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“Nine. And several dialects.” He added quickly, “But that’s only because I need them in my job.”
“But you can never tell when you might need them,” she said curtly. “I need themnow. I’m not going to be caught like this again.”
“Admit it, you’ve just become accustomed to being the smartest person in the room. I believe you keep busy enough without becoming a language expert,” Lynch said. “But you’re not listening, are you?”
“I’m listening. You’re just wrong. If you need a skill, you have to acquire it. I’ll have to make time for it.” She added, “Though I’ll have to be satisfied with Rome and Madrid now. I’ll begin working on them this afternoon. But thank heavens you gave me Dumont.”
“I could help, you know.”
“No, you’re busy with Tricia. Dumont likes his own contacts anyway. If he doesn’t come through for me tomorrow, I might ask you.”
“I’m at your disposal.”
“Yeah, I know,” she said sourly. “Along with all nine languages and several dialects.”
***
Tricia and Lynch were both already at Olivia’s condo when Kendra arrived that evening. “You’re an hour late,” Olivia said as she handed her a glass of wine. “I wasn’t about to let my dinner spoil, so you’ll have to do with salad and leftovers.”
“That’s fine. Sorry. Time got away from me.” She turned to Tricia. “Did Lynch tell you I was on Milo’s trail?”
“No details.” Tricia grinned. “He was too busy telling me about your struggle with linguistics. He made that sound much more amusing.”
Kendra gave Lynch a baleful glance. “Traitor.”
“After a hard day’s work, I thought Tricia needed a smile.” He was smiling himself. “Besides, you didn’t call me back, so I didn’t have any more details. How did it go?”
“I didn’t come up with anything in Rome and Madrid. Pierre must have been too busy to fill me in on the rest of the cities. I’ll know more tomorrow.” Her gaze shifted back to Tricia. “I wanted you to know that we’re not just spinning our wheels. I’ve got a hunch this is going to pay off.”
“I’ll second that,” Lynch said. “It’s got a damn good chance, Tricia. I just couldn’t resist teasing Kendra a bit. She’s always too fun to resist.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll return the favor.” Kendra started to eat the salad Olivia had set before her. “Anyway, it’s a really good start, Tricia.”
“I know it will be,” Tricia said quietly. “You wouldn’t fill me with false hope. Thanks for all your hard work.”
Kendra grimaced. “I wish you hadn’t said that. It was very touching, but I’ll immediately start to worry about disappointing you.”
Tricia chuckled. “You’re right, Lynch. Sheisfun.”
“Double-crosser.” She sighed. “I’m surrounded.” She took another bite of salad before she said to Lynch, “I’m tempted not to tell you about what I found when I was going through those FBI personnel records.”
Lynch’s eyes narrowed. “You got around to looking at them? I didn’t think you had the time.”
“I was feeling a little guilty. I took the time.” She winked at Olivia. “That’s why I get leftovers.”
“What did you find?” Lynch asked.
“Nothing,” Kendra said. “Even the two names that Metcalf gave me didn’t look that promising. I was frustrated.”
“You should have been,” Olivia murmured. “It was an excellent dinner.”
“It always is,” Kendra said. “That’s why being so frustrated led me to take another step.”
“And that was?”
“Remember when I told you Metcalf had given me the names of two detectives who could possibly have something to do with the murders? He was basing them on the fact that both detectives had been on duty and present at the murder scenes. He said there was a third man, but he refused to give me the name because there was no way he could have anything to do with the murders.” She shrugged. “I wanted to clear the decks, so I called Metcalf back and I kept at him until I got him to give me the name.”
“And?” Lynch asked.
