“No.” She shoved the suitcase back into the closet, then stood up and walked into the bathroom. Waldridge’s toiletries were neatly arranged on a hand towel next to the sink, perfectly spaced with the same precision that Waldridge demonstrated in everything he said or did.
“A little OCD if you ask me,” Shea said.
“He’s a surgeon. It’s exactly what I’d expect.” She looked closer. “There was medication here. Did you or your officers take anything away?”
He gazed at her quizzically. “Medication? No.”
“There are two faint impressions on this hand towel. See?” She pointed to a pair of round indentions on the towel’s surface. “Most likely put there by low-to-medium-quantity prescription bottles. Did you find bottles this size here or in his car?”
Shea shook his head no.
“People steal meds, but since his wallet wasn’t touched, I doubt that’s what happened here.”
“It could be a good sign.”
“Yes. If someone did take him, it might mean that they wanted to keep him alive and well. You should check and see what his prescriptions are.”
He was already scribbling in his notebook. “I’m on it. Anything else?”
She looked around the bathroom for a moment longer. “That’s all in here.”
She followed Shea out of the bathroom. “I’ll check the drawers and under the bed, but that’s all I’ll probably—”
She froze.
He turned toward her. “What is it?”
“I just heard something.”
He gestured toward the window. “From outside?”
“No.” She looked down at the floor. “Could you please retrace your steps?”
“You’re kidding.”
“I don’t kid. It may be important.”
He stared at her in disbelief. “Okay. I’m trying to cooperate. Do you want me to retrace my steps since I got here this morning, or—”
“The last six steps you’ve taken.”
He shook his head and stepped backward. Kendra cocked her head and listened as he walked.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Squish.
“There.” She pointed down. “Did you hear that?”
He stopped and looked around. “Not really.”
“Sure you did,” she said impatiently. “You heard it, but you didn’t listen.” She knelt and pressed her gloved hand over the spot where he had just walked. “The carpet is damp here, all the way down to the pad. It squished a bit when you stepped on it. So unless one of your officers spilled something…”
“Your faith in my department is overwhelming. No spills.”
She sniffed the liquid on her glove. “This needs to be analyzed. It’s very faint, almost odorless. That’s why I didn’t pick up on it before.”
Shea rubbed his glove over the spot and sniffed it. “Unusual smell.”
She closed her eyes and tried to make some connection with the odor. “It’s a little tarry, a bit like citrus … But neither, really. I’m sure I’ve never smelled it before, whatever it is.”
Shea dropped a fluorescent yellow evidence tag on the spot. “I’ll get forensics back here to sop up a sample.”
“Thank you.”
Shea nodded. “Just doing my job. You surprised me. I like to be surprised. That FBI guy told me that you were born blind and you’d still probably be that way if it wasn’t for Waldridge.”
“That’s right.”
“In that case, I’d be doing everything in my power to help him, too.” He nodded thoughtfully. “He’s lucky to have you in his corner, Dr. Michaels.”
*
AFTER A QUICK ONCE-OVER in Waldridge’s rental car that turned up absolutely nothing, Kendra gave her card to Shea and walked out to her car on Second Street. She leaned against her car for a long moment.
What now?
Everyone involved would probably prefer that she just sit back and wait for a call.
Dammit, Waldridge deserved better than that. But with no clear sign that a crime had occurred, it would be days before the police treated the case with any kind of urgency.
By then, it could be too late. She had been uneasy as hell at what she’d seen at that crime scene. So what could she do to make sure Waldridge received the same single-minded dedication from her that he’d given her all those years ago? She knew the answer. She’d known it all along. As much as she hated to admit it, she needed help. She needed the big guns.
And she had one of the biggest guns of all on her speed dial.
CHAPTER
3
ADAM LYNCH PICKED HER CALL UP on the first ring. “What a complete pleasure. Though I knew you’d call sooner or later, Kendra. I’m glad it turned out to be sooner.”
Kendra gripped her steering wheel harder. It had been two and a half hours since she’d left the hotel, and she’d spent most of the drive wondering if she was really going to make this call.
“Lynch, your smugness is actually radiating through the phone.”
Lynch let out a laugh that boomed through her car speakers. “No smugness. Just happy to hear from you. Is that such a surprise? What’s going on?”
She hesitated. “Something’s come up. I can … use your help.”
He paused so long that she thought the connection had dropped. “Lynch?”