sounds like a colorful character, but we don’t need color, we need efficiency.”
“I’ll let you judge whether she can produce after you meet her.” He drove out of the parking lot. “But I’ll fill you in on her background. And, yes, she’s definitely colorful. She was totally blind until she underwent an operation when she was twenty. She had a number of years after that operation in which she tried to make up for lost time in ways that were sometimes not socially accepted.”
“The wild years?”
He nodded. “When she got tired of sowing wild oats, she settled down and completed two advanced degrees. She has a doctorate in psychology and a master’s in music theory. From what I understand, she’s done a lot of important research in the field of music therapy. She also sees clients, mostly special kids, at her studio.”
“Well, that’s a switch. I can’t see any connection between a wild-ass street entertainer and the educator she’s become.”
“Evidently, Kendra made one.” He shrugged. “Sometimes, you can’t tell what drives her. You have to go along for the ride.”
“And how far is that ride going to take us to finding Beth?” She frowned. “I still don’t see her value, Joe. And how did you come across her?”
“Do you remember I was out here a couple years ago trying to track that serial killer, Tim Vick? The local police were cooperating, but we were coming up with zilch. One of the detectives had used Kendra on another case the previous year and suggested I try to get her to help.”
“Oh, for God’s sake, she’s not a psychic or something?”
“No.” He chuckled. “Though your horror is a little misplaced, don’t you think? It’s not as if you don’t believe that there are legitimate psychics.”
“But they’re very rare, and phonies abound. If Kendra wasn’t a psychic, why did the police call on her for help?”
“She has a rare talent. She was born blind due to a degenerative corneal disease in the womb. She’s totally brilliant and developed all of her other senses to a phenomenal degree. She compensated by using her hearing, smell, touch, every sense she had. Then, when she was twenty, a stem-cell procedure gave her sight. She applied that same discipline she had learned when blind to everything that crossed her field of vision. Now, nothing gets past her. She can walk into a crime scene or indeed any other scene and pick up on things no one else can see. Often, she can put together those impressions and come up with answers. An agent at the FBI San Diego field office told me that she once cracked a case by walking into a room and hearing that its echo had a different quality than the rooms next to it.”
“It sounds kind of spooky.” She grimaced. “Shades of Sherlock Holmes.”
“Exactly.” He grinned. “I knew you’d be skeptical. I was, too. You have to meet her.”
“Which we’re obviously going to do. I’ll have to decide if I think we should use her after I talk to her.”
“Use her?” His smile widened. “That may not be the way it works out. We’ll have to ask her nicely, then try to persuade her when she tells us to go to hell.”
“What?”
“Kendra doesn’t like being taken away from teaching her kids. Or her research. Every now and then, she’ll do a job for the police or FBI, but it’s rare. She turns them away all the time.”
“But you said she took the Tim Vick case?”
“Not at first. She turned down the local police when they asked her.”
“But she didn’t turn you down?”
“I was more persistent. After I decided that maybe she could help, I analyzed her refusal and went back to see her and attacked her weakness.”
“And what was her weakness?”
“The kids. She was devoted to teaching special kids. She’s one tough lady, and I don’t think she lets many people under her guard. But Tim Vick killed six children during his rampage in Atlanta. I just brought it to her attention that if we didn’t catch him, he might kill more in San Diego.”
Clever, Eve thought. Joe was always thinking, always searching for the answers, and he usually found them. “She gave in?”
“Grudgingly. She likes her own way and doesn’t like to be involved in police work. She wasn’t pleased that I’d found a way to manipulate her against her will.”
“Was it worth your trouble?” She was trying to remember the details of the case. “Did you get Vick?”
He nodded. “And, yes,