Blink of an Eye (Kendra Michaels #8) - Roy Johansen Page 0,86
the actual caller’s speaking voice and accents.”
“Shit. I want to hear it now.”
“I know you do.” He chuckled. “That was a given. But you’ll have to wait until he transmits it. Be patient. At least you have something to keep you busy until you can get your hands on it.” He glanced at his watch. “We should be at the factory very soon.”
Kendra and Lynch reached the abandoned factory in slightly less than twenty minutes. They pulled into the lot and circled around until they saw the large pickup truck and an L.A. County Sheriff’s police cruiser parked behind the main building. Kendra stopped, and she and Lynch climbed out of her car.
Two sheriff’s deputies were getting out of the cruiser to greet them. The larger of the two men spoke. “Kendra Michaels?”
“Yes.”
He nodded. “I’m Deputy Locker, this is Merritt. We were told to extend every courtesy to you.”
Lynch smiled. “Anyone mention the name Adam Lynch to you?”
“Sorry.”
“No worries. It’s healthy to be occasionally put in my place.”
Kendra walked around the pickup truck, examining it with the intensity of a laser scanner. It was a white Dodge Ram 3500, jacked up to an almost ridiculous degree and equipped with a locked hard-plastic bed cover. “I’m surprised you guys found this out here.”
Merritt stepped toward her. “It was our helicopter patrol. I guess the pickup looked suspicious, like maybe there was a drug deal going down. Then they found out you were looking for it.”
“We’re really looking for its owner. James Dorset.”
“No sign of him, I’m afraid.” He pointed to the chained-and-padlocked main door of the factory. “The building is locked up tight as a drum. No one’s been in there for years.”
“Wrong. Someone’s been in there in the last week.” Kendra ignored the deputies’ surprised looks and crouched next to the right front quarter panel. “Well, maybe his car can help us find him.”
Lynch squatted beside her. “What’s it telling you?”’
“That this car has been in Santa Monica recently. Several times. It’s been parked near the coast pretty much every night since he left his apartment in Burbank.”
“That’s obvious,” Lynch said solemnly, though his eyes were twinkling. “Only to you, of course.”
Still in a crouched position, she moved back a few feet. “But he’s been driving up here almost every day.” She cocked her head. “Actually, no. Not here. Maybe thirty miles north of here.”
“It’s a long commute,” Lynch said. “He must have had a good reason to make that run every day.”
Locker stared at her as if she were from another planet. “What the hell’s going on here?”
Kendra stood. “Just doing what I came here to do.”
“Are you…psychic?”
“I don’t think I believe in psychics.” She crossed around to the other side of the car. “Do you?”
“Not until about thirty seconds ago.”
“I’m not seeing anything you guys didn’t see. I just don’t take things I see for granted.”
Lynch clicked his tongue. “Put them out of their misery, Kendra.”
“Only them?”
“Okay, me too.”
“Look at the tires on the driver’s side.”
Lynch and the deputies walked around and leaned over.
“See those obnoxious chalk marks?”
“Yes,” Lynch said, “Bright yellow, lime green, hot pink…”
“Very good,” Kendra said. ”Although your law-enforcement brethren may object to the nomenclature. Santa Monica parking enforcement uses these at night for cars parked in busy areas like Third Street Promenade, so they can see if they’ve overstayed the posted limits.”
“Almost every place does that,” Deputy Merritt said. “We do it here.”
“But Santa Monica is the only place I know of that uses this bright, almost-fluorescent chalk. It makes it easier to see at night, but it doesn’t fade as quickly. It’s been annoying the hell out of people.” She glanced at Lynch. “I got one on my car when I visited Jessie’s office last month.”
“How do you know this car’s been driving up north of here?” Merritt said.
“Look at the grille. Lots of dead bugs, including yucca moths. They pollinate yucca flowers up in the Mojave Desert. And I see lots of dragonflies, which are also common up there. The bugs are in various states of decay, meaning this car has recently made repeated trips.”
Merritt nodded. “Huh.”
“But there’s something else here…” Kendra pointed to the right headlight. “There’s sand lodged here around the plastic headlight casing. It’s true on the other side, and in back. I know sand can blow across the roads up there, but this looks like this vehicle has been going off road.”
“They could be keeping Delilah somewhere up there,” Lynch said.