“Well, that’s a switch. I can’t see any connection between a wild-ass street entertainer and the educator she’s become.”

“Evidently, Kendra made one.” He shrugged. “Sometimes, you can’t tell what drives her. You have to go along for the ride.”

“And how far is that ride going to take us to finding Beth?” She frowned. “I still don’t see her value, Joe. And how did you come across her?”

“Do you remember I was out here a couple years ago trying to track that serial killer, Tim Vick? The local police were cooperating, but we were coming up with zilch. One of the detectives had used Kendra on another case the previous year and suggested I try to get her to help.”

“Oh, for God’s sake, she’s not a psychic or something?”

“No.” He chuckled. “Though your horror is a little misplaced, don’t you think? It’s not as if you don’t believe that there are legitimate psychics.”

“But they’re very rare, and phonies abound. If Kendra wasn’t a psychic, why did the police call on her for help?”

“She has a rare talent. She was born blind due to a degenerative corneal disease in the womb. She’s totally brilliant and developed all of her other senses to a phenomenal degree. She compensated by using her hearing, smell, touch, every sense she had. Then, when she was twenty, a stem-cell procedure gave her sight. She applied that same discipline she had learned when blind to everything that crossed her field of vision. Now, nothing gets past her. She can walk into a crime scene or indeed any other scene and pick up on things no one else can see. Often, she can put together those impressions and come up with answers. An agent at the FBI San Diego field office told me that she once cracked a case by walking into a room and hearing that its echo had a different quality than the rooms next to it.”

“It sounds kind of spooky.” She grimaced. “Shades of Sherlock Holmes.”

“Exactly.” He grinned. “I knew you’d be skeptical. I was, too. You have to meet her.”

“Which we’re obviously going to do. I’ll have to decide if I think we should use her after I talk to her.”

“Use her?” His smile widened. “That may not be the way it works out. We’ll have to ask her nicely, then try to persuade her when she tells us to go to hell.”

“What?”

“Kendra doesn’t like being taken away from teaching her kids. Or her research. Every now and then, she’ll do a job for the police or FBI, but it’s rare. She turns them away all the time.”

“But you said she took the Tim Vick case?”

“Not at first. She turned down the local police when they asked her.”

“But she didn’t turn you down?”

“I was more persistent. After I decided that maybe she could help, I analyzed her refusal and went back to see her and attacked her weakness.”

“And what was her weakness?”

“The kids. She was devoted to teaching special kids. She’s one tough lady, and I don’t think she lets many people under her guard. But Tim Vick killed six children during his rampage in Atlanta. I just brought it to her attention that if we didn’t catch him, he might kill more in San Diego.”

Clever, Eve thought. Joe was always thinking, always searching for the answers, and he usually found them. “She gave in?”

“Grudgingly. She likes her own way and doesn’t like to be involved in police work. She wasn’t pleased that I’d found a way to manipulate her against her will.”

“Was it worth your trouble?” She was trying to remember the details of the case. “Did you get Vick?”

He nodded. “And, yes, Kendra was definitely worth the trouble. She’s fairly incredible. I wouldn’t have brought you here if I hadn’t thought she could get us the information we need.”

“Then we’ll find a way to get her to go along with us.” She wrinkled her nose. “But this time, we have no children in danger to dangle before her to get her to help us at that hospital. Is she really that difficult?”

He pulled into a strip mall. “In a few minutes, you’ll be able to judge for yourself. I called her from the airport, and she said she didn’t want to see me, but she’d give me thirty minutes so that I wouldn’t keep bothering her.”

“Did you tell her I was coming with you?”

“No, she knows nothing about you. She saw to it that we didn’t get chummy enough for confidences while we were working on the Vick case. She did her job, but she definitely resented my pulling her into it.”

“That doesn’t sound promising.”

He shrugged. “She’s tough.” He checked his watch. “She’s probably still busy with an appointment. She told me that I’d have to wait in the viewing room until she was finished.”

“Viewing room?”

“Some of Kendra’s students are autistic or have big-time emotional problems, and she likes to work with them alone and without interference. But she gives the parents the opportunity to watch the lessons from an observation room with one-way glass if they prefer.” He nodded at a small brick building. “Her office is right over there on the left.”

CHAPTER

5

JOE MUST BE WRONG, Eve thought as she studied Kendra Michaels’s expression through the one-way window. She was sitting beside a little six-year-old boy while he played the xylophone. Joe had called her a tough lady, but this woman’s face was alight with eagerness, intelligence, and understanding as she focused all her attention on the child’s complete intentness as he played the instrument. She was of medium height and slim but far from fragile-looking. Pale brown hair was shoulder-length and sun-streaked and framed a strong face that reflected control and discipline. Large hazel eyes set far apart shone with intelligence and humor as she watched the boy. Kendra wasn’t a beautiful woman, but her smile was beautiful.

Kendra finally put a gentle hand out to stop the boy. “It’s time for you to go, Justin. Your mama is outside waiting.”

He ignored her, still pounding the keys. She held out her hand and took the stick. He started to fight her, then was still, staring up into her face. “Pretty?”

She nodded. “Very pretty, Justin. Beautiful. Next time, it will be even more beautiful because while you’re at home, you’ll hear the sound and the notes in your mind. Then when we get together, you’ll let me hear them, too.” Her finger reached out and traced the outline of his mouth. “A smile can be beautiful, too. It can be like a song that goes on and on and echoes inside you and around you. Maybe you’ll let me hear that song, too?”

His intent expression didn’t change.

She smiled. “No?” She took his hand. “Think about it.” She put his fingers on her lips. “I’ll give you my song. Here it is. I’ll be waiting for you to give me yours.”

He didn’t move, his gaze on her face. Then he jerked away and ran toward the door across the room.

Kendra stayed by the xylophone. “Good-bye, Justin. I’ll see you in two days.”

He stopped at the door and looked back at her. Then he was suddenly running back to her.

Kendra smiled as he stopped before her. “Yes?”

He reached out a tentative finger and slowly traced the outline of her smile. “Pretty … song…” Then he whirled and was running back to the door and out of the studio.

The smile remained for an instant while her gaze lingered on the door. Then it faded as she stood up and began to tidy the studio. “You might as well come in, Quinn. You’re on the clock. I have another student in thirty minutes, and I won’t keep her waiting.”

Kendra’s tone was completely different from the way she had spoken to the little boy. It was crisp, cool, and there was a distinct edge. Her demeanor had the same coolness, and that warm, affectionate magnetism that had been present when she’d been interacting with little Justin had disappeared.

Joe wasn’t wrong. Kendra was, indeed, one tough lady.

“You heard her,” Joe murmured as he got to his feet and headed to the door that led from the booth to Kendra’s main studio. “We’re on the clock. Let’s get moving.”