“Good night, Mom. I’ll call you tomorrow.” She hung up the phone.

The call had been as difficult as she had thought it would be. Her mother had not responded how she had thought she would, but she was always unpredictable.

But her basic instincts were infallible.

She had realized that the first order of business was to mourn the dead. Dean Halley deserved that Kendra as well as her mother think of him and his life first. His murderer who had taken that life should be second on the list.

She lay down, her cheek on the pillow.

Good-bye, Dean. We’ll miss you.

And she let the tears come.

CHAPTER

14

FBI San Diego Field Office

4:30 P.M.

“WHAT IN HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?” Griffin stood up from the desk at the front of the war room and strode toward Kendra, who had just stepped off the elevator with Lynch. “She was almost in shock last night, Lynch. Couldn’t you keep her away from here for a while?”

“You should know better.” Lynch put his hand on Kendra’s shoulder. “She insisted. Even at my place, she spent the entire day poring through the prison logs you e-mailed her.” He added dryly, “And here I thought my natural charisma and charm would be enough of a distraction.”

“Yeah?” Griffin said. “No wonder she couldn’t stop working the case.”

Kendra turned toward Metcalf, who was trying to discreetly roll away the bulletin board with Dean Halley’s grisly murder-case photos. “You don’t need to do that,” she said. “Believe me, those eight-by-tens are nowhere near as upsetting as it was to actually be there.” She paused. “Or the memory that kept replaying in my mind all night.”

Metcalf stopped. “I just thought—”

“Let him take it,” Lynch murmured. “It’s okay for you to be human, Kendra.”

Kendra glanced at the board, but, in spite of her words, she found herself quickly looking away.

Dean.

Eyes glued open. Staring.

“You’re right, Metcalf. Thank you.” Kendra struggled to maintain her composure. Damn. This was even harder than she’d thought it would be. It was her duty to be here trying to do everything possible to stop that murderer, but Dean’s death was too fresh in her mind. “Maybe you should move it to another part of the room.”

Metcalf looked as if he wanted to offer some words of comfort, but he finally just turned and awkwardly moved the bulletin board away.

“You shouldn’t be here.” Griffin was frowning. “At least take another day or so. We have agents in the field following up on Colby’s visitors and call logs. I haven’t even received the preliminary forensics report on the Dean Halley crime scene. Go home, Kendra.”

“I can’t. I’d just go crazy. What are you and the team doing?”

“Not anything that’s promising.” Griffin checked his watch. “We’re about to go into a teleconference with a profiler from Washington. You’re welcome to join us, but you may find it as pointless as I will. I doubt he’ll tell us anything our own profilers haven’t already come up with.”

He was right, not very promising, Kendra thought. She had hoped for more. But she turned and followed Griffin toward the desk. “If it’s the only game in town, you can bet I’ll sit in.”

*   *   *

TRUE TO GRIFFIN’S WORDS, the meeting was a fairly pointless exercise, with few new insights. They were just wrapping up when a shrill, high-pitched beeping sound pierced the relative quiet of the war room.

A terribly familiar sound.

Lynch looked over at the large projection screen. “Is that what I think it is?”

Again, Kendra thought. The nightmare was beginning all over again.

“Shit!” Griffin abruptly cut the teleconference link. The agents around the long table bolted toward the front of the room.

As it had the night before, the beeping was coming from the phone-company technician’s laptop. Once again, a red dot now appeared on the map.

Kendra’s eyes widened as she jumped to her feet. She gazed up at the large projected map, which had remained unchanged since yesterday. Excitement was gripping her, taking her breath.

Excitement … and dread.

Have we got you this time, Myatt?

The technician was already looking at his laptop screen. “This is another one of the three phones we’ve been tracking, Agent Griffin. It just connected with the network.”

Griffin shook his head. “Myatt used the other phone on a timer to draw us out to Dean Halley’s house. He may be using this one the same way.”

Lynch studied the map. “He’s east of Descanso. It almost looks like—”

“Oh, my God.” Kendra felt a sickening jolt, her gaze fastened on the map. It couldn’t be true.

Don’t let it be true.

Lynch nodded slowly as he saw her face.

“What’s happening?” Griffin asked.

The worst thing that could possibly happen.

“He’s found my mother and Olivia.”

*   *   *

“MOM, YOU HAVE TO GET OUT OF THERE. Do you hear me? Immediately. Don’t argue, just move.”

“Hold on, you keep fading out. I’m out on the balcony, and I get lousy reception here.” Diane moved through the house with her mobile phone, trying to find the spot with the best reception. She finally found herself in the living room. It was dark outside, and Nelson was turning off lights in the living room as he talked into his phone. He was standing straight and speaking in the clipped, efficient tone he adopted whenever he spoke to the Bureau higher-ups. Not a good sign, Diane thought.

“Now, what’s happened?” Diane said into the phone. “Nelson is looking very … professional.”

“Good. That’s what we want from him. Myatt’s found you. He’s somewhere in your vicinity. Griffin’s explaining it to Nelson right now. You’re going to leave the house immediately and go to the Sheriff’s Department in Julian.”

“Wouldn’t it be better for us to stay here and let the police and FBI come here? This could be your chance to catch this psychopath.”

“No. We will not use you as bait. Do exactly as Nelson tells you to do. Okay?”

“I still think—”

“No. Mom, don’t think. Please don’t think. Just get the hell out of there. Where’s Olivia?”

“In the kitchen. She’s on her laptop.”

“Good. Stay together. Do exactly as Nelson tells you.”

“You already said that.”

“Because I know you.” She paused. “I love you, Mom.”

“Oh, Lord. You’re being sentimental. Now I am scared.”

“You’ll be fine. I’ll see you in less than an hour.”

Kendra cut the connection. Diane looked up to see that Nelson had pulled his automatic from the holster and was checking the cartridge.

“It’ll be okay,” he said.

“You sound as if you’re trying to convince yourself.” Olivia entered from the kitchen with her work knapsack slung over her shoulder.

“We have a bit of a situation,” he said. “But nothing to worry about.”

“Nothing except for the killer lurking outside. Excuse me for eavesdropping on your phone conversations, but since no one bothered to call me, I had nothing better to do.”

Still holding the gun, Nelson picked up his phone and punched a number. He listened, then hung up. “No answer from Tad Martlin.”

“That doesn’t necessarily mean anything,” Diane said. “The cell reception is spotty up here.”

“True, but it’s been a while since he checked in.” Nelson walked to a front window and looked through a parting in the curtains. “The two of you wait here by the front door. I’ll bring the car from the road and pull as close to the house as I can.”

“You don’t want us to go together?” Olivia asked.

“No. And don’t bother with your luggage. We’ll get it later. Right now, I just want to put some distance between us and this house.”

Diane nodded. “Okay. The second you pull up in your car, we’ll be ready to jump inside.” She turned to Olivia. “When we go out the door, take my arm and I’ll lead you to—”