Flashback (Kendra Michaels #11)

“I was glad to do it. She’s a great woman,” Bill said quietly. “There aren’t many like her, Lynch. It’s no wonder you take such good care of her.”

“I do my best. See you later, Bill. Bye, Olivia.” He guided Kendra out the door and toward the elevator. “What was that about?” Lynch asked.

“Olivia wanted me to know how wonderful she thinks you are. More specifically, how wonderful we are together. She didn’t want me to misunderstand her attitude toward us in the last few days.”

“Oh. That’s nice.”

“Yes, it was. She’s a special person.”

Lynch pressed the elevator button. “Do me a favor, will you? Go ahead and phone Bill for me before he leaves here. I have a few instructions for him.”

“Instructions?” Her gaze flew to his face and she inhaled sharply as she saw his expression. “Lynch?”

“Just call him while I get on the road. I don’t know how much time we have.”

“What are you going to tell him?”

“That he’s to stay with Olivia and expect one of the FBI agents to pay him a visit to help protect her.”

Her eyes widened. “Olivia’s in danger?”

“Not as far as I know,” Lynch said. “But I’m not taking any chances. She’s your best friend. You appear to be particularly attractive to that son of a bitch since you decided to hunt for the sisters, and he might enjoy taking a life in your honor.”

“We could go back, and you can tell him all this yourself.”

“I don’t want to take the time. I just got an interesting text.”

“Really?” She moistened her lips. “You’ve heard something?”

“It’s from my source at the SDPD. They believe they’ve found Todd Williams’ car.”

“His car?” Kendra said. “But not Williams himself?”

“Unclear,” Lynch said.

“What does that mean?”

“It means his Camry is at the bottom of a two-hundred-foot ravine. A hiker spotted it less than an hour ago outside of town, at Palomar Mountain.”

“Williams is dead?”

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you. They can’t reach the car yet to see if he’s inside or not. There’s a rescue helicopter en route, but the fire department officers on the scene can’t imagine anyone could have survived a crash like that. Metcalf called me and asked if I wanted to let you know so that we could join in the search for Williams. He felt it was the least he could do since you asked him for help.” He glanced at her expression. “That’s what you wanted, right?”

She shook her head. “There’s no way I wanted anything to happen to Williams. I liked him. He just frustrated the hell out of me. I thought he was holding out on us. Just as I told you, the only thing I wanted was for him to give us more information about what happened to the sisters. Now we might never know what happened to them.”

“Because we’ve run into a blank wall?” Lynch asked. He shook his head. “I told you that we’d find out what happened to them. That’s why we’re on our way to see that wreckage in the ravine. But I’ll bet it wasn’t just a run-of-the-mill traffic accident. It would be a little too convenient to have an appearance of the Bayside Strangler one week and then another death related to the case the next.”

“You think the strangler was after Todd Williams?”

“I don’t know. I think there’s a possibility. We’ll know more when we’re able to get a closer look at that car.”

“How’s that supposed to happen? Even after the rescue copter arrives, it will probably take a crane to get that car out of the ravine.”

Lynch shrugged. “Maybe I’ll get myself down there first.”

She stared at him for a long moment. “You said the fire department couldn’t make it down there until the helicopter arrives.”

He nodded. “That’s what they said.”