“Will you see him again before he leaves?” Olivia asked.
“That may be up to him. I tried to call his cell phone this morning, but he didn’t answer.”
“Try him again.”
“I will.” She had no intention of letting Waldridge fly out of her life again and leave her with this feeling of uneasiness. He’d had a reason for contacting her yesterday, then had backed away. She couldn’t just let it go. “As soon as we get back.”
They ran through the Gaslamp District and cut down Fifth toward the five-story building that housed both of their condominiums. But as they neared the building, Kendra saw a police car double-parked outside with flashers on.
“What the hell?” she murmured.
Two uniformed officers stood on the sidewalk. One of them turned toward Kendra as she put her key in the front door. “Dr. Michaels?”
“Police,” she said to Olivia. She looked from one officer to the other. “You’re here for me?”
“Yes. Lieutenant Ortiz would like to see you at the station.”
“I’m not doing police consulting work right now. He usually calls me.”
“He did. There was no answer.”
“I never bring my phone with me when I run.” She stared at him quizzically. “So he sent a squad car to lasso me in?”
“He was concerned for your safety.”
“My safety? Why would he-?” Her brow furrowed. “What’s this about?”
“If you’ll come with us, Lieutenant Ortiz will-”
“Tell me now,” she said flatly. “Or I’m not going anywhere.”
The cop sighed and glanced at his partner before turning back. “Do you know a Dr. Charles Waldridge?”
Kendra felt herself tense. “Of course I do. What’s happened?”
“He’s missing under suspicious circumstances. And you may have been the last person to see him.”
“DR. MICHAELS, GLAD you could join us.”
Lieutenant Mark Ortiz entered the police-headquarters lobby and gestured toward the detective walking a few paces behind. “Detective Vince Halderman, Kendra Michaels.”
Halderman nodded his greeting, but Kendra ignored him and launched immediately into attack mode. “What happened to Charles Waldridge?”
“We were hoping you could help us with that. When was the last time you saw him?”
“We had dinner together last night. At Geoffrey’s, in Malibu. We left around 8 P.M., each in our own cars. So what’s the story?”
“Be patient. I have a few more questions.”
“No. I answer some, then you answer some. That’s how this will work. What happened to him?”
Ortiz turned toward his partner with a pained expression that Kendra knew she’d given a lot of other cops in her time. Then he turned back to her. “Dr. Michaels, I’m afraid the answer is that we don’t know. He was staying at the Huntley Hotel in Santa Monica. There was some kind of disturbance in his room, a lot of noise. Other guests complained, but by the time security arrived, no one was in the room. The lamp was broken, and the television screen was shattered. But all of Waldridge’s belongings, including his phone and wallet, were still there.”
Not good. Kendra cursed under her breath. What have you gotten yourself into, Charles?
“You were in a relationship with him?”
Kendra shook her head. First Olivia, now this clown. But she knew that the detective was merely fishing, straight out of the cop playbook.
“No, we’re good friends. We’ve known each other a long time. We hadn’t seen each other for a while and he met me at Pepperdine, where I was presenting at an academic conference, and we had dinner afterward.” She went on the attack. “How did you know I had any connection with him?”
“He had your Pepperdine seminar page still up on his laptop, and we found your name and number in his telephone address book. Google told me a bit more about your medical history together.”
She raised her eyebrows in approval. “Wow. Good cop.”
“Now it’s my turn. He was a long way from home. What brought him to California?”
“He was fund-raising for a project. He’s a research scientist.”
The detectives shared a quick glance.
Kendra caught that look of doubt between them. “Now what?”
“We’ve been in touch with his colleagues in England,” Halderman said. “They didn’t even know he’d left the country. They had no idea why he would have come here.”
Kendra let that sink in for a moment. “Are you absolutely certain?”
Ortiz nodded. “As far as they knew, he was just taking a few personal days. What did he say to you?”
“Just what I said. He told me he was raising money for a medical-research project.”
“And yet none of his colleagues knew anything about it.”
“It doesn’t sound right to me, either. But a lot of what he said didn’t sound right.”
“Like what?”
Kendra told them about Waldridge’s evasiveness, general uneasiness, and cryptic statement about wanting to protect her.
Ortiz jotted down some notes in a notebook as she spoke. He glanced up. “Protect you? Were you under the impression that he felt he was in any kind of physical danger?”
“No, I didn’t get that vibe from him. I’m not sure what he meant, and he wasn’t in any mood to explain himself. I was planning to call him today.”
“And you had no idea what he was working on?”
“No.” She leaned back in her chair, wishing desperately that she’d pressed Waldridge to talk to her. Then maybe whatever mess he’d managed to get himself into wouldn’t have escalated to this degree.
Ortiz pushed a legal pad across the table. “We need a list of Dr. Waldridge’s friends and associates in the area.”
Kendra pushed the pad back. “There’s only one. Me. At least, as far as I know. Waldridge doesn’t like California. It’s too laid-back for him. The few times he’s come here since I’ve known him, he did his business and got away as quickly as he could. There may be some professional contacts here, but you’d have to ask his colleagues about that.”
“We have. They said you were the only one.”
“Well, there you go. Have you been to Waldridge’s hotel room yourself?”
“No. Santa Monica PD is working the scene.”
“Don’t let them break it down. I’m going down there right now.”
Halderman scowled. “Why? You think you’ll see something all those cops missed?”
Ortiz shrugged. “Actually… she might. I’ll tell you about Dr. Michaels later.” He turned back to her, and offered, “I can make a call.”
Kendra stood. “Thanks, Ortiz. It might make things easier when I get there.”
“You’re not even going to wait and see if they’re willing to let you in?”
“I’ll keep my phone on while I’m driving down. Let me know what they say.” She was heading for the door. “But, one way or another, I’m going to take a look at that room.”
SHE DIDN’T WAIT TO HEAR from Ortiz whether he’d been able to get her into the crime scene. She decided it was time to take out insurance.
Before she was even on the I-5 freeway, Kendra voice-dialed a number she hadn’t called in months. She had hoped it would be a good while longer. After hurdling the jittery receptionist, she was finally patched through.
“Special Agent Griffin.”
“Hello, Griffin.”
“Kendra, will you please go easy on my assistant,” he said testily. “She’s already terrified of you for telling her that her sister married a guy just so he could get a green card.”
“Did she disagree? Call me a liar?”
“She’s not talking, and to tell you the truth, I don’t want to know anything more about it.”
“Then tell your assistant she should remove the photo in the lower-right side of her cubicle. I’ll leave it at that.”
“The lower-right side…?” His voice trailed off. “Never mind. Surely you have something more pertinent to talk to me about.”