“Better,” Kendra said, watching him with an amused look. “By all means, help yourself. Don’t worry about leaving me any. I’m not very—”
“Okay.” He deposited the rest of the waffles on his plate. He looked up. “I take it Kendra has brought you up to speed on the disappearance of Dr. Waldridge?”
Dianne nodded.
“And I’m quite sure you voiced your displeasure with her taking the case, particularly with me?”
Dianne looked flustered, which was most unusual for her. “I—Well, I only…”
“It’s quite all right. You wouldn’t do your duty as a mother if you didn’t say those things.” He poured syrup on his waffles. “Just let me assure you that your daughter’s safety is always my number one priority.”
“I don’t doubt your desire to protect her, Mr. Lynch. But there are things you can’t always control.”
Kendra leaned forward. “Okay, Mom. Enough. You haven’t grilled a guy like this since Tommy Schiller took me to my high-school prom.”
“Tommy Schiller?” Lynch said. “I think I need to hear about this guy.”
“No, you don’t,” Kendra said firmly. “He was thoughtful and sweet. Qualities that would never interest you.”
Lynch made a face. “Ugh, you’re right. Definitely anemic. But they apparently didn’t interest you either since you now refer to him in the past tense.”
She opened her mouth, but she didn’t have a response.
Lynch turned to Dianne. “You were probably right to grill him. What tipped you off?”
“I thought he might be a phony.” Dianne shrugged. “He was very slick, but there was something about him. She was still blind at the time, and I was afraid that she couldn’t sense what I could see.”
“You didn’t tell me that, Mom,” Kendra said. “Why?”
“You were stubborn. I wanted you to trust your instincts, but there was always the chance that you might resent my interference. I had to be careful.”
“So careful that somehow Tommy faded into never-never land.”
“It’s all right,” Lynch said. “I’m sure Tommy has gotten over you by now.” He glanced at Dianne. “Good job.”
Kendra said with exasperation, “Surely you didn’t come here to talk about my high-school boyfriends.”
“No, but I found it fascinating.” Lynch grabbed a pecan roll and poured himself a cup of coffee. “As much as I enjoy watching you squirm, I wanted to discuss our strategy for today. I thought it would be best if we started camping out at the FBI lab as early as possible. Although we were promised priority, things have a way of slipping down the to-do list if you don’t stay in their faces there.”
“And you learned that the hard way.”
“You don’t get very far in the FBI without learning to navigate a bureaucracy.”
“Sounds like the best way to navigate that is to leave and just go freelance.”
“It works for me.”
“Okay. So we make pests of ourselves at the FBI. I have a lot of practice at that. I’ll also follow up with Santa Monica PD and the Big Bear police.”
Dianne threw up her hands. “I guess Hawaii isn’t even on the table. I suppose I’m heading for that seminar in Denver in a couple days.”
“Sorry, Mom. I have to do this.”
“I know when to accept defeat. So what can I do to help?”
“Nothing.”
“Don’t say that. If you’re going to do this, I have to feel useful somehow. I care about Dr. Waldridge, too.” She smiled. “You’re right, he was the dream maker. I remember the first time you looked at me after the operation and really saw me. I wanted to get down on my knees to him.”
“So did I.” Kendra was silent a moment. “Well, you’re still fairly well hooked in to the academic scene in London, aren’t you?”
“I don’t know if I’d call it a ‘scene,’ but I do have quite a few friends at the universities there.”
“Maybe you can ask around about Dr. Waldridge. See if anybody has any idea what he’s been working on, who he’s been working with.”
She pursed her lips. “Hmm. Sounds like busywork to me.”
“It’s not. It could really help us.”
Dianne thought for a moment. “Okay. I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
She waved her hands. “Now go. Leave. Get out of here, before Mr. Lynch eats the rest of my breakfast.”
But there was definite amusement in the remark, Kendra noticed.
“I like your mother,” Lynch said as he guided Kendra through the crowded restaurant. “Charming and sensible. I’m glad we arranged to have breakfast with her today.”
“I didn’t arrange to have breakfast with her. You might say I was hijacked.” She glanced at him. “Now, you might have arranged it. I found it a little too coincidental that you happened to see me flying across the street and decided to join us.”
He smiled. “Coincidences do happen.”
“And so does that truly amazing skill with electronics and phones that you’ve used on me before. When you stopped by to pick me up, and I didn’t answer the door, did you hack into my phone and read Mom’s text?”