Obsession (19 page)

“Look, you can be mad at me later,” Charlie said with an edge to his voice. “You said Alan was one of your bodyguards. Has he been here before?”

Her mind seemed to clear, and slowly, she shook her head.

William looked at Charlie skeptically. “How do you think he found her?”

“He followed you.”

“Why would he follow Grandpa up here?”

“Your father wants you back home.” William shook his head in disgust. “He’s the one who insisted I check in on you now that the police think the Malibu Stalker might be after you. He must have had this Alan guy follow me.”

“That doesn’t matter right now.” Charlie motioned to the door. “When he knocks, I want you to answer the door and pretend you haven’t seen Kendra. Tell him that she found out you’d assigned a bodyguard to her, and she took off.”

His eyebrows lifted. “You want me to lie?”

“Sir, I’m sorry, but that’s exactly what I want you to do. It’s in your granddaughter’s best interest.”

Charlie watched the older man consider his request. Relief pulsed through him when William turned to Kendra and said, “Kenny, you go back into one of the bedrooms. Let’s make this look believable.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Honey, I just want you to be safe,” her grandfather said softly. Then he jerked a thumb at Charlie. “And like it or not, I agree with Charlie. I certainly trust him a lot more than I do those boys your father keeps around him.”

Kendra let out a frustrated sigh. Then she turned on her heel and stormed into the bedroom. Charlie let out his own sigh of relief when she closed the door with a quiet click rather than slamming it the way he had expected her to. He turned toward the front door and prayed that once the current dilemma was resolved, Kendra would let him explain. He didn’t know what he would do if she refused to forgive him, if she shut him out of her life for good.

Charlie tried to fight the sick feeling in his stomach as he watched Kendra climb into her grandfather’s truck and slam the door. Alan had left within minutes of his arrival. The moment he was out of sight, Kendra’s grandfather had started closing down the cabin, arranging for a plumber to come fix the broken pipe and packing his granddaughter’s things into his truck. Kendra had remained in her room despite Charlie’s efforts to talk to her through the closed door.

When she’d finally come out nearly an hour later, she’d effectively treated Charlie with icy silence. Now he could only watch as Kendra prepared to drive out of his life without any protection from the Malibu Stalker except the seventy-five-year-old man standing in front of him.

“Sir, I realize that you were FBI, but you’ve got to understand that she needs additional protection,” Charlie said as Kendra’s grandfather finished locking up the cabin.

“I do.” William nodded and then turned to face him. “I also know that we’re both in the doghouse with her right now.”

“You know her better than I do. How do we fix that?” Charlie asked. “Elias has probably told you that we’ve already identified three suspects, one of whom we haven’t been able to locate. I’m worried.”

He nodded sympathetically. “I’ll keep her close, and I’ll see what I can do to make this right.”

“I appreciate that,” Charlie said. “I was planning on stopping by the store on my way out of town to see if Mrs. Burgess has heard from Jed, but I would like to follow you and make sure you get to Phoenix okay. Would you mind making a quick stop?”

“There’s no need. I already stopped and talked to Eleanor on my way up here. She still hasn’t heard from Jed.”

“Is there anything else I can do to help?”

“Call Elias, and tell him I want a car outside my house. That will have to do until I can convince Kendra to let the FBI give her some help,” William told him. “She may stay mad at me for a while, but I think my wife can talk some sense into her.”

Charlie let out the breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. “I hope so.” He dug his wallet out of his pocket and slid a business card free. “Here’s my number. Please call me if there’s anything else I can do.”

William nodded. Then he stuffed the card into his pocket, walked over to his truck, and climbed in. Seconds later, the engine roared to life, and all Charlie could do was follow and hope that eventually Kendra would forgive him.

* * *

Kendra peered out the window to see the black sedan parked across the street. “The car’s still there.” She shook her head and turned to face her grandmother. “I can’t believe Charlie and Grandpa did that to me.”

Hannah Blake looked up at Kendra, her fingers steadily manipulating yarn and knitting needles. Her serene face was still largely without wrinkles, and her green eyes were nearly the same shade as Kendra’s. “I’m sure they’re only thinking about your safety.”

“That’s all anybody ever thinks about.” Kendra huffed out a breath and dropped onto the couch beside her grandmother. “But nobody ever thinks about my life or the fact that no one ever lets me live it.”

“I know it’s hard, sweetie.” She patted Kendra’s knee and gave her an understanding look. “But from what your grandfather said, it seems they have reason to worry.”

“Just like Daddy always had a reason to worry.” Kendra rolled her eyes and settled back on the couch, letting her head drop back.

“But this is different,” Hannah said gently. “This time there could be a real threat.”

Kendra felt the fear curl in her stomach. “I keep hoping that Grandpa and Charlie are wrong.”

“You already know that they aren’t. I know that you don’t want to hear this, but you need to let Grandpa’s friends help you.” When Kendra didn’t respond, Hannah studied her intently. “What’s bothering you the most? That this boy lied to you or that you believed him?”

“I was with him for eight days straight, and not once did I suspect his reasons for being there. I didn’t just believe him,” she said, misery filling her voice. She turned to face her grandmother and felt the tears well up in her eyes. “I really liked him.”

“I see.” Hannah looked at her in that understanding way of hers. “Did he like you?”

“I thought he did.”

“But now you aren’t so sure.”

She shook her head. “Now I don’t know what to believe. For all I know, everything was just a big act on his part.”

“Seems to me that he was just trying to protect you.”

Kendra shifted and faced her grandmother more fully. “Are you defending him?”

“I’m not defending anyone.” She reached over and gave Kendra’s knee another comforting squeeze. “But I want you safe. If Charlie Whitmore can keep you that way, maybe you should put your personal feelings aside for now.”

“I don’t know if I can.”

* * *

Charlie read through the Zack Prescott interview and the background information that followed it. With several witnesses corroborating his whereabouts, the investigating officer believed that he could not have been responsible for setting the explosives at either Joslyn Korden’s photo shoot or Kendra’s concert unless he had somehow utilized a timing device. With the forensics reports still incomplete from the concert, LAPD had decided to err on the side of safety and had dispatched a surveillance detail to monitor Prescott’s movements until they could rule him out conclusively.

Jed Burgess still hadn’t been picked up, but Charlie was hoping that he would return home soon, now that the power was restored. Until then, Charlie hoped Kendra would tolerate the agent parked across the street from her grandparents’ house.

He hated how things had ended between them and that he had been unable to soften the truth when he’d admitted he was with the FBI. He thought of the look on her face when the truth had sunk in. Accusation. Betrayal. Hurt. All the emotions he had hoped to avoid but somehow had known were inevitable.

He’d tried to talk to her after he followed her from Pinewood to her grandparents’ house, but she’d disappeared inside the moment her grandfather had put his truck in park. Charlie had been left with no other option but to let one of his fellow agents take over protection duty.

For the past two days, it had taken every ounce of willpower he had to keep from driving past her grandparents’ house. He wasn’t sure he could hold out much longer.

“Charlie.” Elias stepped into his cubicle and waited for Charlie to look up before he continued. “Go home and pack. You’re going out on assignment.”

“What?” Charlie stared at him. “I thought you wanted me to get caught up on the Malibu Stalker case.”

“You can take all of that with you,” Elias told him. “As of now, you’re back on protection detail for Kendra Blake.”

“What?”

“I just got a call from her grandfather. Kendra has agreed to let us protect her.”

“Really?” Charlie asked.

“That’s right. I’ve got you set up in a safe house nearby,” Elias told him. “I have two agents taking her over there now.”

Charlie nodded, trying to ignore the anticipation dancing in his stomach. He wondered what had changed Kendra’s mind about accepting protection, and he had the distinct impression that her grandparents were largely responsible for her change of heart. He tried to push those thoughts aside and concentrate on the case. “Any news about Jed Burgess?”

“Nothing yet,” Elias said. “Don’t worry. We’ll keep you in the loop.”

“I’d appreciate it.” Charlie stood and began packing up the files on his desk. Then he glanced back up at Elias. “How long are you planning on keeping Kendra at the safe house?”

“She agreed to one month.”

“A month?” Charlie considered this, not sure what he had expected. Then reality hit full force. “Wait a minute. Are you expecting me to live there with her that whole time?”

“That’s exactly what I expect. It will be more secure if we don’t have a bunch of agents rotating through there. We’ll work this case the best we can for the month she gave us. If we haven’t caught the stalker before the month is up, all we can do is offer to help her however we can in setting up her own private security detail.”

“Who else is on the detail with me?”

“We’re stretched pretty thin right now, so it’s only going to be you in the house during the day,” he said. “Ray Underwood has volunteered to spend the nights over there with you, and he’ll be bringing in your supplies.”

“What about backup?”

“We’ve got it covered. The safe house is on a private road with only one way in, and there’s a police station near the entrance. Our tech guys have already tapped into their security cameras to monitor the traffic going into the neighborhood.”

“Is that really going to help? We aren’t even sure who we’re looking for.”

“There are only six houses on that street, and we’ve already got a pretty good handle on who goes in and out of there. I’ve also assigned Angie Boyter to canvas the area for the first few days just to be safe.”

“Thanks,” Charlie muttered. He shuffled the files into his briefcase and clicked it shut. “I guess I’ll see you later.”

Elias nodded. “We’ll get this guy, Charlie. It’s only a matter of time.”

The feds thought they were closing in. They thought they could keep Kendra hidden from him. They were fools. Kendra would never stay secluded for long, even if she wanted to.

Already, his patience had paid off. He had been meticulous in his search for her, carefully taking the time to check out each of the locations she could have gone to stay out of the public eye, and now he knew exactly where she was. He knew if he waited long enough, he would get the chance to see her again.

Predictably, the fed parked down the street hadn’t moved for the past two days. The men sitting inside the car changed every few hours, but the car or one just like it remained in place. He wondered if the FBI agents inside understood how pathetically obvious their stakeout was.

He supposed he should take pity on them. He knew what they looked like, how they thought. They, however, didn’t have a clue what drove him. They couldn’t possibly know how clever he was, how determined. It was only a matter of time before the feds gave up this fruitless effort of waiting for him outside Kendra’s latest hiding place. If they didn’t, he would give them something else to worry about, some other substitute.

When a silver sedan approached, he glanced down at his watch. The replacement was two hours early. Curious, he shifted in his seat and adjusted the binoculars that allowed him to see his target from a safe distance. An unexpected wave of anxiety crested when the two agents got out of their respective cars and approached the house where Kendra was hiding. It couldn’t be . . .

His jaw clenched, and fury bubbled up inside him when Kendra walked out, flanked by the two men in dark suits. If they thought they could take her away from him, they were sadly mistaken.

He watched as Kendra got into the car and the two men loaded suitcases and Kendra’s guitar into the trunk. Then they got back into their identical cars, as though using a decoy was a clever enough ploy to confuse him. He memorized the license plate number of the car Kendra was in and then waited as both vehicles pulled away from the house.

Tossing the binoculars aside, he started his car and pulled out onto the road, reminding himself that soon Kendra would be in his arms. Soon he would be able to kiss her and hold her the way he had dreamed of doing for so long. He thought back to the afternoon he had spent on her bed, dreaming of them together. It was time to make it a reality. He was ready, and he knew she was ready too. Her body—her heart—was practically begging to be his.

* * *

Kendra knew the exact moment Charlie stepped into the little three-bedroom rambler. She would have sworn something in the air changed and pulsed with a familiar energy. Doing her best to ignore it and the voices coming from the cozy living room, Kendra dutifully hung her clothes in the walk-in closet in the master bedroom.

The room was sparsely furnished with only a queen-sized bed and a dresser, but not much else would have fit anyway. The front door opened and closed repeatedly, presumably from Ray and Charlie unloading whatever luggage and supplies Charlie had brought with him. Ray hadn’t given her many details about what to expect over the next month, but he had mentioned that Charlie would be the only agent staying with her full time at the safe house.