“I’ll let them do their jobs. But I still need to do everything for him I can. You should know that more than anyone, Mom. You’re the one who took me to him because you still believed in miracles. Well, he gave me that miracle. Now I have to do everything I can to give back. And I’m telling you, Lynch is valuable, an asset. He’s already been a big help.”
“Glad you think so,” a familiar voice said. “I can but try.”
Kendra and Dianne looked up to see Lynch walking toward the table, smiling broadly. “Good morning, Dianne. Wonderful to see you again.” He leaned close and kissed her on the cheek.
Dianne shook off her look of surprise. “Mr. Lynch… Kendra didn’t tell me that she invited you here.”
“She didn’t,” Lynch said. “I was on my way for a visit, and I glimpsed her dashing across the street. It just took me awhile to find a parking spot.” He turned to Kendra. “Well rested?”
“Ha. Very funny.”
He shrugged. “When I first saw you on the street, I thought it was a young woman on her walk of shame.”
“Flatterer. But when you got closer and saw it was me, you realized…?”
“No, I quickly realized it couldn’t be a walk of shame. Not with that sloppy look you’re sporting.”
“Right,” Dianne said.
Kendra rolled her eyes. “Okay, enough about my clothes. This is what I slept in.”
“Obviously,” Lynch said.
Diane smiled and motioned toward an empty chair. “Mr. Lynch, would you care-”
Before she could finish her thought, Lynch dropped down in the chair and began scooping food onto an empty plate. “Smells delicious. Are these waffles as good as they look?”
“Better,” Kendra said, watching him with an amused look. “By all means, help yourself. Don’t worry about leaving me any. I’m not very-”
“Okay.” He deposited the rest of the waffles on his plate. He looked up. “I take it Kendra has brought you up to speed on the disappearance of Dr. Waldridge?”
Dianne nodded.
“And I’m quite sure you voiced your displeasure with her taking the case, particularly with me?”
Dianne looked flustered, which was most unusual for her. “I-Well, I only…”
“It’s quite all right. You wouldn’t do your duty as a mother if you didn’t say those things.” He poured syrup on his waffles. “Just let me assure you that your daughter’s safety is always my number one priority.”
“I don’t doubt your desire to protect her, Mr. Lynch. But there are things you can’t always control.”
Kendra leaned forward. “Okay, Mom. Enough. You haven’t grilled a guy like this since Tommy Schiller took me to my high-school prom.”
“Tommy Schiller?” Lynch said. “I think I need to hear about this guy.”
“No, you don’t,” Kendra said firmly. “He was thoughtful and sweet. Qualities that would never interest you.”
Lynch made a face. “Ugh, you’re right. Definitely anemic. But they apparently didn’t interest you either since you now refer to him in the past tense.”
She opened her mouth, but she didn’t have a response.
Lynch turned to Dianne. “You were probably right to grill him. What tipped you off?”
“I thought he might be a phony.” Dianne shrugged. “He was very slick, but there was something about him. She was still blind at the time, and I was afraid that she couldn’t sense what I could see.”
“You didn’t tell me that, Mom,” Kendra said. “Why?”
“You were stubborn. I wanted you to trust your instincts, but there was always the chance that you might resent my interference. I had to be careful.”
“So careful that somehow Tommy faded into never-never land.”
“It’s all right,” Lynch said. “I’m sure Tommy has gotten over you by now.” He glanced at Dianne. “Good job.”
Kendra said with exasperation, “Surely you didn’t come here to talk about my high-school boyfriends.”
“No, but I found it fascinating.” Lynch grabbed a pecan roll and poured himself a cup of coffee. “As much as I enjoy watching you squirm, I wanted to discuss our strategy for today. I thought it would be best if we started camping out at the FBI lab as early as possible. Although we were promised priority, things have a way of slipping down the to-do list if you don’t stay in their faces there.”
“And you learned that the hard way.”
“You don’t get very far in the FBI without learning to navigate a bureaucracy.”
“Sounds like the best way to navigate that is to leave and just go freelance.”
“It works for me.”
“Okay. So we make pests of ourselves at the FBI. I have a lot of practice at that. I’ll also follow up with Santa Monica PD and the Big Bear police.”
Dianne threw up her hands. “I guess Hawaii isn’t even on the table. I suppose I’m heading for that seminar in Denver in a couple days.”
“Sorry, Mom. I have to do this.”
“I know when to accept defeat. So what can I do to help?”
“Nothing.”
“Don’t say that. If you’re going to do this, I have to feel useful somehow. I care about Dr. Waldridge, too.” She smiled. “You’re right, he was the dream maker. I remember the first time you looked at me after the operation and really saw me. I wanted to get down on my knees to him.”
“So did I.” Kendra was silent a moment. “Well, you’re still fairly well hooked in to the academic scene in London, aren’t you?”
“I don’t know if I’d call it a ‘scene,’ but I do have quite a few friends at the universities there.”
“Maybe you can ask around about Dr. Waldridge. See if anybody has any idea what he’s been working on, who he’s been working with.”
She pursed her lips. “Hmm. Sounds like busywork to me.”
“It’s not. It could really help us.”
Dianne thought for a moment. “Okay. I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
She waved her hands. “Now go. Leave. Get out of here, before Mr. Lynch eats the rest of my breakfast.”
But there was definite amusement in the remark, Kendra noticed.
“I like your mother,” Lynch said as he guided Kendra through the crowded restaurant. “Charming and sensible. I’m glad we arranged to have breakfast with her today.”
“I didn’t arrange to have breakfast with her. You might say I was hijacked.” She glanced at him. “Now, you might have arranged it. I found it a little too coincidental that you happened to see me flying across the street and decided to join us.”
He smiled. “Coincidences do happen.”
“And so does that truly amazing skill with electronics and phones that you’ve used on me before. When you stopped by to pick me up, and I didn’t answer the door, did you hack into my phone and read Mom’s text?”
“Why, Kendra, you told me never to do that again.”
“And when did that ever stop you when you wanted to do something.” She tilted her head. “But why did you want to join us? It was almost all attacks on my sloppy clothes and past boyfriends and…” She stopped. “Mom. It was all aimed at Mom. You were manipulating her, you bastard. All of it was making sure she considered you both on the same team, fighting the same fight. By the time we left, you’d gotten exactly what you wanted.”
“I like her,” he repeated. “And I knew she’d be more comfortable about you if she liked me. I enjoyed breakfast, and I found out more about you, and Dianne knows that she can trust me because we both think Tommy Schiller would have been a big mistake. I think it’s been a good day so far.”
“And I think that Mom was right.” She gazed thoughtfully at him. “You’re a very dangerous man, Lynch.”
“Without doubt.” He nodded. “But not to you. Never to you, Kendra. And now Dianne knows that whatever threat I am is aimed at protecting you from the Tommy Schillers of the world. We just won’t mention all the other serial killers and scumbags you might stumble across. Okay?” He took her elbow and guided her across the busy street. “Now, let’s get you out of those sloppy sweatpants and into something more alluring to impress the lab boys.”