Flashback (Kendra Michaels #11)

She heard a grim voice behind her. “I told you. He’s back.”

She turned to see FBI Special Agent Roland Metcalf. He was on the scene with Michael Griffin, head of the San Diego FBI regional office. She knew Griffin from several prior cases, and although he often seemed to resent her presence, she knew he was the one who usually enlisted her aid in the first place. Confusing.

Lynch smiled. “Hello, Griffin. I thought you were done trudging around crime scenes in the dark of night.”

Griffin shrugged. “And I thought you kept busy collecting exorbitant paychecks from our government while barely skirting international laws.”

“I still like to mix things up.”

Perhaps sensing the tension between the two men, Metcalf stepped forward. “Special Agent Griffin worked the Bayside Strangler case back in the day. He knows more about the case than just about anyone at the Bureau.”

“It wasn’t for long,” Griffin said. “The FBI had only been involved for a couple of weeks when the killings stopped. We barely had time to get up to speed on the work that SDPD had done before it was all over.” He looked at Kendra. “Did the police ask you here?”

“No.” Griffin obviously didn’t know Metcalf had tipped her off. “I’m investigating the Morgan sisters’ disappearance. My focus will stay there.”

“Obviously, you’re considering the possibility that this case may have suddenly become part of yours.”

“Difficult to say.”

“You have to admit that it’s strange that the Bayside Strangler is back after fifteen years, just days after the daughters of one of his victims have gone missing.”

Metcalf nodded. “Daughters who appeared to have discovered something while investigating his murders.”

Kendra stepped a few yards away, and the others followed her lead. She lowered her voice. “But what could have possibly caused him to resume his spree so many years later?”

Griffin crossed his arms in front of him. “Believe me, our profilers are going to start addressing that question within the hour. But if I was to take a stab at it, it could be that he’s been in prison.”

“And he just happened to get out now?”

“No. But maybe the jail time broke his rhythm. He’s older now, and murders like this take strength and energy. Maybe he’s been free and itching to get back in the game for years, but he’s had doubts he could pull it off. But then something happened that finally flipped his switch.”

“He knew Chloe and Sloane were getting close?”

“Maybe. Or maybe it wasn’t that at all. It’s possible that the media reports about their disappearance woke something inside him. The Bayside Strangler was back in the news again, and maybe he… liked it.”

Kendra thought about it. “Actually, either could be the case. That’s pretty good, Griffin. It makes sense.”

“Just a possibility.”

Griffin cocked his head back toward the corpse. “Your turn. What did you get from that?”

Kendra took a deep breath. “First of all, instead of referring to this poor woman as ‘that’ or ‘it,’ how about ‘she’ or ‘her’? Or maybe her name?” Kendra looked at Perry, who had been keeping a low profile since Griffin and Metcalf’s arrival.

“Anna,” Perry said. “Anna Robinson.”

She turned back to Griffin. “See? That isn’t so hard.”

Griffin sighed. “Fine. What did you get from her?”

“She was stored in a walk-in cooler. But not a freezer.”

Griffin stepped closer to her. “Only two of the five original victims were refrigerated between the time they were killed and when they were finally dumped.”

“So I understand. Anna Robinson is another one. Though I hesitate to use the word ‘dumped’ when the killer so carefully brought out and posed his victims for display.”

Griffin shrugged.

“She was held in an older building, somewhere near the waterfront,” Kendra said. “When you look for security camera footage, concentrate on the bay. I think she was brought here on a small boat and literally carried the fifty yards from the water. Our killer is as physically strong as he ever was, so I don’t believe we’re looking for a geriatric.”