body had been found. The yellow barrier tape was still in place, but the forensics trucks and FBI vans were gone from the area now. And the engine sound she had just heard was the departure of the coroner’s wagon with Cardona’s corpse driving away from the property toward Highway 5.
Hideous death and magnificent beauty, side by side.
Totally unexpected. And what else was she going to find here?
She moved slowly around the curve of the path.
Surprise. Surprise. There was also a view of the shore that led up to the rocky flatlands. Not from the upper path, but only when she went around the lower bend of the trail. So this was where Elaine would have been able to see those shadowy figures she’d emailed Mr. Kim about, leading to his death. Who had been down there? Dietrich? Hayes? Cardona? Elaine had not even been sure that she’d actually seen someone, but the possibility had been enough to make her lose her life.
And what had happened here that made Hayes or Dietrich want to kill Harley? Had Elaine taken the dog down to the shore and run into Dietrich?
Or had there been something else on this cliff path that made them come after her?
Guesswork. Yet every possibility was in play now. She’d have to leave and try to put everything together later. She’d go back to her condo and talk to Lynch and perhaps they’d—
A rustling sound in the trees ahead of her.
She stopped short on the path, her gaze swiftly searching the brush and branches of the trees. No reason to be startled. Birds, small animals—it could be anything. That rustle could have even been the sea.
It was not the sea.
She knew that sound so well from her years of living here.
The wind?
Same answer: She knew every nuance of that sound.
Is someone out there watching me?
Maddie’s words came back to her. A chill was running through Kendra as she gazed at the shadowy bands of trees on either side of the path ahead of her.
Imagination?
Concentrate.
Listen.
Don’t close your eyes.
Too dangerous.
Keep looking at those trees.
Another rustle…
Define it. Take it apart.
Movement. Deliberate movement, not a small animal, larger, and surreptitious…
A stalking animal.
And she could be the prey.
She’d told Lynch that no one would be waiting to pounce on her when Cardona had only just been murdered. It would take a tremendous amount of arrogance and ego to run the risk of another death so close to Cardona’s. Particularly with police and FBI still milling around on the premises. But Dietrich was arrogant, and he had killed Hayes only feet from where she and Lynch had been standing. What if he’d decided that she was a threat and needed to be stopped? This deserted stretch of ground above the sea would be very convenient…
Someone out there is watching me.
Another rustle.
Okay. That was it. Assume she was right and it was Dietrich. Get the hell out of here.
That rustle had come from the far left of the path. She turned and ran to the right, off the path and into the trees bordering the trail leading to the campus. She darted in and out of the brush and trees so that he would lose track and not be able to get a bead on her; and to show him she wouldn’t be an easy target. Her hand closed on the gun in her pocket and she drew it out in full view at her side.
A few more yards and she’d be away from this leafy dimness surrounding her.
The rustle was louder, breaking twigs and brush.
No longer watching.
Hunting.
Then she was out of the trees!
The next moment she was on the campus trail and hurrying down away from the cliff. Her heart was pounding as she looked back over her shoulder. It hadn’t been her imagination, she thought fiercely. She knew it. She could still feel it. Dietrich had been there, mocking, making her feel her own weakness and his power.
Would he have killed her if she hadn’t realized he was there and started to run and evade him? The gun in her hand might have also given him reason to hesitate if his goal was a silent kill.
Stop questioning yourself and do something. He might still be back there in the trees. She took out her phone and called Metcalf. “I’m still at Oceanside, Metcalf,” she said breathlessly. “Could you send security or a few of your people back here to search the area? I thought I saw someone on the cliff path…”