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“It’s dropped,” he said as he pushed theDOWNbutton. “But you’ve had a couple of rough days, and I didn’t want you to feel you had to be everything to everyone. You have a tendency to do that.”
“Not your business.”
“It’s dropped,” he repeated gently. “Now, what time do you want me to pick you up tomorrow?”
“Eight. But we’ll take the Toyota.”
“No more celebration?”
“Since I want to first stop at the security prison to talk to the warden and ask to search Bennett’s cell, I’d think that a more modest car would be more suitable.”
“Whatever you like,” Lynch said. “Personally, I prefer the celebrations, but I’ll let you choose when and where. Let’s see, I’ll drop you at your condo and then go to my house and wait to make a few calls to Johannesburg to make certain negotiations haven’t totally broken down. After a few hours’ sleep, I’ll join you tomorrow morning for a boringly suitable drive out to the prison.”
“I thought you’d wrapped up Johannesburg,” Kendra said.
“Mostly.” He opened the door leading to the parking lot. “I can handle the rest long-distance.” He added quietly, “I wanted to be here with you. Well, I’m here. We’ll take care of everything else, starting tomorrow. Okay?”
Kendra hesitated only for a moment. She wanted this horror of a case over as soon as possible. And she didn’t want to do it alone. Lynch was always incredibly intelligent and could sometimes even be ahead of her given his zillions of contacts on both sides of the law.
She nodded slowly. “Okay.”
***
Lynch showed up at Kendra’s parking garage at seven forty-five the next morning with two cups of coffee from Starbucks. He handed her a cup as she got off the elevator. “Are we in a hurry? Or do we have time to stop for breakfast?”
“We can eat later.” She got into the driver’s seat of the Toyota. “I want to get these interviews over. I phoned Griffin last night and asked him to call Jonas Rollins, security director of the jail, and see if he’d give us an interview about Barrett. Together with permission to examine the contents of his cell. It was not only nearly midnight, but I had to ask Griffin to do it as a favor. He wasn’t pleasant.” Her lips tightened. “Though he enjoyed having me come to him. I’ve been having a little trouble with Griffin lately.”
“I thought you were getting along better with the FBI lately,” Lynch said as he got into the car. “What did you do to Griffin?”
“He annoyed me. I suppose I let him know it.”
“You usually do.” His lips were twitching. “You really should leave the executives alone. You manage to terrorize the agents by showing them up in front of their superiors, but the Griffins of the world can cause you difficulties.”
“You never seem to have any problems. You can get Griffin to jump hoops for you.”
“That’s a question of expertly applied pressure, not intimidation. You’ve never been good at pressure.”
“Because I hate to do it.” She shot him a glance. “But you must not mind. You’re a specialist or you wouldn’t be able to pull off all the hijinks you manage. I take it the Johannesburg power grid is still up and running?”
He smiled and shook his head. “Evidently, I’m not as essential as I thought. They were probably glad to see the last of me. But you’re right, I don’t mind applying pressure. It’s a game that most people play in one form or another.” He added softly, “Except you. You don’t even understand the rules. That’s why you should leave it up to me.”
“I wouldn’t do that. It wouldn’t be honest.”
He sighed. “I told you that you didn’t understand the rules. Honesty doesn’t usually enter into it. To win the game it’s just my job to play it better.”
“You’re honest with me.”
“How do you know?”
She looked him in the eye. “Aren’t you honest with me?”
“Yes. But that’s because I can’t bear you losing because you won’t play the game.”
She looked back ahead. “And that’s honest, too.”
He laughed. “Have it your own way. But you’d still be better off letting me do the questioning of this security director. I’m sure he has an entire history in the art of pressure.”
“But all I want is the truth from a public servant. Pressure isn’t an issue.” She took a swallow of her coffee. “So I’ll do it, Lynch. Griffin would have prepared him to talk to me.” She saw the building ahead and turned into the parking lot. “I’m sure he’ll be very cooperative.”
