Night Watch (Kendra Michaels #4)(50)

“Must have been torture for you,” Lynch said caustically. “How about if I put my thumb on the scale by taking you to the police?”

“Just try it,” she said softly.

“Hey,” Kendra said. “Let’s just table this for a minute. I’m tired of watching the two of you bristle at each other. Let’s talk about why you’re following me.”

Jessie thought for a moment. “I guess that we can talk about.” She glanced around. “But not here.”

“Where?” Kendra demanded.

She smiled faintly. “I’d invite you to my office, but it’s a bit far to L.A.”

“No problem. I happen to have an office nearby. It’s at—”

“I know where it is. I’ve been there.” Jessie reached out and snatched her license from Kendra’s hand. “I’ll meet you there in fifteen minutes.”

“How do we know you’ll show?” Kendra asked.

Jessie shrugged. “How do I know you won’t have a squad car there waiting to take me in for questioning? I guess we’ll just have to trust each other.” She gave a mock shiver. “What a truly bizarre thought.”

*

FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER, Kendra and Lynch drove into the office parking lot to find Jessie standing next to her motorcycle, checking her e-mail.

“Anything interesting?” Kendra asked.

“Like an e-mail from Dr. Waldridge? Afraid not. But three different companies want to sell me penis-enlargement tools.” Jessie put away her phone. “It comes with owning a motorcycle. I’ll read those later.”

Kendra smiled. Lynch seemed annoyed with her, but she was enjoying Jessie’s dry sense of humor.

Kendra led her and Lynch to her office studio, where she and Lynch had teleconferenced with Rye only the day before.

Jessie looked around with interest at the musical instruments. “Nice job with the song at the bar, by the way. You pretty much nailed it.”

“You were there?” Lynch asked.

“She was standing near the dartboards,” Kendra said. “I couldn’t see her boots; otherwise, I would have ID’d her in a second.”

Jessie rolled her eyes. “The boots. Is that how you made me?”

“They leave a very distinctive footprint. In the snow up in Big Bear, in the fine dirt outside the bar.”

“Freaky. I guess the stories about you are true.”

“Depends on where the stories came from.”

“True-crime blogs, police discussion boards, places like that.”

“Any special reason why you’ve been reading up on me?”

“Homework.”

Kendra waited for her to say more, but Jessie was silent, perusing the music-themed laminated posters on the wall.

“Waldridge hired you to follow me?” Kendra finally asked.

“No. He didn’t even mention you to me.”

“Then why the hell have you been on my tail?”

“For the record, I’ve been doing more with my time than just following you. Remember, I found my way to Big Bear before you did.”

Lynch crossed his arms and leaned against the piano. “Yes, and you led us quite a chase.”

“Not much of a chase. I’m guessing that the San Bernardino County PD stopped you long before you even got off the mountain.”

Lynch nodded. “You guessed right. But what brought you up there in the first place?”

“The same thing that brought you. The corpse in the snow, Dr. Porter Shaw.”

Kendra and Lynch exchanged a glance.

“You knew who he was?” Kendra asked.

“Not immediately. When did you figure it out?”

“A few hours ago. You?”

“Last night. I ran the pictures I took of the body against photos of Waldridge’s known associates that I grabbed off the Web. A facial-recognition program did most of the work.”

“Smart,” Kendra said. “The FBI did something similar.”

“I just happened to do it faster. Not that I’m bragging or anything.”

“Oh, of course not,” Lynch said. “Are you going to help us out, or did you just come here to jerk our chains.”

Jessie smiled. “Chain-jerking does have its appeal, but no. You asked why I’m following you. You were one of the last people to see Waldridge, and I knew you were on the case.”

“How did you know?” Kendra asked.

“Santa Monica PD. I have friends on the inside over there. I heard you were getting FBI help, which is a hell of lot more than I’ve been getting. Every time I got stalled, I decided to see what you were doing.”

“Why did Waldridge hire you?”

Jessie didn’t answer.

“I have to know.”

“Confidential territory again,” she said quietly. “I have an obligation.”

“Bullshit. Your obligation is keeping your client alive.”

Jessie hesitated, thinking.

“Please,” Kendra said. “Tell us. I only want to keep him alive.”

Jessie stared ruefully at Kendra. “I hope I don’t regret this.”

“Regret what? Trusting me?”

Jessie nodded. “I’m not big on trust.”