Look Behind You (Kendra Michaels #5)

Gina kept a tally of the departing guests who boarded elevators with their luggage, noting the time and floor number. “I’ll compare these with the checkouts,” she said.

Metcalf shook his head in frustration. “If he knew what he was doing, and I really think he does, our guy could have come and gone without being spotted by a single camera. There’s no coverage on the side garage entrances, and if he took the stairs, he could have avoided surveillance cameras altogether.”

“Or if he was a guest,” Kendra said. “That would have been easier still. Do we have a copy of the registry?”

“We will as soon as our warrant gets here,” Griffin said.

“Good. In the meantime, I’d like to go back up to Huston’s room and take another look around. I might have been a little distracted when I did the first examination.”

“Sure, no problem. But forensics is still there. They might get in your way. Why don’t you wait awhile?” He paused. “The team wants to go back and talk to Hagstrom about those souvenirs. We’re not sure how long we’ll be able to keep him after Huston’s murder. They want you to go with them.”

She looked at him in disbelief. “No way. Not now. It would just be a rehash of previous interviews. The only souvenir I’m interested in right now is that ring we found today.”

He frowned. “It’s a minor request and might yield rewards. After all the team was intimately connected with Huston’s work on the cases. They’re all exceptional detectives and it’s worth—”

“No,” she said sharply. She’d had enough. She got to her feet and headed for the door. “I’m done. No more.”

Griffin caught up with her as she pressed the button for the elevator. “What’s that supposed to mean? All I’m asking for is a little cooperation.”

Keep your temper. “I don’t believe I can help in this instance. I don’t seem to be in sync with your friends on the dream team. We don’t appear to even be on the same wave length.” She looked him in the eye. “You’re absolutely right, I think they’re all brilliant. They’d just be better off without me. I’m opting out, Griffin. No more dream team for me.”

“What?” Griffin’s lips tightened. “Don’t be ridiculous. We all have to work together on—”

“This elevator is taking forever.” Lynch was suddenly beside them and taking Kendra’s arm. “Let’s take the stairs.” He didn’t wait for a reply but was whisking her down the stairs toward the lobby and away from Griffin.

“I wasn’t going to deck him,” Kendra said.

“Just doing my duty to keep the peace. The minute the word ridiculous appeared in the conversation I thought intercession was called for.”

“You might have been right.” She grimaced. “I was doing pretty well until then.”

“Yeah, you were.” He smiled. “Then we go up to Huston’s room and you take another look? You don’t make mistakes, Kendra.”

“I was pretty upset. Everyone makes mistakes.” She added wearily, “Except Zachary.”

“He makes mistakes, too. We just haven’t found them. Where’s all that fire I saw just a few hours ago?”

“I’ll get it back. He might have made a mistake already. We just have to put together what we know about him.” She frowned, trying to examine that list. “He has to be some kind of psychopath, he’s extremely smart, he knows a lot about procedural law enforcement, he knew this hotel well enough not to show up on the cameras. That’s quite a bit when you think—” She stopped as she started to put it all together.

Could it be?

Perhaps …

“Kendra?”

“Maybe I’ll wait to do that second check of Huston’s room.” She reached for her phone. “Maybe I’ll go in another direction…”

Hilton Hotel

8:20 P.M.

“So you really think they might let Hagstrom go?” Jessie asked as she dropped down into an easy chair in the hotel bar lounge. “I told you I thought the chances of him being Zachary could have gone either way, but I was hoping that we’d gotten lucky.”

“We didn’t get lucky,” Lynch said. “He definitely didn’t kill Huston and there are credit card receipts that keep surfacing that might give him alibis at the time of the killings of some of the other victims.”

“But I wasn’t wrong about him being in every one of those crime locations,” Jessie said. “I double-checked and that’s pretty damning coincidences.”

“We’re not accusing you of not being correct,” Kendra said. “I’m certain Hagstrom was in the same city as Zachary at the exact same time.”

“An accomplice?” Jessie asked.

“Possible. But I doubt it. Zachary seems to me to be a loner. He’s too egotistical to accept sharing either credit or the pleasure of the kill. It’s also possible he could be a dupe. I’m leaning toward that direction. Perhaps he’s been setting Hagstrom up all these years and waiting for the right moment to stage the frame.”

“Diabolical,” Jessie said. “And painstakingly precise.” Her lips tightened. “And I’m not fond of the idea of him using me to put all the gears in motion.”

She shook her head. “No, he used me. I used you.”

“Same thing. When you hired me, we became one partnership. That’s the way I work. The son of a bitch tried to manipulate me.”

Lynch chuckled. “Interesting business philosophy. But I can see how you might experience difficulties with it.”

Kendra grimaced. “Because you’re a prime manipulator yourself.”

“Guilty,” Lynch said. “But I imagine Zachary regards us all as chess pieces.”

“Screw him,” Jessie said. “And I think that’s probably what you intend to do to the bastard.” She turned to Kendra. “You didn’t invite me to meet you here to buy me a drink. What can I do for you?”

Kendra smiled wryly. “Cut to the chase? I just had a row with Griffin in which I officially resigned from that dream team he proudly put together. He wasn’t pleased. But I can’t go on like this. We’re not getting anywhere. My first thought after Huston’s death was that Zachary might be gathering all those detectives in one place like lambs to be slaughtered.”

“You didn’t mention that to me,” Lynch said.

“Since I would have been the first lamb to be slaughtered, you would have been a trifle upset.” She shrugged. “And you probably thought about it yourself.”

“It occurred to me.”

“So you want protection?” Jessie asked. “Is that why I’m here?”

Kendra shook her head. “No, you’re here because I want you to stay here at the hotel and keep those four detectives under surveillance.”

“To make sure they’re not murdered, too?”

“No.” She paused. “To make sure none of them are murderers.”