by Roy Johansen
“I don’t bluff,” Kendra said.
“Too bad,” Kelland said. “It can be a useful investigative tool.”
“Not my style.” She motioned down the street. “There’s a lot of ragweed in this neighborhood. That’s the cause of the fine dusting of pollen on this sidewalk and the driveway. Look for yourself. You can make out a tire tread that almost has to be an RV or large truck.”
Kelland and Jessie turned to look at the driveway.
Kendra walked over, crouched, and pointed to two thin parallel lines. “A two-wheel rollaway suitcase. A man’s footsteps, and what I believe to be a woman’s. A barefoot woman, probably Katy.”
“How did you know it was Adrian who came here, and not somebody else?” Jessie asked.
Kendra stood. “The interview video that Kelland was looking at on his phone. Adrian was wearing a gold chain and an earring. The same gold chain and earring that were in the blue bowl in the foyer. It’s possible that he had exact duplicates, but it’s more likely that he took them off after he came home and left them there.”
“Shit,” Kelland said. “I walked right past that bowl.”
Jessie shook her head. “We all did.” She turned to Kelland. “So do you think your techs can get anything off that phone?”
“Hard to say. Sometimes it’s easier to get data off a supposedly wiped phone than off one that’s still password-protected. We’ll see.”
“Again, thanks for including us,” Kendra said. “I feel as if we made a little progress.”
“Thank you.” Kelland smiled. “You’re living up to the San Diego office’s hype. Listen, I’m going to drop off this phone at the office and take care of a few other things, but if you ladies would like to join me later for dinner in Westwood…”
“I’m exhausted,” Kendra said. “Jessie probably is, too. I think we’re going to head back to Jessie’s place and crash.”
Kelland looked mildly disappointed. “No prob. But if you’re ever in the mood for an FBI-expensed meal, I’m your guy.”
“We’ll keep that in mind,” Kendra said. “Thanks, Kelland. Keep us in the loop, okay?”
“Will do.” Kelland climbed into his car and drove away.
Jessie smiled. “Hey, you’ve made a fan.”
“At least he thinks we’re of some value to the investigation.”
“Oh, it goes a lot further than that. You should have seen the look on his face when you were on that driveway doing your thing with the footsteps, tire prints, and rollaway luggage tracks. A combination of being so moony-eyed and so respectful, I thought I was going to lose my lunch. He’s obviously crazy about you.”
“You’re crazy.”
“Then there was the after-hours dinner invitation…”
Kendra walked back toward the car. “He invited both of us.”
“Because he’s a gentleman and couldn’t think of any other way to do it. But he was looking at you.”
“I’m no longer listening.”
They both climbed into the car, and Jessie started it up. “For someone so damn observant, you sure can be obtuse about some things. It took you ages to admit that Metcalf has a thing for you.” Jessie frowned. “Oh, poor Metcalf. He’s not going to be happy with this development.”
“There’s no development.”
“But I don’t feel sorry for Lynch at all. It’ll be good for him to have such a gorgeous-looking rival for your affections. This is going to be interesting.”
“Stop it.”
“Just commenting. I don’t get the opportunity very often to give you a hard time about your love life. You’re so damn discreet.”
“And you’re not? Privacy is important. And I don’t have a love life. I’m too busy.”
“Hmm. What would you call it then? Your relationship with Lynch is definitely combustible.” She held up her hand. “Never mind. You’re right, I don’t want to become involved in the fireworks between you and Lynch.” She added wearily, “You’re both too complicated, and I have enough complications in my life right now. Maybe I was only looking for a distraction.”
“That’s probably it,” Kendra said gently. “I can see it. I’m feeling the same way. But don’t use my relationship with Lynch to do it. Whatever is between us is a very delicate balance, and I don’t know where the hell it’s going. Probably nowhere.” She made a face. “But I should mention that even if I wanted to have fireworks, it would be extremely difficult when half of the equation is saving the world on a snowy mountain in Tibet.”
Jessie laughed. “All the more reason to bring in a pinch hitter. Though I’ve seen Lynch perform harder tasks if he set his mind to it. So have you.”
“But I don’t want to be another project he has to set his mind to accomplishing. Talk about distraction.” She kept her tone light. “Governments could fall. Revolutions erupt around the world. Bombs fly. I don’t want the responsibility. So could we drop this discussion about him?”
“Sure.” She shrugged. “I’ve forgotten him already. Now all you’ve got to do is convince him to forget about you…”
“That’s no issue at the moment.” She was looking back at the door of Katy’s place and frowning. “The only thing I’m worrying about right now is that I have a nagging feeling there’s something that I missed back there with Adrian’s girlfriend.” She rubbed her temple. “And I’m just too tired to know what it is.”
“It will come back to you. Don’t be so hard on yourself.”
“But I want to know now.” She saw Jessie shaking her head and sighed. “Right. Okay, rest and then see what happens…”
Jessie nodded. “Now you’ve got it.”
* * *
Her phone was ringing…
Kendra drowsily reached out to the bedside table. It seemed as if she’d just gotten to sleep, but the light streaming in the guest room window was twilight-dim. She must have been even more tired than she’d thought…She glanced blearily at the face of the phone. No ID and she was tempted not to answer, but she couldn’t risk that it might be Kelland or one of his men with information. “Kendra Michaels.”
“You sound delightfully sleepy,” Lynch said softly. “I’ve always loved to hear that froggy hoarseness in your voice when you first wake up. It reminds me of Kermit. But since it’s only seven in the evening your time and you’re always too alert for naps, I’m suddenly very curious.”
She sat up straight in bed. She could almost see Lynch there before her, the piercing blue eyes, those movie-star good looks, that mischievous sense of humor. “I don’t sound froggy. And it took you long enough to be curious about anything concerning me, Lynch.”
“No more Kermit.” He sighed. “I startled you out of it. How pissed off are you with me?”
“Not at all. I have no right to be upset. You don’t owe me anything…except courtesy.”
“Very upset. The mission was top secret, and I did the best I could to make contact when I sent Chodan Ki with your gift. Did you like it?”
“It was completely unique. But it caused problems that you went through Griffin. And I’m sure it cost a fortune, and then I got busy and forgot to put it in a bank vault.”
“Really? That’s not like you.”
“I was busy,” she repeated.
“Doing what?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Silence. Then a gentle nudge. “Kendra.”
She changed the subject. “If it’s so top secret, why are you calling now?”
“I’ve managed to ease the pressure a bit. I’m going into the final phase, and I thought I’d call and see if Chodan Ki was right about everything being as peaceful with you as he made it out to be. He’s sharp, but he doesn’t know you and might have trouble recognizing the signs of trouble on your horizon. Plus I thought he was a little too eager to give me what he thought I wanted. He wants this mess here cleared up. How are you?”
“Fine. I’m sure that envoy was honest with you. There was no trouble when he showed up to make Griffin
’s life difficult.” She added impatiently, “And if there had been, what could you do? You’re thousands of miles away. You couldn’t help if you wanted to.”
“Not fair. You know I’ll always want to be there for you.” He paused. “You didn’t answer me. Why are you napping at seven in the evening?”
He wasn’t going to give up. Lynch was nothing if not persistent, and he knew her too well not to be able to read her. Just this small change of her routine had set off alarm bells. “I was helping Jessie and I didn’t get much sleep. I’m staying at her place for the time being.” She added quickly to stave off the next question, “Look, I appreciate the concern, but I don’t need you. I admit there’s a problem, but it’s nothing I can’t handle. And I have plenty of help. As a matter of fact, I thought it was an FBI agent just now when I answered the phone. So you go on with whatever you’re doing in Tibet and let me take care of my own business. It’s not as if you have to hold my hand.”
“What if I like to hold your hand?”
“The Justice Department might not understand the concept.”
“Screw Justice.”
“I’m going to hang up now. I’m sorry if I was curt. I had no right to be.” She tried to laugh. “It must have been that crack about Kermit. Not what a woman wants to wake up hearing.”
“You should. I’m nuts about Kermit.”
“Because you’re weird. Bye, Lynch. Take care of yourself.”
She cut the connection.
She drew a deep breath before she swung her feet to the floor and got out of bed. The discussion hadn’t gone as well as she’d hoped, but she’d held her own and, if Lynch was as busy as he seemed, he might not be able to follow up and interfere as he usually did. All she needed was to have to play phone tag with a black ops expert who was trying to balance his mission with Dee’s life-and-death problems.
“Lynch?” Jessie stuck her head in the door. “I was about to come in and wake you when I heard you on the phone. Is he done with Tibet?”
“Yes, it was Lynch. You must have been sending him vibes by talking about him earlier. And no, he’s still in Tibet. But it’s winding down. He just had to make certain that he still had control of everything in his world.”
“Particularly you,” she murmured. “Too bad. I would have liked to have a little Lynch razzle-dazzle on the scene. I’ll take all the help I can get at this point.”
There had been many moments since this nightmare had started when Kendra had felt the same way. She was sick with worry when she thought about Dee. So don’t think about her until they could do something productive to free her. Until then they could only count on themselves.
“Not available. We’re on our own. And having Lynch trying to tell us what to do might be unbearable in spite of any advantages.”
“You’ve never had problems with him that you couldn’t handle.”
“Situations change. So do people.” She shrugged. “And Lynch can make ebony black look white as the driven snow.” She changed the subject. “Now tell me that you made coffee when you were being so diplomatic about not disturbing us.”
“I did. And I was just about to start cooking dinner to go with it.”
Kendra shook her head. “The coffee will have to do. Because when I was bracing myself to deal with Lynch, I suddenly realized what was nagging me this morning that I couldn’t quite remember.” She turned back and headed for the bathroom. “But it turns out it might be time-sensitive. So while I wash my face and throw on clothes, suppose you make a couple of travel cups for us to take on the road.”
* * *
Son of a bitch!
Lynch leaned back in his chair after he slipped his phone back in his jacket pocket. He should have known better than to trust Chodan. He’d been fighting for years in these mountains to lure his brother back to his village and away from Beijing’s influence. Now that he could see how close Lynch was to negotiating a settlement where he’d failed, he wasn’t about to let him leave. Chodan might not have lied, but he wouldn’t have balked at turning away and presenting a more pleasant view of Kendra’s situation if it was more comfortable for him.
Which left Lynch not knowing what the hell was happening with Kendra, but realizing it wasn’t good. He’d been lucky that she’d told him even this little she had. It would be useless to probe to get more out of her when he was obviously not one of her favorite people at the moment. Better to go around her and get the full picture. Griffin? Metcalf? She’d mentioned FBI, but she would have referred to them directly if she was receiving help from either of them. What else did he know? The only other clue she’d given him was that she was not in San Diego but in L.A. where Jessie lived.
Why L.A.? Call Jessie?
Think about it, but right now he had to wind up these negotiations here in the mountains before they blew up in his face. The chances were he wouldn’t be able to get out of Tibet alive if he didn’t finish what he’d started. So go top speed and still do what he had to do here while working to find out what was happening to Kendra in L.A. Strike the balance as he’d done so many times before.
But none of it was going to get done by him sitting here. He got to his feet. Move! He threw open the front door and strode out into the driving snow.
* * *
Jessie handed Kendra her coffee when she jumped into the passenger seat fifteen minutes later. “One time-sensitive cup of coffee for the road,” she said as she backed out of her driveway. “But since you declined my offer of a meal, have you got a better suggestion where we can pick up a sandwich or doughnut to go with it?”
“Maybe.” Kendra took a sip of her coffee. “How about the 7-Eleven on National Boulevard?”
“Interesting choice.”
“Adrian’s girlfriend said he’d bought another phone, one that presumably couldn’t be traced.”
“A burner phone.”
Kendra nodded. “Everything else about his departure was in a last-minute panic. I’d say it’s likely he bought his phone between the Bowl and her place. Between four thirty and five thirty in the morning, options are limited.”
“Not so limited. This is L.A., remember? There are hundreds of convenience stores and gas stations open at that hour.”
“But we know he went to 7-Eleven, probably one very close to his house.”
“How do we know that?”
“There was a 7-Eleven coffee cup in the kitchen trash can, translucent enough that I could see it was still about two-thirds full. He probably bought it nearby and brought it inside with him. I didn’t see any cell phone packaging in the trash, though.”
“Maybe he hadn’t opened it yet.”
“Possible. Or maybe he opened and activated it before he left the store.”
Jessie nodded. “Are you proposing a dumpster dive?”
“If the packaging gives us the phone’s serial number, we can track his location with the carrier.”
“Oh, it’s definitely worth trying. I’m just saying, I hope the parking lot trash can hasn’t been dumped yet today.”
“I told you it was time-sensitive. I tried to call 7-Eleven to find out, but they kept putting me on hold. If I’d had my wits about me, I would have been able to put this together before I left the house this morning,” she added in disgust.
“Maybe we’ll get lucky. Did I ever tell you about the time I found a human hand in a dumpster?”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah. Funny thing was, it wasn’t even connected to the case I was working. We never got an ID on that thing. I did find the ammo cartridge I was looking for, though. It helped break the case.”
“Did I see that on the wall of your living room?”
“Yes. Probably looks better than the hand would’ve.”
“I’m sure it smells better.”
“Most likely.”
Jessie pulled onto National Boulevard and two minutes later turned into the 7-Eleven parking lot. They parked in front of a brown cylindrical trash receptacle at the far end of
the store’s front sidewalk. Kendra saw with relief that the huge can was still practically overflowing with trash. “Pickup must be every other day.”
“Yep.” Jessie reached into her center console and pulled out latex evidence gloves. She threw a pair to Kendra. “You’ll want to use these. Watch out for diapers and needles.”
Kendra made a face as she pulled on the gloves. “Great. Let’s get this over with.”
They pulled out the trash can and dumped it on the pavement. Receipt time stamps told them it hadn’t been emptied since at least early the previous day. As Jessie warned, there were indeed used diapers and hypodermic needles amid numerous coffee cups, snack wrappers, and discarded lottery tickets. But soon Kendra spotted the distinctive pink-and-white packaging of the prepaid mobile phones carried by the store.
She picked up the torn cardboard packaging and held it up to show Jessie. Affixed to the carton with sticky blue Slurpee juice was a store receipt.
Jessie cocked her head to read the receipt. “Paid in cash. Five sixteen A.M.”
“Promising…”
“And he also bought a large coffee.”
Kendra smiled. “It has to be him.”
Jessie pulled out her phone and snapped a shot of the carton’s underside. She inspected the photo on her screen. “Perfect. We have a serial number and the bar code.”
“Shall we call Kelland?”
“We could. But then we’d have to wait for a warrant, then wait for the carrier to send along tower data.”
“Got a better idea?”
“Yeah. I know a guy.”
“Naturally.”
“It’ll be faster.” Jessie was already tapping a text into her phone. “He’ll give me a full readout first thing in the morning. Maybe even earlier.”
“Good.”
A shadow fell over the pile of garbage in front of them, and Kendra and Jessie looked up to see a pimply-faced counter clerk dressed in his polo-style 7-Eleven shirt. He was staring at the mess they’d made on the sidewalk.
Kendra gave the kid a sheepish look and shrugged. “Lost earring.”
