“Safer, I hope.” He opened the door. “I’ve always thought the security there was overrated. I bet I could crack it.”
“No bet. You could probably crack the security at the crown jewel room at the Tower of London.” She looked out at the sunny parking lot. “But just in case I’m not paranoid, be careful. Okay?”
His brows rose. “What’s the fun in that?”
“Lynch.”
“Joking.”
“Yeah, very funny. I don’t know why I’d care anyway.”
“Yes, you do.” He grinned as he strode toward his car. “Your landlord might make you move if I was slaughtered anywhere on the premises. That kind of thing makes it really hard for a property to survive in the rental market.”
Before she could answer, he’d slammed the car door and was driving away.
She watched as he drove out of the parking lot and turned right.
Her phone was ringing.
“Go in and lock the door,” Lynch said when she answered. “Now, Kendra.”
“You’ve been gone two minutes.” But she went inside and locked the door. “Don’t give me orders. And don’t talk about slaughter.” She hung up.
Make time pass quickly. Make those calls to Janice and her other clients. She shouldn’t pay any attention to Lynch’s perverted sense of humor. It wasn’t as if Zachary would have a chance against him.
But he had killed so many people, and all it would take would be a careless moment.
Lynch didn’t have careless moments. He was always on guard.
Always?
Distraction.
She sat down at her desk and started to dial Janice Walker.
*
AN HOUR AND THIRTY minutes later Lynch called her back. “I’m on my way to you. Griffin just phoned and wants me to bring you to the office. He has something he wants you to see. Lock up and meet me at the front entrance. Three minutes.” He ended the call.
He was pulling into the parking lot in exactly three minutes. “Is it urgent?” she said as she got into the car. “Then why didn’t Griffin call me instead of you?”
“He didn’t say it was urgent. He just said he wanted you there.” He added dryly, “Why didn’t he call you? I’m guessing that it’s part of my servitude for the ‘favor’ he did me last night. I was to make sure you appeared when and where he wanted you.”
“Bastard,” she said through her teeth. “I’ll talk to him, Lynch.”
“No, then I wouldn’t be able to negotiate on the same grounds if I have to do it again. He’s probably enjoying this. Leave it alone. I’ll handle it.” He stopped at the parking lot exit before going out on the street. “Turn around and look up at the hill in back of this block. The third street on the hill, fifth house over. Red tile roof. Teal-colored front door.”
“Yes, I see it.”
“And Zachary could see you,” he said grimly. “The house is for sale. It’s also vacant. I was looking for something like that. Anyone sitting in a car in that driveway with a scope could see every detail of what went on in this parking lot. All the comings and goings of all your friends and clients.” He paused. “And you would be readily accessible to him. Three minutes away. I called you from that driveway.”
She was feeling an icy chill as she looked at that pretty little house on the hill. “No proof? Right?”
“No proof. I talked to the neighbors on either side of the house and they said they’d seen a Setzer Real Estate van with the proper logo sitting in the driveway a couple times during the last weeks. Shaded windows. Someone in the driver’s seat doing paperwork, but they weren’t able to give a description of him.”
“Or the van?”
“Dark colored Toyota. No license plate number available. I just called the local Setzer Real Estate office, and they don’t know anything about that van.”
‘Very clever.” She couldn’t take her gaze off that house. How many times had Zachary been up there watching her? How many times had he been vetting her kids to see if they were worth bothering about? “Not paranoid?” she whispered. “Do we have a chance of catching him?”
“We can be on watch, but if he thinks he tipped his hand about the Walkers, he won’t do it again.”
She tried to smother the disappointment. “He’s very bold. Like most serial killers he probably thinks he’s invulnerable.” Her lips tightened. “But he’s not invulnerable. He didn’t get his hands on Janice or Ryan. And I’m still around,” she added wryly, “though I’ve been getting a distinct impression that he might attempt a correction in that area.”
“No way,” Lynch said flatly. “We’ve been blocking him, Kendra.”
“And that must frustrate the hell out of him. He’s arrogant and he’s not going to put up with that for long.” She wearily shook her head. “And that might be a good thing. Frustration breeds mistakes. Let’s go see if Griffin has found any Zachary mistakes that we can use to send him to death row.”
CHAPTER
13
San Diego
FBI Field Office
“I’VE NEVER SEEN ANY of this stuff before,” Hagstrom shouted. “Never!”
Kendra and Lynch were watching a video recording of Hagstrom being interviewed the previous evening. He was staring in apparent bewilderment at the objects they had recovered from his in-wall safe. The recording was playing on the large wall-mounted monitor at the end of the fifth-floor conference room to which Kendra and Lynch had been whisked by Griffin the moment they had come in the front entrance.
Kendra and Lynch were seated at the table along with Griffin, Metcalf, Gina, and three of the four dream team members. Huston was absent from the room, but he was the one who had conducted the on-camera interview.
“This is bullshit.” Hagstrom was glaring at Huston on the video. “You guys planted this stuff because it sure as hell isn’t anything I’ve ever seen.”
“Come on, man,” Huston replied. Kendra noticed that Huston’s folksy demeanor had given away to frustration. “We found this in your place. In your hidden safe. A roomful of people saw it in there. There was only one way you could have gotten these things and that’s if you took them from five different people that you killed in four different cities. Cities where you happened to live when each of these people were murdered.”
“You’re framing me. I didn’t kill anyone.”
Griffin paused the video. “And that was how it went, over and over again.” He added sourly, “As you would have known if you’d deigned to come here with us yesterday, Kendra.”
“Which obviously would have been a colossal waste of my time, if you didn’t get him to break.” Kendra was studying Hagstrom’s expression. “And I have to say, he’s convincing.”
“Very convincing,” Gale said. “But then most psychopaths are.”
Roscoe leaned toward Kendra. “Griffin said you were a bit uneasy yesterday after you left us. Do you still doubt Hagstrom’s our guy?”
No proof. Just a pretty little house in the hills with a red tile roof and a teal door.
“Well, I can’t be certain that he’s not. But I’m not willing to just lock him up and stop looking for anyone else.”