and take her? I taught her to always be careful. She was smart, Parks. Those scumbags couldn’t have fooled her.”
“Like I said, sometimes the bad guys turn out to be smarter than us.” He strode across the stage toward the exit. “I’ll see you later, Jessie.”
“I could tell you were ready to take a machete to his head when you stomped down here,” Kendra murmured as she watched him leave. “You were easier on him than I thought you’d be.”
“Because he was right,” she said unsteadily. “No matter how hard we try, sometimes the bad guys are going to try harder and they’re going to win. I knew Dee wasn’t going to be easy for anyone to handle. That’s why I was so careful when I chose Parks to take over my job with her. He had all the qualifications and discipline, and I knew he was flexible enough not to make her rebel. I thought he’d be perfect. It’s hard to find that kind of balance.”
“But you told me Dee had been rebelling lately,” Kendra said. “Maybe someone out there was watching and decided it was time to step in and take advantage.”
“Maybe. But as I said, she’s smart. I don’t think she’d do anything careless that would cause anyone to be able to snatch her. It would take something to fool her.”
“Because you taught her,” Kendra said softly. “And that will be to her benefit. She has those years of training with you and she’ll remember them.”
She nodded. “You’re damn right.” She cleared her throat. “Now let’s go talk to Parks’s crew and see if they remember anything. Then we’ll go schmooze with those FBI and LAPD guys and impress them enough to squeeze information out of them if we need to.” She shrugged. “Most of them are careful around private investigators, but I think a couple of those LAPD officers have helped me out before. And you shouldn’t have any trouble.” She looked over her shoulder with a smile. “Everyone wants to cozy up to a superstar like you. Who knows? They might even get their picture in the paper. Do you want me to go up to the parking lot and bring down a couple of those reporters?”
“Don’t you dare.” But she was glad that Jessie wasn’t quite so much on edge. Jessie always bounced back from every blow. She wasn’t bouncing now. She was too worried and sick and angry. But she was thinking, healing, working on the problem. “If you’re talking to LAPD, I’ll take the FBI agents. Agent Kelland wanted me to meet them…”
* * *
Kendra’s Condo
11:40 A.M.
Kendra was back in her condo and starting to pack an overnight bag when Metcalf phoned her. “Did Kelland come through for you?” he asked. “I didn’t expect a problem, but you didn’t call me back.”
“We were swamped from the minute Kelland pulled rank to get us down to the crime scene. You know how it can be on a case like this.” She went to the bathroom and grabbed her toiletries. “Yes, Kelland was fine and did what we needed. Other than that, he seemed too busy to pay any attention to us. Which was great with Jessie and me. All we wanted to do was establish contacts with the LAPD and Kelland’s fellow agents and listen in on any conversations they were getting from operators in the field. Then I grabbed breakfast with Jessie and hit the road back to San Diego to grab an overnight bag and call the school and tell them I’m taking a few days off.”
“A few days? That sounds optimistic. Are you?”
“I don’t know what I am,” she said wearily. “Except I’m scared, Metcalf. I was telling Jessie not to be negative, but we’re going at this blind. We don’t know anything yet. Right now, Kelland just seems to be sitting and waiting for that damn ransom note.”
“That’s not what he’s doing. If he’s as good as I think he is, Kelland has already alerted his agents to stake out the phones of all possible sources who might be contacted by the kidnappers. That includes everyone from Dee’s record company to her mother in Europe. It wouldn’t surprise me if they’ve even staked out Jessie’s phone since she’s so close to her. He’s probably also ordered all of Dee’s bank accounts monitored in case they try to make her move the money herself.” He paused. “That’s what we do the minute we realize a victim has been taken. That’s