“Don’t have time.” Kendra came into the living room and glanced over at Olivia’s desk, which was piled high with papers and devices. “Does that mean you have to work today?”
“Yes.” She crossed her arms. “As you can see by that monstrous heap on my desk that you probably checked out the minute you came in the room.” She paused. “Okay, say it.”
“Jessie called you last night, didn’t she? I knew she would.”
“Of course she did. She politely told me where she was and that she wouldn’t be home for the night. I felt like a house mother at a college sorority. But at least she was smart enough not to say anything else. No warnings. She let the call speak for itself.” She shook her head. “But you’re not going to be that smart, are you?”
“No. I’m going to plead with you to give me a break,” she said quietly. “He’s getting too close, Olivia. I have to keep him away. I believe he might have killed Huston to prove that he could strike out at anyone and I couldn’t stop him. Huston was hardly more than an acquaintance, but he was a detective and I was working with him. But I think Zachary will try to strike deeper next time.” She smiled unsteadily. “And you’re very deep, indeed. Please don’t make me worry about you for the next couple days.”
“Oh, shit.” Then she grabbed Kendra into her arms and gave her a bear hug. “There goes all my vaunted independence. Jessie would laugh at me.” She took a step back. “I suppose you want me to promise to stay in the condo?” She sighed. “Okay, I have enough to keep me busy for a week much less a couple days.” She paused. “But I don’t like the idea of you being this scared. Where’s Lynch?”
“I told him to wait in the parking garage for me while I talked to you. I didn’t want to chance you getting defensive if you thought we were ganging up on you.” She smiled. “And you’re clearly not worried about Lynch being a threat to my independence.”
“That’s different. And I bet Jessie feels the same way.”
She couldn’t deny it after that last remark Jessie had made at the hotel last night. “I don’t believe that Lynch has any intention of riding off into the sunset. We’ll be too busy.”
“Doing what?”
“We’re going to the FBI office and check on whether Hagstrom’s alibis have been verified. Then we’ll probably be spending hours delving into the backgrounds of our four remaining dream team detectives and see if we come up with anything interesting.” She gave her another quick hug. “Don’t worry. Paperwork, just like you.”
“But you’re allowing yourself to drop that paperwork and take off to go after monsters.” She added fiercely, “Keep in touch, do you hear?”
“Absolutely. Thank you, Olivia.”
She closed the door behind her. Olivia was as safe as she could make her under the circumstances. She didn’t believe that Zachary would target her yet, but what did she know? She had to protect her own. He was a complete wild card.
And no one was really safe.
*
“HOW NICE THAT YOU DECIDED to drop in to see us,” Griffin said silkily, as Kendra and Lynch walked into the office an hour later. “I thought that you might have cut us from your visiting list, when you told me that you were through with working with some of the finest law enforcement officers in the country.”
“I told you that I meant no insult to anyone on the team,” Kendra said. “It just wasn’t for me. I felt … hobbled.”
“But yet here you are.”
“Knock it off, Griffin,” Lynch said. “You know you’re not going to keep us from seeing Hagstrom or doing any other research just because Kendra isn’t going to walk lockstep with your team. It would be hard to explain to the media.”
“What kind of research?”
“Anything and everything.”
Griffin changed the subject. “And what was Jessie Mercado doing at the hotel last night? When I asked her, she said that you were upset about Huston and she was there to see that no one else was hurt.”
“That seems clear,” Kendra said. “What are you asking?”
“Why you hired Mercado when my agents are there to do the job?”
“They didn’t help Huston.”
“We didn’t know there was a threat to him.”
“True. But I prefer to have someone answering to me than get it secondhand from you.” She added wearily, “Look, I don’t blame you for not being able to read Zachary’s mind and protect Huston. No one could do that. I just don’t want anyone else to die. Let’s all work together to keep that from happening.”
“Together,” he repeated sourly. “As long as you do it alone.”
She was losing patience. “Yeah, I guess you might say that’s the—”
“What’s going on with Hagstrom?” Lynch asked quickly. “He’s still here?”
“For the time being. We probably won’t have him for long. His lawyer is working nonstop to spring him. All he needs is a couple more pieces of evidence that validate his alibi in the Connecticut murders. If you want to talk to him, it had better be soon.” He turned and walked away.
“Well, at least he didn’t show us the door,” Kendra said. “If you hadn’t mentioned the media, he might have had security escort us from his august presence.”
“Nah, he likes to keep you around to demonstrate how open-minded he is regarding sharing the spotlight in criminal investigations. Me, he might have tossed.” He changed the subject. “Hagstrom or the research?”
“Hagstrom. I just have a few questions…”
*
“ARE YOU TRYING TO GET in your final jabs before I blow this place?” Hagstrom growled. “I should sue the FBI, you know. You can’t get away with persecuting innocent people. I didn’t do anything and you’ve been harassing me.”
“Harassing,” Lynch repeated. “Did you get that word from your lawyer? It’s very legalese.”
“Maybe. But it’s the right word, dammit.” He leaned back in his chair. “I don’t have to talk to you.”
“We know you don’t,” Kendra said. “But we’re hoping you’ll do your civic duty. You say you don’t remember having contact with any of the victims in any of those four cities. You didn’t recognize any of the photos?”
“I told you I didn’t.” He shrugged. “Maybe I might have seen the photos on TV when they found the bodies, but I don’t remember. Why should I? How would I know you guys would try to frame me?”
“And you don’t recall anyone who might have been at those cities at the same time as you?”
“Same answer.”
She pulled out four photos and slid them across the table to him. “Do you recognize any of these people?”
He glanced at the photos. “What are you trying to do? Trick me? These are those same guys who were sitting there while I was being questioned. Cops, right?”
“Yes. Do you recognize any of them as being in those cities at the same time you were?”
He shook his head.
“Look again.”
He looked more closely. “I don’t know. Maybe.” He tapped one photo. “He looks like someone I might have seen when I was in Jacksonville. But that was a long time ago.” He tapped another photo. “And maybe him … But I could be wrong. I tell you I can’t be sure. Why do you want to know?”