*
“SOON” WAS ONLY FIVE minutes after Ryan and Janice left, when FBI Special Agent Roland Metcalf entered her studio. He was a tall, good-looking man in his mid-twenties and he possessed a self-effacing sense of humor that she’d always found refreshing for a man in his profession. Kendra had known him for a couple of years and today he was with a young woman she had never met. The woman was tall, attractive, fit-looking, with sleek brown hair and a completely professional demeanor.
“Sorry to barge in on you at work, Kendra.” He motioned to the woman at his side. “This is Special Agent Gina Carson. She just transferred in from the Chicago office.”
Kendra adjusted the stacks of sheet music she’d picked up. “Hello.”
Gina nodded her greeting with obvious uneasiness. She clearly wasn’t sure why they were there.
Metcalf was strolling around the studio. “You know, I’ve never seen this place. I’ve always wanted to see what you do.”
“Well, it seems you did that today. I heard you let yourself in the observation room while I was working with my last client.”
Metcalf nodded. “Sorry about that. The main entrance was locked.”
“I didn’t want to be disturbed.”
Metcalf quickly caught the nuance in her tone. “We didn’t want that either. That’s why we left.”
“But you came back,” she said without expression.
“Come on, Kendra. You have to know why I’m here.”
“I have a pretty good idea.” She continued to tidy the sheet music. “Doesn’t mean that I like it.”
Metcalf frowned as he waited for her to finish.
She let him wait.
After another moment he said, “Three murders, Kendra. Three murders in the last eight days, all within a couple of miles of here.”
She didn’t look up. “Three? I thought it was just two.”
“A third popped up this morning. We’re on our way to the crime scene now. San Diego PD has been handling the cases, but the FBI has just joined the investigation. My boss wants you to join us.”
“Fortunately, Special Agent in Charge Griffin isn’t my boss. Therefore I get to politely decline.”
Gina moved toward the exit. “Then thanks for your time.”
Metcalf held his ground. “Hold on, Carson.” He smiled at Kendra. “I need a few more minutes to appeal to Kendra’s sense of civic duty.”
Metcalf’s partner was clearly annoyed as she stepped back toward him. “You didn’t tell me she was a music therapist when you said you wanted to stop here.”
“It wasn’t relevant to our investigation.”
“I’m thinking she’s not relevant to our investigation.”
Kendra’s lips quirked. “You heard the lady, Metcalf. I’m not relevant.”
“We’re wasting time,” Gina said. “You asked and she answered. She said she’s not interested. Are we working this case or not?”
Kendra was getting more annoyed at this foul-tempered woman than she was at Metcalf. Her eyes narrowed on the agent’s tight mouth and annoyed expression. She found herself suddenly feeling protective of Metcalf, not that he needed anyone’s protection. She liked the guy and it irked her that this agent would speak to him with such a total lack of respect.
Metcalf, perhaps sensing Kendra’s reaction, suddenly snapped at Gina. “Cool your jets, Carson. Griffin wants an extra set of eyes on that crime scene. Her eyes.”
“I’m still missing something,” Gina said sourly. “On our way here, didn’t you tell me she used to be blind?”
“Yes,” Kendra answered for him. “For the first twenty years of my life. An experimental surgical procedure gave me my sight.”
Gina clicked her tongue. “So now you have super vision or something?”
“Not at all,” Kendra said. “I’m sure my eyesight is no better than yours.”
Gina turned back to Metcalf. “Then would you like to tell me why we’re here groveling to a music therapist to help us on a murder investigation?”
Metcalf was obviously losing patience. “I don’t grovel, Carson. I ask politely, because that’s what the Bureau does when they go hat in hand trying to get help keeping a serial killer from claiming other victims. You obviously haven’t spent much time reading our case files since you transferred down. If you had, you would have seen that Kendra has helped crack over a dozen cases in the past few years. Many of those would’ve gone unsolved if she hadn’t stepped in.”
Gina was slightly taken aback by the attack. “And how, exactly, has she been of—”
“I don’t take anything I see for granted,” Kendra interrupted. God, she got tired of going through explanations. Particularly to arrogant agents like Carson. “When I got my sight, I got into the habit of identifying and mentally cataloging everything that passed in front of my eyes, just to make my way in a world that was totally new to me.”
“I guess that makes sense,” Gina said skeptically.
“That isn’t the half of it,” Metcalf said. “Like most blind people, Kendra had already developed her other senses to help her get by. Hearing, smell, touch, taste … She’s held onto those skills, too.”
Gina still seemed unsure. “Huh. Interesting.”
Kendra shrugged. “Most investigators only go by what they see. They’re missing well over half the story.”
She could almost see Gina’s hackles rise at her words. “Have you had any law enforcement training?”
“No. It’s nothing I’ve ever had any interest in.”
“No, you’d rather play with your instruments or try to impress agents like Metcalf here. Believe it or not, we’re actually trained observers,” Gina said. “It’s a big part of our jobs. I appreciate that you’ve assisted my colleagues, Dr. Michaels, but I really don’t see how you could be of any help in a case that is shaping up to be—”
“You want to show her?” Metcalf was smiling at Kendra.
“Not really.”
Gina was frowning as she looked from one to the other of them. “Show me what?”
“Come on, Kendra,” Metcalf murmured, his eyes twinkling. “She annoyed the hell out of you, and you’re no angel. You know you want to do it.”
She had annoyed her, but she’d been trying to ignore it.
“I’d rather not.”
“Please. You’re not the only one who took flack.”
Kendra sighed. He was right, she was definitely no angel. It had been a rough day and Gina Carson had rubbed her the wrong way. “If I do this, will you leave?”
Metcalf laughed. “We’ll think about leaving.”
“Bastard.” She turned toward Gina and looked her up and down.”
Gina shifted uneasily. “What the hell is going on?”
“You used to smoke,” Kendra said. “But then you quit for a while. Maybe a long while. But you recently started again.”
Gina cursed. “You can smell smoke on me?”
“No.” Kendra walked toward a cabinet with her sheet music. “But it’s only natural for someone who’s been under the kind of stress you have been under.”