed. “See you there.”
Downey, California
9:15 A.M.
Kendra and Lynch arrived at the large office parking lot adjacent to the Downey Pizza Co. restaurant on Florence Avenue, where three squad cars were waiting with flashers on.
FBI Special Agent Metcalf climbed out of his car a few feet away. “Damnedest way to ID a suspect I’ve ever seen.”
Kendra wriggled her fingers. “Your lab deserves all the credit. I just collected the samples.”
“Remind me to keep my distance from those talons of yours, okay?”
“What’s the plan?” Lynch asked.
Metcalf folded his arms in front of him. “We just placed a call to his residence, posing as a solar-panel company. He’s home. Two detectives are keeping an eye on the house while we prepare to move in. We need you to keep your distance until we have him. Then maybe you can come over, look at his build, listen to his voice, and see if you can confirm.”
“I’ve seen his eyes in the photo. That plus his DNA is confirmation enough. But I’ll check him out to make sure.”
Metcalf nodded to a uniformed officer who was obviously in charge, who in turn signaled to the officers in the patrol cars. He turned to Kendra and Lynch. “Okay, follow us. I’ll signal you at the top of his block to pull over.”
Lynch nodded. “Got it.”
They caravanned to a residential street just three blocks south of the staging area. Metcalf, riding behind the squad cars, stopped just long enough to signal Kendra and Lynch before continuing.
Lynch pulled over, and they watched the three squad cars and Metcalf’s vehicle continue down the block.
Kendra glanced over at Lynch. “It’s killing you, isn’t it?”
“What?”
“Not being down there in the thick of it.”
Lynch stared at the cars speeding down the block. “One reason I prefer to work alone. I’m much more comfortable when I get to make the rules.”
“That makes two of us even though I don’t have a strong desire to break down doors with an automatic weapon in my hand.” She added, “That must be a guy thing.”
“You’re taunting me. Now I need to be down there.”
“They’ll have him in just a couple of minutes,” she said soothingly.
Lynch leaned back in his seat. “It’s just as well. After what that guy tried to do to you, I probably would have beaten him senseless. That would have been most counterproductive.”
“You think?”
Lynch pointed to the cars spinning to a stop in f
ront of a house halfway down the block. “They’re moving in.”
Kendra found herself holding her breath as she waited for some sign that they had the man who had tried to abduct her.
Could he lead them to Waldridge?
Chill out. One step at a time.
Get him first, then worry about—
Buzzz!
She lifted her phone. It was a text from Metcalf.
NO GO. HOUSE EMPTY.
“Shit.”
Before she even knew Lynch had seen the message, the car roared to life and the wheels spun on the pavement.
“What are you doing?”
Lynch shifted gears and sped down the street. “He slipped out after they called. He knew they were onto him.”
“But there were detectives watching the house.”
“He might have crawled through a neighbor’s yard. Who knows? However he gave them the slip, we don’t have time to poke around and figure it out right now. Keep your eyes peeled. He’s got to be close by.”
They roared by the police cars and turned at the corner to circle the block. There were few people to be seen; two kids playing, a landscape crew cutting grass, a man in a track suit jogging with his dog.
“He might have had a car parked on the street,” Kendra said.
“In which case he could be miles away by now. But let’s exhaust all of our other possibilities while we still can. He might be in one of these backyards, in a toolshed, or a barbecue island.”
“… or pretending to be a landscape worker,” Kendra said.
“What?”
“Turn around!”
Lynch spun out and gunned the engine as they faced the direction from which they’d just come. Kendra pointed to the landscape crew. “Check out the guy kneeling by the gardenia bushes. The one in the white shirt and baseball cap.”
“I see him. He looks like pretty much everyone else on the crew.”
“His jeans are the only ones that aren’t grass-stained. Also, no perspiration on the back of his shirt.”
The man looked up and locked eyes with her.
“That’s him!” Kendra said.
Powers jumped to his feet and bolted toward the backyard.
Kendra unbuckled her seat belt and opened her door. “Stop the car!”
“For what?”
“I’m going after him. You circle the block and try to cut him off.”
Lynch hit the brakes. “And if you catch him?”
“We’ll beat the hell out of each other until the cavalry arrives. You’re the cavalry. So get your ass in gear.”
Before he could object, she jumped out of the car and took off running.
The landscape crew stopped their work and stared as she ran past them and bolted down the side of the house. She bent over and grabbed a shovel as she ran, barely breaking stride.
Powers had pushed through the gate and was making for the back fence. He was a big man, probably not the most agile. Maybe she could catch him before he made it over.
He gripped the top of the wrought-iron fence and swung his leg up. A miss. He tried again. Another miss.
She extended the shovel before her, aiming the blade for his lower back.
This is going to hurt, buddy.
But with a burst of energy, he managed to swing his leg up and catapult himself over the fence.
Dammit.
He landed on his feet and was already running through the opposite yard by the time she got within striking distance. She threw down the shovel and climbed up and over the fence.
By the time she made it over, he was already sprinting down the side yard toward the street beyond.
Good. With any luck, Lynch and maybe half the Downey PD would soon be on top of him.
She ran down the side yard and emerged on the street beyond.
What the hell …
The man had vanished.
She glanced around. She suddenly felt extremely vulnerable. He could strike from any direction, especially since he now knew she was alone.
Where the hell could he be?
Maybe on one of the porches.
In the tall shrubs to her right.
In between some cars on the street.
He was inside one of the cars, she realized. Which one?
Powers’s head bobbed up in the driver-side window of a Dodge SUV. Either he owned it or he’d just completed the fastest hotwire job she’d ever seen.
The tires spun hard against the pavement, and the SUV rocketed down the street.
Shit!
She heard a familiar roar and turned to see Lynch’s Ferrari rounding the corner. The cavalry was here. She yelled and pointed at the SUV. “That’s him!”
He nodded and sped after Powers.
She stared dumbfounded at his Ferrari as it roared away. She’d expected Lynch to stop long enough for her to jump in, but of course it made more sense to stay on Powers’s tail and not risk losing him.
Fine. She’d make her way back to Powers’s house and see if there was anything there she could—
Another familiar roar. Behind her.
Jessie Mercado’s motorcycle rolled up and screeched to a stop just inches away. Jessie flipped up her visor to reveal those huge dark eyes and a broad smile. “Need a lift?”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously. Even though I’m a little annoyed with you right now. I thought we were working together.”
“I really didn’t know that—”
“Relax. Just kidding. There’s a helmet strapped to the back. Take it and hop on. Hurry!”
Kendra put on the helmet and threw her leg over the seat of Jessie’s motorcycle.
“Ready?” Jessie asked.
Before Kendra could reply, Jessie squeezed back the throttle and rocketed down the street.
Kendra leaned around Jessie to see that Lynch’s and Powers’s cars were still within sight.
Jessie shouted over her engine. “Are we chasing one of the guys I put down the other night?”
Kendra shouted back. “Yes, the one who dragged me into the office.”
“He pissed his pants, right?”
“Yes.”
“Good! I’d love another crack at him.” Jessie put on another burst of speed.
Up ahead, Powers turned right, almost taking out a streetlight pole as he went wide on the busy cross street. They were heading deep into a congested retail district, with four lanes of traffic and traffic lights stretching to infinity.
“Hang on!” Jessie shouted.
She took a hard right turn into the intersection. Lynch was now only a few yards ahead. Powers was half a block beyond him, weaving in and out of traffic.
“Wave to your friend,” Jessie shouted.
While Kendra was still trying to figure out what she meant, Jessie passed Lynch on the left. Kendra smiled. She didn’t have to be a skilled lip-reader to pick up the curses tumbling out of Lynch’s mouth.
With another burst of speed, Lynch was behind them. Kendra looked forward. They were now nimbly weaving between the few cars that separated them from Powers.
Almost there …
Dozens of taillights flashed, and Kendra realized they were approaching a stoplight. Powers turned left into the lanes of oncoming traffic, where he narrowly missed a pickup truck and a Lexus convertible.
To Kendra’s horror, Jessie stayed on his tail, dodging the same vehicles. Kendra wanted to look away, but she felt compelled to watch as if that would somehow stave off a deadly collision.
Powers turned left at the next intersection, where Jessie hurtled through and shortened the gap.
“What’s your plan?” Kendra gasped.
“Keep the pressure on until he crashes,” she said calmly.
“Or until we do.”
“I’m way better than he is.”
“Modest. I like it … I think.”
“Hang tight. I’m going to try something.”
Jessie gunned the engine and drew alongside Powers’s car.
Powers glared at them. His knuckles were white on the steering wheel and sweat poured from his face. Jessie was right, Kendra realized. The man wasn’t comfortable in a high-speed pursuit. He abruptly pulled the wheel, in an attempt to hit them, but Jessie sped past and cut in front of the SUV.
He bore down on them. Kendra could hear his engine roaring in her ears.
“Uh, Jessie…”
“I see him. I need you to reach into my right jacket pocket.”
“What?”
“I have some ball bearings in there. Reach in and grab a few.”
Kendra reached into the pocket of Jessie’s leather jacket and pulled out a handful of shiny little orbs. “Who rides around town with ball bearings in their pockets?”
“I do. Now throw them at his windshield as hard as you can. Aim for the driver’s side. Do it!”
Kendra hurled the metal balls with all the force she could muster.
Contact!
Kendra glanced back to see that three of the ball bearings had made contact with the windshield, creating webs of cracked glass in Powers’s field of vision.
The car swerved erratically.
Jessie fell back alongside the SUV long enough to grab another ball bearing from her pocket and hurl it into the driver’s side window, shattering it completely. Again the SUV swerved crazily.
They dropped farther back until they were once again following the SUV. Kendra looked behind her to see that Lynch had caught up. He was talking, she realized, communicating their location to the police.
Jessie beeped her high-pitched horn several times. Powers glanced back, and Kendra could see that he had a fine mist of blood on the side of his face. Likely a casualty of the shattered driver’s side window.
Jessie beeped again.
Kendra thought she was doing it to rattle Powers, but she quickly saw that it was a warning for a supermarket delivery truck slowly pulling out of the alleyway ahead.
Powers saw it an instant later. He swerved to avoid the truck, but overcompensated and jumped onto the sidewalk. He tried to correct his course, but it was too late. He plowed into the brick wall of a diaper factory.
Jessie winced. “That’s gotta hurt.”
They circled the smoldering wreck as Lynch stopped and climbed out of his car.
Night Watch--A Novel Page 17
