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17
Olivia!”
Kendra ran toward the paramedic unit as she and Lynch spotted her. They were on the sidewalk in front of Atlas Studios in the middle of what had become a busy taped-off crime scene populated by police and FBI agents. Television news crews were setting up just yards away.
Olivia turned from the paramedic who was bandaging her ankle. “Kendra?”
Kendra pushed through the crowded sidewalk and squeezed her tight. “Griffin told me you weren’t hurt badly the minute he got the report, but I was afraid to believe it.” She couldn’t say anything else for a long moment. “It’s true?”
“I’m okay,” Olivia finally said. She was trying to be strong, but her voice quavered. “I’m okay.”
Kendra pulled back and looked at her blood-soaked clothes. “You don’t look okay.”
“The blood isn’t mine. It’s the FBI agent’s. He’s dead.”
“Pembrook,” Lynch said. “My source at the Bureau told me he was taken down. I’m sorry, Olivia.”
Olivia nodded. “Milo was here. It had to be a trap. I guess I couldn’t believe I’d be that important to him, but I was wrong. The son of a bitch wanted me bad enough to kill Pembrook.”
Kendra took Olivia’s hands in her own. “Tell me what happened. As much as you can, okay?”
Olivia told her about her entire encounter, from her arrival at the studio to the moment police broke in after her 911 call. After she finished, she was having trouble holding it together. “I thought that we were doing everything right. I had security. I’d been notified by the studio. Yet that psychopath is still out there…and now a man is dead.”
“Two men.” Griffin approached from the building’s front doors. He lowered his voice. “We just found the night supervisor’s body in an upstairs bathroom.”
Kendra looked up in disbelief. “How in the hell did this happen?”
“We’re still putting it together, but it seems that Milo represented himself as the producer of a Sydney TV talk show. He contracted with this facility for a satellite uplink, then at the last minute announced a two-hour delay. There were three members of the studio’s tech team who went out for dinner. They were supposed to be back at nine thirty.”
Lynch nodded. “The supervisor was the only one left here, so Milo killed him and waited for Olivia to arrive.”
“Yes.” Griffin’s lips tightened. “Agent Pembrook was a good man. He must have been caught by surprise.”
“He was,” Olivia said. “We had no idea anything was wrong. It was business as usual for a TV interview.”
Behind Kendra and Lynch, something was causing a minor commotion on the sidewalk. The sea of cops and FBI agents parted to make way for a solitary figure limping toward them.
It was Metcalf.
He wore sweatpants and a warm-up jacket, and his bruised and battered face was intensely focused on each obviously painful step.
Kendra stepped toward him. “Metcalf…You should be home.”
He continued his slow walk toward them. “No. When I heard what happened to Olivia, there was no way I could stay there. We’ve all been through too much together. I grabbed an Uber.”
Olivia raised her head in surprise. She’d been able to control herself so far, but this brought a single tear running down her cheek. “Metcalf…”
He leaned down and hugged her. “I’m sorry, Olivia. Damn bastard. This should never have happened to you.”
She squeezed him tight. “You’re a complete idiot.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.”
She finally let him go. “Thank you for coming. But now you need to go home and rest.”
“Not until I know you’re okay.”
She nodded impatiently. “I’m okay. Can’t you see?”
