Olivia smiled. “No. He told me he wasn’t going to be guarding you anymore. He said that he was going to miss seeing me. Sweet, right?”

“Precious.”

“Stop it. So I let him in for a few minutes, and I suddenly got sad at the thought of not having him around anymore. I … didn’t want him to go. One thing led to another, and—”

“—And the guy never had a chance.”

“Well, I didn’t hear him complaining.”

“Oh, I’m sure not. So … what is this? A one-night stand? Where’s it heading?”

“Hell if I know. I told you I was curious, and he was very good in bed. Maybe it’s going nowhere. You’re the one who’s throwing me out of my home, out of my life.”

“He may be going with you.”

“Along with your mother.” She made a face. “Not exactly a romantic getaway.”

“It’s not supposed to be. He’ll be working. Don’t you go distracting him.”

“Don’t worry.” Olivia threw in some jeans, shoes, and a clear gallon-size Ziploc bag of toiletries. “He was good, but not good enough to risk my life or your mother’s.” She zipped the duffel and slung it over her shoulder.

“All set?”

“Yeah. On the way out, you guys can grab my laptop, my work knapsack, and some of the boxes next to my desk. I’ll take the opportunity to get some articles and reviews done.” She turned back toward Kendra. “By the way, where are we going?”

“I’m not sure. I need to talk it over with Mom. She’ll like having some control. It might make it easier to convince her. It has to be someplace no one could possibly predict.”

“No one.” Olivia smiled. “Including us?”

“Exactly.

CHAPTER

10

University of California San Diego

La Jolla, California

“NO WAY, NO HOW.”

Kendra was alone with her mother in the large Ledden Auditorium, an amphitheater-styled lecture facility in the campus Humanities and Social Science Building. It was a few minutes before seven, and, as Kendra had predicted, her mother was there preparing for her early-morning class.

Also as predicted, she was having none of Kendra’s plan.

“If I left town every time you took on a case, I’d have to quit my job.”

“Mom, this is different. He’s zeroed in on me. The people in my life aren’t safe.”

“Now you know how I feel every time you take one of these cases.”

“This is your idea of payback?”

“It’s not payback. I have a life.”

“And I want you to keep—” She broke off.

The door at the front of the lecture hall swung open. Kendra and Diane turned around as Dean Halley walked into the room.

He smiled. “Kendra … I thought I saw you come in here. Did you come to see your mother lecture and show you how it’s done?”

“Something like that. Good morning, Dean.”

Diane looked at the wall clock. “Good lord, Dean. I didn’t think you ever woke up before ten.”

“Aaah, I had some work to take care of here in my office.” He spread his arms wide in a flamboyant gesture. “I guess it was fate, huh?”

Kendra smiled. “I’m not a big believer in fate.”

“Okay, then. I’ll settle for a happy accident. In any case, it’s nice to see you.” He looked from her to Diane. “Am I interrupting something?”

“Just my mother’s stubbornness.”

“Nothing will ever get in the way of that.”

Kendra flipped back the cover of Lynch’s tablet computer and raised it to chest level.

“Are you trying to take my picture?” Diane asked.

“No, I have some photos to show you.”

“Please, no more Maui vacation photos.”

“This isn’t Maui.” A dismembered corpse appeared on the screen.

“Whoa!” Her mother recoiled and raised her hands. “You could have warned me.”

“No one warned this woman before she was hacked to death two weeks ago.” Kendra swiped her finger across the tablet, and the screen lit up with another bloody corpse, this one almost decapitated by a long strand of piano wire.

“Kendra!”

Dean looked as if he were going to be sick.

Another finger swipe, and they were looking at the corpse with a Latin phrase carved on his chest.

Her mother frowned. “Kendra, please.”

Dean finally turned away. “More dead bodies … Is this becoming our thing? Because if you think I’m into that, you’ve been seriously misinformed.”

Kendra moved the tablet closer to her mother’s face. “Look. This is the kind of diseased mind I’m dealing with. And just a few hours ago, he killed the mother of one of my clients. That’s why I’ve arranged a security detail for you and Olivia.” She said urgently, “Olivia is blind. She’s smart and strong, but she needs you to care for her. The way you cared for me all those years. Help me, Mom.”

Her mother was silent for a long moment. “When would you want me to leave?”

“Now. Olivia is waiting in Lynch’s car outside.”

“Impossible. I have a class in twenty minutes.”

“I can stick around, answer any questions and give them their reading assignments for next time,” Dean said.

“I couldn’t ask you to—”

“You didn’t ask.” Dean shrugged. “I offered.”

Kendra nodded. “See? And I know for a fact your teaching assistants are chomping at the bit for some lecture experience.”

“Of course they are. That doesn’t mean they can do it. I’m too exceptional to replace.”

“You wouldn’t tolerate a T.A. who was anything less than brilliant. You know they can do it. Perhaps not as well, but adequately.”

“Where do you propose we go?”

“Nowhere you’ll be expected. I prefer it would be someplace you’ve never been. Where do you suggest?”

Diane thought about it. “Maybe Mount Laguna. Remember I told you about another professor who offered me her weekend house in Mount Laguna anytime I wanted to use it?”

“Vaguely. There’s no guarantee it’s free right now, though.”

“On a Tuesday? Odds are pretty good. I’ll call and ask her.” She frowned. “But I don’t have her number with me.”

“I do,” Dean said. He pulled out his phone and scrolled through his contact list. “You’re talking about Dr. Richmond, right? I spent a weekend down at her place when I first came here. It was a sort of welcome to the academy family.”

Diane nodded.

After a few seconds, Dean looked up. “I just e-mailed you her home, office, and mobile numbers.” He grinned. “Now get out of here. I have to have a little time to recover my composure after that deluge of sickening photos Kendra threw at us. I have a class coming here in twenty minutes.”

Mount Laguna, California

11:37 A.M.

“BEAUTIFUL PLACE,” Lynch said as he pulled in behind Diane’s and Agent Nelson’s cars in front of the rustic two-story house on a hill overlooking the Cleveland National Forest. “I wouldn’t mind spending a few days here.”

“Neither would I. It’s supposed to be a vacation house deluxe, with balconies and an entire finished rec room in the basement.” Kendra got out of the Ferrari. “But I guarantee Mom and Olivia aren’t going to feel that way. I’m glad that Agent Nelson is here to report back if there’s an insurrection, and one of them takes off.”

“If Olivia doesn’t persuade him to take her away from here himself,” Lynch murmured. “I had no idea she was such a vamp.”

“Olivia is many things. She’s had to survive and make a good life for herself, and she’s done it her way.” She looked at him. “But she’s smart and honorable. She wouldn’t do anything that would hurt Mom. She’d just figure out a way to do what she had to do that wouldn’t have dire consequences.” She started to walk toward her mother, who was standing by her car and looking up at the sleek, lovely house.

Diane’s expression was gloomy. “It looks like a damn gingerbread house.”

“It does not, it’s lovely,” Kendra said. “Maybe not your cup of tea, but it’s bearable.” She paused. “Anything is bearable if you know you’re doing the right thing. And you are doing the right thing, Mom.”