“You’ve taken up scrapbooking.”
“No.” She picked up her tablet and flipped open the cover. “Something occurred to me before I went to sleep. The products used in Waldridge’s hotel room to make any blood invisible to Luminol. They were household products, easily obtainable at a moment’s notice. But you said there were better chemical solutions available.”
“There are, and they’re also available to anyone. You would just have to order them online or go to a chemical-supply store.”
“Exactly. So maybe they had to settle on this Iron-Out and hydrogen peroxide mix because they hadn’t planned ahead of time. Maybe they had to go out and get it the night after Waldridge was taken.”
“Like at Home Depot?”
“All the Home Depots were closed at that time.” Kendra raised her tablet and showed a city map on which she had used a stylus to circle two destinations. “But there are two twenty-four-hour Walmart stores within an easy drive of the hotel, and they carry these products. What if we get the FBI to request that these stores check and see if someone purchased these items from them that night?”
“And pray they used a credit card?”
“It’s worth a shot.”
Lynch nodded. “Good idea. Put all that in an e-mail to Griffin.”
“I already did. Before I went to sleep. You really think I’d wait to run it past you?”
“In my dreams.” He smiled. “What a team.”
Yes they were, and the reminder was probably deliberate. Regardless, it was oddly comforting at this moment. “I haven’t heard back from Griffin yet either to say he’ll do it or for me to go to hell.”
“He’ll do it.” Lynch checked his watch. “It’s only seven-thirty. We’ll call him at nine and harass him.” He turned toward Olivia, and said lightly, “Until then, we’ll occupy ourselves with what promises to be the best breakfast I’ve had in a while.”
*
GRIFFIN CALLED TWENTY MINUTES LATER, just as they were finishing Olivia’s delicious chicken-pepper omelets. Kendra put him on speaker.
“It’s early, Griffin. You’re working long hours for a government worker.”
“Blame it on the lunatic who tasks me with silly errands in the middle of the night.”
“So … I’m the lunatic?”
“Yes.”
“Just checking.”
“I should have trashed your e-mail after that ping woke me up, but you happened to make sense. So I forwarded your request just a few minutes after I got it. The office reached out to both stores.”
“In the middle of the night?”
“As you pointed out, those stores are twenty-four-hour operations. So’s the FBI. But I guess you’re aware of that since you saw fit to disturb my well-earned sleep.”
She thought it best to veer away from that last sarcastic comment. “Good. Any idea when we’ll hear back?”
“We already have. We got a hit.”
Kendra and Lynch exchanged a glance.
“Where?” Kendra asked.
“The Walmart at Baldwin Hills. Someone came in and purchased Iron-Out, hydrogen peroxide, sponges, and cleaning cloths at 10:16 P.M. that very day.”
“How did they pay?”
“Cash.”
Damn.
“I know,” Griffin said, as if reading her mind. “But they promised me they have razor-sharp security cameras there. They’ve scanning for the footage as we speak.”
“Okay. Good. Lynch and I will drive up to L.A. It shouldn’t take us more than—”
“Don’t bother. “They’ll be e-mailing the video to my office.”
“We’ll be there at 8:30.”
“I’ll be there at 9:15. Unless you like those benches in the building foyer, I wouldn’t arrive before then.”
FBI Regional Field Office
San Diego
“We’re doing very well, don’t you think?” Lynch murmured, as he and Kendra crossed the parking lot toward the front entrance. “Easy conversation, very little tension. I told you we’d get through this. Every day it will get better.”
She couldn’t deny it. That easiness had been mainly Lynch’s doing. Even on the trip here in his car with no Olivia as a buffer, he had not let her be aware of any disturbing sexuality. He’d been friendly, amusing, mocking, the Lynch she had known and bonded with for all these months. “I can almost believe you.”
He smiled. “Told you so. We’re back on track.” He opened the door for her. “Just relax and enjoy it.”
It was 9:25 by the time Kendra and Lynch were escorted to the fourth-floor A/V Lab by Griffin’s assistant. Griffin was already there, with Special Agent Metcalf standing behind a tech who gripped a jog shuttle control wheel at the console.
“Anything?” Kendra asked.