“Give us a little time,” Griffin said. “We’ll have an answer for you.”
Reade broke in. “And we’ve already begun a door-to-door search here in the building. We’ve identified the traffic and security cameras in the area, and since you were gone less than two hours, it narrows our focus on how much footage we need to request and examine.”
Kendra looked away. “I’m sure Myatt identified those cameras, too. He probably did it days ago. He probably mapped out a route to avoid them all, and if he couldn’t do that, he disabled a camera or two.” Her glance shifted back to the agents. “It’s what I would have done.”
Griffin looked through the open doorway at the scrawled message on her living-room wall. “Day one of Criminal Profiling 101 tells us that we shouldn’t assume that the perp will think and behave as we would ourselves.”
“Normally, I would agree. But not only is he incredibly detail-oriented, he considers himself an artist. Every brushstroke has to be painted just so, or it all falls apart.”
“We still need to follow every angle. Everyone makes mistakes.”
“And I’m sure he’s already made a few,” Kendra said. “We just haven’t found them yet.” She turned to Reade. “Where do we stand on that police sketch?”
“It made the late edition of the papers, and it’s been on all the evening news shows. We’ve already had dozens of calls on the tip line.”
“Hundreds,” Griffin corrected. “Hundreds and hundreds. As usual. No matter how specific and detailed the sketch is, everyone is convinced that their coworker, college roommate, or kid’s soccer coach is a serial killer.”
“We’ll do a preliminary check and gather photos for as many as we can,” Reade said. “We’ll have you come in and take a look. Maybe even tomorrow.”
Kendra nodded. “Good. The sooner the better.”
“You have a place to stay tonight?” Metcalf asked.
Kendra gestured toward her doorway as two more evidence specialists entered. “Sure. Right there.” Before he could respond, she said, “Just joking. I have a friend who lives in the building.”
“A friend who won’t mind an FBI man lurking outside her door all night?”
“Actually, Olivia might be into that.” She grinned. “But I’ll tell her to keep her beautifully manicured paws off the poor guy.”
CHAPTER
6
“DID YOU FIND EVERYTHING?” Olivia asked, as Kendra came out of the bathroom into the guest room. “You haven’t stayed overnight for a long time. Not since we had a few too many cocktails after I made us that fantastic lasagna dinner last year.”
“It was fantastic. You’re a great cook.” Kendra glanced at Olivia, who was standing in the doorway. “Has it been that long? It seems like yesterday.”
“You’ve been busy. So have I.”
“You’ve got that right.” She pulled back the sheet and slipped into bed. “Thanks for taking me in tonight.”
“Don’t be stupid,” Olivia said. “We’re closer than sisters. Who else would you go to?”
“No one. Except Mom. And that would have opened a huge can of worms again.” She punched the pillow and settled in the bed. “I’m fine, Olivia. Go back to bed.”
“Shall I turn out the lights?”
“Please.”
Olivia reached out and flipped the wall switch, and the room was plunged into darkness. She stood there, silhouetted against the light streaming from the hall behind her. “Kendra … I’ve always wondered something ever since you had that operation.”
“Wondered what?”
She was silent, then asked, “How do you feel about … darkness?”
Kendra wished Olivia hadn’t turned off the light. She couldn’t tell by her voice what she was feeling. Olivia was too good at hiding her emotions. “Why do you want to know?”
“Darkness is home for me, it’s my comfort zone. Before you gained your vision, you felt that way, too. It was something we shared. I know it can never be that way again, but I was curious. Is there an instant of panic? Or is there comfort?”
Olivia had been wonderfully generous and happy when Kendra had gained her sight, but there had been many large and small issues about adjusting their relationship to the new status. Evidently, this was one of the questions that hadn’t been addressed. “How do I feel at the moment I turn out the lights and go back to the dark?” She was silent, thinking. “I guess I never analyzed it. When I first opened my eyes after the operation, I was frightened. It was all too much. Too bright. Too gloriously vivid. It took me weeks to adjust, then I gradually became accustomed to that world. Oh, not like someone who had always had their sight and took it for granted. I could never take it for granted. But I became drunk with the headiness of it. I wanted to taste every vision and sensation. I went a little off kilter trying to do it. But you know that.”