“We discussed this before. I thought you’d accepted that I wasn’t going to change my mind.”
“You thought no such thing.” His smile faded. “You just hoped you’d find a way to save me from the bogeyman. I was trying to take it slow, but that was blown to hell when I saw you lying on the floor gasping for air.”
“I wasn’t the only one gasping, dammit. That should have taught you something.”
He was silent. Then his smile was back, along with that charisma that was nearly irresistible. “It taught me not to waste the good times when the bad times might be right around the corner. And that’s what I intend to teach you, Kendra.” He paused. “How about it?”
Tempting.
Too tempting.
She looked away from him and cleared her throat. “I’m not into lessons at the moment. I think we should go right back to the hospital.”
His grip tensed on the steering wheel and then relaxed. “I was afraid of that,” he said. “Even if only temporary, that winnows our options quite a bit.”
That intensity had been damped down, she realized with relief. “You know it’s probably for the best. For a multitude of reasons.”
“Is it? I disagree.” He turned at the light. “But as you wish. Back to square one. No, I refuse to admit that much of a setback. You’re not running from me and that puts me very much in the game…”
*
THEY’D FOUND THE CAR.
Zachary smiled from his hilltop vantage point on Torrance Street where he could see the lights and activity around the abandoned construction site that had served him wonderfully well. It was now after midnight, and most of the police and FBI agents had left hours before. The black Toyota Camry had just been rolled into the covered flatbed truck for its journey to the FBI garage in North County.
They would find nothing, he thought with satisfaction. He’d been at this for years, and he knew how the game was played.
But there was still that one-in-a-million chance that he’d missed something during his cleanup after depositing Pretty Amanda in front of that elementary school. That tiny sliver of doubt was just enough to make the game exciting.
Zachary climbed into the white Dodge Durango SUV and drove the short few blocks to the U-Stor-It storage complex on West Valley Parkway. He parked a couple of blocks away to keep his vehicle from being seen by the three security cameras monitoring the complex’s common areas. It was a small facility, with fifty garage-style units surrounding a large concrete plaza. As far as he could tell, most of the units contained boats and RVs.
Zachary pulled on a pair of latex gloves and climbed out of the Durango. He wrapped a scarf around his nose and mouth in case someone should ever try to scrutinize security video to get a glimpse of the owner of storage unit 132. He walked to the storage facility’s main gate and waved his key card over the sensor. The gate groaned and rattled as it slid open. He walked across the paved lot to his unit, where he unlocked the door and raised it a few feet. He ducked under and pulled it closed behind him.
He felt for the switch and flipped on the overhead fluorescent lights. The room was almost empty, save for a few plastic storage containers, a stool, and a makeshift desk consisting of a thick piece of plywood resting on two sawhorses.
His own private artist’s studio. He’d had one in almost every city and they’d each served as a sparse base of operations for his increasingly ambitious projects.
He opened one of the storage containers and rummaged through his souvenir collection. He’d once carefully organized it with each item neatly filed away with tags marking the names, places, and dates to which the objects belonged. It was no longer necessary; he easily remembered all the information for each souvenir.
He pulled out a bright red baseball cap that had belonged to David Schneer of Connecticut. The poor fool had hardly put up a fight, not that it would have done him any good. Apparently Schneer wore the cap often, based on the fact that he was wearing it in almost all of the photos of him that appeared in the media in the years since his death.
Perfect, Zachary thought. He wanted the cap to be quickly and easily recognized when it made its dramatic reappearance on the head of his next victim here in San Diego.
Because this wasn’t going to be just any victim.
Zachary smiled. No, this one would shake Kendra Michaels to her very core.
CHAPTER
10
NO SOONER HAD THE words “clean bill of health” been spoken by the doctor than Kendra saw a petite, well-dressed blond woman standing in the doorway of her hospital room. She assumed it was a staff member, but when the doctor left, the woman entered the room with a chrome foldable cart adorned with the Nordstrom department store logo.
“Good morning, Dr. Michaels. May I come in?”
“Uh, sure.” Kendra eyed the cart. “Unless you’re here to try and sell me something.”
The woman laughed and handed Kendra her card. “Oh, no. I’m Darlene Wagner, personal shopping representative with Nordstorm University City. How are you today?”
Kendra stared at the card, then back up at Darlene’s smiling face. “Fine, according to the doctor.”
Darlene bent over and unloaded several pieces of clothing from her cart. There were at least half a dozen blouses, three pairs of slacks, and several boxes of shoes.
Kendra wrinkled her brow. “I don’t know if you heard me, but I’m really not interested in buying anything.”
Darlene was still smiling. “Oh, it’s already bought and paid for. No need to worry about that.”
“Who bought and paid for it?”
“Mr. Lynch, of course.” Darlene held up a dark blue sweater. “This one will be wonderful with your coloring.”
Kendra looked at her in disbelief. “It’s 7:20 A.M. When did all this happen?”
“I received a text from Mr. Lynch at a little after 5 A.M. He wanted clothes for both of you brought here as soon as possible. He gave me your sizes.”
“You picked these up from Nordstrom … at 5 A.M.?”
“More like 5:30 by the time I dressed and got over there.” Darlene draped the clothes across the foot of the bed and on a tray table. “I’ve been Mr. Lynch’s Nordstrom personal shopping assistant for years. He’s a very good customer. We try to be accommodating. I’ve already been up to his room, and he was very happy with what I brought for him.”
“Nice to hear,” she said dryly. “We wouldn’t want Lynch to be unhappy.”
Darlene picked up a tee shirt. “It’ll be a bit cool today, you might want to consider wearing the sweater over this white tee shirt. I think it’ll look smart with this pair of khakis.” She frowned consideringly. “And how would you feel about a pair of Kate Spade tennis shoes?”
*
TWENTY MINUTES LATER, Kendra walked across the hospital lobby to where Lynch stood in the waiting area. He wore a smart tweed jacket and gray slacks that looked as if they had been custom-tailored for him.
Kendra nodded in approval. “Darlene did well for you.”