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“Not good?”
She thrust the letter at him. “Not disaster. Not at all good.”
She watched his face as he read.
Kendra,
I told you that it couldn’t continue this way. I have to stop it before someone else gets hurt. I can’t rely on anyone else to do it for me. First, I want you to know that Milo had nothing to do with me leaving today. It’s all my plan and I’ve been thinking about it for a long time. This seemed the perfect time if I could pull off breaking at least one record. I’ll try not to involve you at all, but if I find it necessary to make sure he’s gone forever, I might let you help. Don’t expect it. I’ve been waiting a long time for this. I want to do it alone.
I’ll call you soon so that you’ll see I’m well, and let you yell at me and tell me what an idiot I am. Thank you for everything.
Love,
Tricia
“So much for her being giddy and wanting to share the joy,” Lynch said dryly. “She was calculating every possibility to skip out on us and go after Milo. Even down to using her athletic skill as a swimmer to accomplish it.”
“She probably was a little giddy,” Kendra said. “We always knew she was complicated. She told us once she wanted the whole world. Well, right now she’s going after Milo. She’s probably considering it his time.” She paused. “What’s next? Griffin?”
He nodded. “We warn him to put his agents on alert for anyone of her description. Then we talk to her coach and ask if she has any hint of where she’d go. After that, we discreetly conduct our own investigation.”
“And one more thing,” Kendra said. “We call your contact Ripley and get hold of that photo of Milo. It seems to be the only weapon we might have to work with. If Tricia’s going after him, we want her to know what the bastard looks like.”
Chapter
18
Two Hours Later
Kendra’s Condo
Let me get this straight,” Lynch said slowly and precisely to Griffin on the phone. “You refuse to commit FBI resources to track down Tricia? When you know that Milo will be after her?”
“It was her choice to leave your protection and the agents we’ve assigned to watch over her,” Griffin said brusquely. “I refuse to risk the lives of any more of my people over someone who refuses to cooperate with us. If she shows herself, and I’m convinced that she’ll draw out our killer, I’ll consider putting agents back on a protective detail. But I’m done with dealing with a college kid who doesn’t know what she wants. For all I know, she might just be hungry for more headlines like she got on NBC today.”
“Bullshit.” Kendra took the phone from Lynch. “The only thing Tricia is hungry for is Milo’s head on a platter, Griffin. You’d be smart to keep an eye on her, because she’ll try to draw him to her. You want the killer who butchered those agents who ended up in that crater? So doesTricia, and she’ll do anything to get him. Help her.”
“If you get any credible evidence on Milo, let me know, Kendra. I’ll maintain the surveillance on you and Olivia since you appear to still be targets.” He cut the connection.
She muttered a curse as she handed Lynch back his phone. “He won’t listen. Why?”
“You know why,” Lynch said. “Griffin has priorities, and they’re all about his agents. You just don’t want to hear them. Neither do I. We could have used his help tracking Tricia, but he’s clearly annoyed.” He shrugged. “I’ve reached out to my sources.” He showed Kendra his phone. “Her signal isn’t hitting any towers, so either she’s turned her phone off or she’s using a burner. If she reaches out, we can try tracking her.”
“So we just sit around and wait?”
“Of course not. We do it the old-fashioned way. Let’s go over to Tricia’s dorm and talk to a few of her roommates and see if she confided in any of them. I’m sure the beer is flowing and they’re celebrating big time by now. They might be ready to talk about how they helped out their old buddy.”
Kendra nodded. “I went over all the names that Tricia’s mentioned to me since she’s been staying here. One of them is Babs Murphy who is on the team and traded swim caps with her. She might know something more.” She was already heading for the front door. “And she has at least four other friends that she—”
“Hold it.” Lynch’s phone was pinging. “This must be those photos from Riley.”
She instantly turned back and crossed the room toward Lynch. “Took long enough.”
“You wanted the best possible three reproductions.” He handed her his phone again. “What do you think of him?”
Milo Fletcher.
Kendra didn’t know what she had expected. His image had grown out of all proportion in her mind. This was the monster, the Alpha, the man who could turn vulnerable teenage boys and tough women like Jackie into shadows of themselves and then destroy them.
