feelings get in the way of finding out what happened at Oceanside. And unless your team found something we can use, his death is a big setback for us.”
“Well, I might let my feelings get in the way a little bit,” Lynch said. “But not to the extent of an execution-style bullet to the brain.”
“I know.” Metcalf scowled. “I guess I’m sorry. But I had to ask. It’s my job.”
“And you enjoyed it since it was aimed at me. Now that I’ve been hopefully eliminated as a suspect, did your team find anything?” Lynch asked.
Metcalf glanced back into the room. “It doesn’t look good. The entire place had been wiped down. Except for yours, there isn’t a single fingerprint to be found anywhere. Not on any of the doorknobs, not on the faucet, toilet handle, phone…The place is clean.”
“There wasn’t time to do it after he was shot,” Kendra said. “We weren’t more than a couple of minutes behind him. His death had to have been planned before he even walked in there.” She stared into the room for a moment.
“What’s the story with this room?” Lynch asked. “Did Hayes book it under his alias?”
“No,” Metcalf said. “We talked to the receptionist and the management company. It was leased for six months by a New York firm. The rent is paid monthly by a mailed money order. The account name is ABCD.”
“What? You’re joking. That’s the guest’s name?” Kendra said.
“Yep. Probably phony, of course. Since most of the other guests probably pay cash and register under the name John Smith, I guess they really didn’t care. We’re already trying to track it down.”
“How long has this room been booked?”
“They received the booking three months ago. No arrangements for maid service, no employee access of any kind. The dead bolt is a different brand from every other lock on the floor. It looks like it was installed by the renter.”
Kendra nodded slowly. “What the hell did Hayes have going on here?”
“I have no idea.” Metcalf raised his iPad. “But it might not be Hayes at all. I have something to show you. It came in right after I got here.”
“Tell me it’s something good.”
“Depends on how good your sketch artist is.”
“Bill Dillingham? He’s the best.”
“Then we have a chance of identifying the other man who came after you at the factory. It took longer than I would have liked, but I got a hit of about fourteen possible matches with photographs in the FBI database. I’d like you to take a look and see if you recognize any of these guys.”
“Right now?”
“Unless you’re too upset? We can wait.”
She glanced at the door of the room where Hayes had been killed. “No, we can’t. He might have killed Hayes to keep us from knowing who he was. Every minute we wait makes it a win for him.”
“Okay.” Metcalf displayed his iPad screen to her. “Swipe right to look through the pictures. Kind of like looking for a Tinder date, but far sicker.”
She tried to smile. “You would know, Metcalf. Let’s see what you have here.” She swiped her finger across his iPad screen, displaying a succession of men who looked remarkably like the man Jessie pulverized against the car the other night. But it wasn’t until Kendra reached the end of the photo lineup that she finally saw his face.
She inhaled sharply. “That’s him.”
“Positive?”
“Yes. His eyes, the thin nose, the set of his jaw…No doubt.”
As chilled as Kendra had been to see the sketch when Bill had first produced it, seeing the photo only made her angry. Angry for what he’d done to Elaine Wessler’s husband, angry for what he’d tried to do to her. She couldn’t wait to bring this son of a bitch down. She looked up at Metcalf. “Who is he?”
He turned the iPad around and double-tapped the photo. “His name is Lance Dietrich. He entered our system four years ago as a suspect in an espionage case.”
“A suspect?” Lynch said. “No conviction?”
“Not in this case. But Kendra just identified the guy. We haven’t had a chance to investigate him in-depth. I’ll turn everyone loose to dig deeper once I’m back at the office. I’m ready to leave now.” He glanced at Kendra. “I believe you know that I’ll do everything that can be done. I won’t stop until I—”
But Kendra was no longer listening to him.
She stepped closer to Hayes’s corpse and looked down at him.