Flashback (Kendra Michaels #11)

“I didn’t start using your camera until you talked back to me just now. I know your office hours, so I didn’t tap into your system until I was reasonably certain you would be alone.”

“So you saw what I was doing on my system?”

“I did.”

“Not cool, Lynch. If you want me to share something with you, just ask. It’s not okay for you to spy on what I’m doing. Got it?”

“Point taken. I’m sorry. I actually peeked in to make sure you weren’t in the middle of a session. Instead, I saw some fairly disturbing murder scene photos.”

“So you saw everything.”

“Yes. I assume it’s the files that the Morgan sisters put together. Pretty grim stuff. I also heard that your condo was broken into. I’m sure it’s occurred to you that it was probably the same person who ransacked Paula Chase’s home and murdered her.”

“Of course. They’d have had these files now if Olivia hadn’t taken them and had her intern scan them all. The police have them all now.”

“Good. For some reason, those files might have put a big target on your backs.”

“But why? That’s what I can’t figure out.”

He leaned forward. “When I get back there, we can figure it out together. Will you wait for me?”

Kendra raised her remote toward the screen. “I’m about two seconds away from switching you off.”

He laughed. “That’s a more frightening prospect than the bullets I was dodging this morning.”

“I thought I heard gunfire. Care to enlighten me?”

“After I get back. Just another day at the office.”

“Office? You look like you’re in a hovel.”

He glanced around. “Actually, I think it’s a kitchen. Or at least it used to be.”

“In any case, I’m not waiting for you. The Morgan sisters need all the help they can get right now.”

He paused for a long moment. “You really think they’re still alive?”

“I don’t know. I realize that their odds get slimmer with each passing hour. But there’s a chance, you know? Those women are heroes. After all they went through, you have to admire the way they’ve been working so hard to find their mother’s killer.”

“I agree. I read up on their case after we talked last. I figured their mother touched a nerve with you.”

“What do you mean?”

“The husband and father who left his family when his wife’s injury got too much for him to deal with. How could it not make you think of your own family?”

Kendra was silent for a moment. She hadn’t discussed this subject with Lynch, and he’d never pressed her on it. Until now. “Like my father, who left his family after his child was born blind? You’re thinking I might be identifying with them. I never knew the scumbag, and I never want to know him. I was only a few months old when he left. I know it was hard on my mom, but she never let on. If you ask her about it, she’d say it allowed her to flourish. I think it did. Just like I think Alyssa Morgan was flourishing before she was murdered. She wanted to qualify for the Paralympic Games, and she might have done it. She was a special woman.”

“Obviously.”

“So maybe I’m not just doing this for Paula Chase or the Morgan sisters, but for that gutsy mom who was only just starting to come into her own.”

He nodded and stared at her in silence for a long moment. “I can see that. Whatever happened to her daughters, they’re lucky to have you on their team.”

She shook her head. “It’s my honor. I just hope I can be of some help.”

“Hey, I’m sure you will be.” He finished his bottled water and tossed the empty container aside. “I really wish I could drop everything and be there to help. But I have a couple of days ahead of me here.”

“Stop worrying about me, Lynch. I’m pretty good at taking care of myself.”