Identity Crisis(107)

‘Who the hell is Kendra?’

‘At Pneuma, I ask the questions,’ he said as he herded her into the elevator. ‘Not you.’ He pushed a button that was not labeled, and they began to descend.

‘You don’t like journalists?’

‘That’s another question you’ve asked,’ he said. ‘I have no feelings one way or another about journalists. We’ll just get more accomplished if I ask the questions.’

He was probably right. While he fiddled with her iPhone, she stood quietly next to him for the rest of the descent, which took a lot longer than she would have expected. She wondered how far underground they were. She’d heard Wade’s domain was called the dungeon. Was that why?

‘You’re the one who exposed the mess at John Day,’ he said, without looking up from her iPhone.

She found herself blushing. ‘Yes.’

If she was expecting a compliment, she didn’t get it. ‘How did you get in touch with this man, and why didn’t you tell anyone?’

She stiffened at the accusation in his voice. ‘He got in touch with me. And I’m a journalist, so you know why I didn’t tell anyone, Mr. Crittenden.’

He looked up at her as the door to the elevator opened. ‘And yet here you are. Why?’

God, the man was irritating. ‘Because I know the person who wrote those first emails, and this is not him. If this asshole is anything like he sounds, Tess Delaney’s in real danger.’

‘You realize your life is in danger for coming to me with this?’

Suddenly her knees felt weak and she leaned against the wall to steady herself. ‘I get the feeling my life might have been in danger anyway if I didn’t do exactly what he wanted me to do. Look, like I said, I didn’t contact him. He contacted me. I have no idea why, but he did; me and Barker Blessing.’

Wade grunted. ‘And Blessing is already wetting himself demanding police protection.’

‘Has he been contacted again?’ She switched into journalist mode instinctively. ‘He promised he’d tell me.’

‘If he had been contacted, he’d be squawking about it. Loudly.’

The elevator doors opened and they exited. At the end of a long hallway, Wade opened a set of double doors and motioned her through. Two more sets of double doors and a maze of twisting hallways later, Carla found herself standing nearly nose to nose with Ellison Thorne and his fiancée, Dee Henning. The look on Dee’s face was agonized.

‘It’s the same guy,’ Wade said without making any introductions, though at least on her part, none were needed.

Dee gave her a forced smile, but Ellison Thorne offered her his hand. ‘Carla, it’s a pleasure to meet you in person. I wish the circumstances were better.’

Before she could enjoy the fact that Ellison Thorne, the Ellison Thorne, knew who she was, she noticed Harris Walker sitting in front of a very large computer screen.

‘Damn it, Wade, if he’s not lying,’ Walker said, ‘if he is Edge, how can that be? He’s supposed to be dead.’

‘Kendra’s not the only one who’s good at reinventing herself,’ Wade said.

‘Who the hell is Kendra?’ Carla asked, but she had pretty much already figured that Kendra must be Tess Delaney’s real name.

‘From the look of these emails and texts, I have no doubt they’re written by the same man,’ Wade said, handing Carla back her iPhone. ‘I’ve got police in Santa Monica investigating and I’ve contacted the detectives Kendra used to find this Edge as well as some of my own contacts in the area. At the moment, though. I think it’s a pretty good bet this is Edge.’

‘She’s still not answering.’ Dee said. ‘I’ve called her house, but there’s no answer. I only hope she’s gone somewhere else, anywhere else. She’ll touch base soon because she has my car, but in the meantime, she might go out to Harris’s place. That’s often a place where we run away to, all three of us.’

‘If he knows her, he’ll know that,’ Harris said. ‘Thing is, Kendra’s unpredictable. She might just take a flight to Spain and call us when she gets there.’

‘I wish to God she would,’ Dee said. ‘At least she’d be away from him.’

‘Not necessarily,’ Wade said. ‘If he’s been in her house, we can’t predict how much else he knows or how easily he can track and follow her. Best find her ASAP.’

The elevator had only gone one floor when Kendra punched the stop button. For the first time she could ever remember, she didn’t know what to do. When her anger at Garrett had dissipated a little bit and it sunk in that the stalker had been caught, that Tess Delaney could go back to her life without Kendra as a front person, that Garrett really didn’t need her any more, she suddenly felt awash in a sea of emptiness. He didn’t need her, that’s what it all boiled down to. Now everything was over, he really didn’t need her. And she wanted him to. Dear God, she wanted him to. Ellis needed Dee. He’d announced it right in front of the whole world. And Dee needed him back. There was nothing wrong with that. It’s exactly what every person in the world wanted, what Garrett believed everyone could have. He really did believe it. And he’d wanted her to believe it too. He told her she deserved romance. Then she’d run away scared.