Hindsight Page 4

  There were no lights on that part of campus, but the moon cast a blue glow over the hillside. Several boulders jutted from the earth, appearing smaller than how Kendra remembered them.

  Allison walked toward the largest boulder. “Elaine was found here less than twenty-four hours after Ronald Kim’s body was discovered.”

  “Who found her?”

  Metcalf shrugged. “San Diego’s News Copter 7, believe it or not.”

  “A news helicopter?”

  Allison extinguished her electronic cigarette and placed it into her pocket. “Yes. They were covering the morning rush hour and happened to see Elaine’s body here. They notified the police and we found out from them.”

  “She was stabbed twice,” Griffin said. “Once in the chest, once in the throat. Time of death probably before midnight.”

  “Did she have a reason to be here on campus at that time of night?” Kendra asked.

  “None,” Allison said. “She should have left about four the previous afternoon.”

  “But she didn’t,” Metcalf said. “At least not according to the entrance and exit camera feeds. It looks like she arrived for work that morning, but never left.”

  Kendra was gazing at the much-trampled area ahead that they were approaching. So many memories…Big Rock, the huge flat boulder where she and other generations of children sat, ate lunch, and listened to stories and waves crashing in the distance. They had all considered this place peculiarly their own. There were now hundreds of carvings on the rock, some etched there in the decades before her time, many in the years since. She remembered constantly tracing an odd design with her finger that only later, after she’d gained her sight, had she realized was a four-leaf clover. She recalled a star, a heart, and a pyramid with wavy lines…There were even hundreds of students’ initials carved through the decades on the underside of the rim of the rock. Kendra knew exactly the place where she and Olivia had carved their own initials to join them. They had crept out early one morning, and she could remember the excitement, the sound of the sea, and the scent of the earth as they’d knelt down there beside the rock. Sounds…scents…tastes…friends.

  “This is where Olivia and I first met.” Kendra cleared her throat and then turned toward Allison. “We’re still best friends. She has her own condo on the floor below mine in a building on Fifth Street.”

  “I know. She still visits here from time to time. Did she mention to you that she’s given motivational speeches to our classes at least two or three times a year since she left here?”

  Kendra nodded. “You couldn’t have chosen anyone better. She’s an exceptional person.”

  More than exceptional, she thought. Olivia was beautiful, brilliant, innovative, and had never let her blindness keep her from accomplishing any goal she set herself. She had developed a website, Outasite, which had recently become a major online destination for the blind, who browsed its pages with one of several screen-reading applications. The site featured product reviews, interviews, and news stories mostly written by Olivia herself. In just a few years, what had been a spare-time hobby now afforded her a comfortable living with a potential in the seven figures.

  “Oh, I realized that,” Allison said bluntly. “You’ve been very generous with your time when I’ve asked you to come and speak, but Olivia is really of far more value to us.” Then she sighed and ruefully shook her head. “I shouldn’t have said that, diplomacy isn’t my strong suit. It’s been a very bad day and I tend to just say what I’m thinking when I’m hurting.”

  “So do I,” Kendra said quietly. “Do you suppose I learned it from your example? I always admired you…when you didn’t intimidate me.”

  “Lord, I hope not. These kids have to learn to cope, not antagonize.” She paused. “Your visits here did have value. I’m not saying they didn’t. But you’re a superstar. You do it all. The kids hear about your work with the FBI on the Net. Very exciting. Crimefighter deluxe. And they know that you’re respected for your academic accomplishments with special kids in the classroom. They admire all that about you. But they can’t connect with you as they do with Olivia.” She added simply, “Because you received a miracle that might never happen to them.”

  “And Olivia is still blind, yet she’s making a success of her life at every opportunity that comes her way,” Kendra said. “She’s out there in the trenches and showing the kids what’s possible. Of course she’s a better motivational inspiration than I am. That’s why my speeches to the students weigh in heaviest on what I learned in the twenty years I was blind that I can apply to what I do now.”

  “I’ve noticed,” Allison said gruffly. “That’s really the only reason I invited you to speak.” She shrugged. “Though the kids do get excited when you show up. Everyone likes a superstar to shine down on them.” She added dryly, “Well, have I hurled enough insults at you for one evening?”

  “I actually feel complimented that you’d be this honest with me.” Kendra couldn’t help but be amused. “It makes me believe I might have at last reached your august level. Even though Olivia is far ahead of me.”

  “You might get there yet. As long as you make sure Olivia stays around to keep you balanced. I admit it didn’t surprise me about the condo. You never could let go of anyone you cared about.”

  “Can anyone? Friendship is very precious.”

  She nodded slowly. “To some more than others.”

  “I assure you that we never get in each other’s way. You taught us that we had to be totally independent.” She paused as a thought occurred to her. “Does she know about the murders?”

  “Maybe not.” She shrugged. “I asked your FBI friends to try to keep their identities confidential until I could talk to the parents of our students. They did a good job of stalling the media. I think she would have contacted us if she’d known.”

  “You’re probably right. Or called to tell me. She might have been out of town. Once a month she flies to Dallas to give seminars on computer technique for the blind at a VA hospital. I’ll phone her on my way home and tell her what happened.” She grimaced. “I’m not looking forward to it.” They had reached the rock, and Kendra lit up her phone and scanned the area. “The ground is soft. There should have been footprints here.”

  “There were,” Metcalf said. “Hers.”

  She turned to look at him. “No one else’s?”

  “Nothing I would call a print. More like…vague impressions. It looks like the killer wore padded booties of some kind.”

  “Do we at least have a shoe size?”

  “Forensics gave us a man’s shoe size estimate of between ten and twelve.”

  Kendra crouched next to the boulder. “Great. That narrows it to what, fifty percent of the population?”

  “Close,” Metcalf said. “Forty-four point five percent.”

  “Tell me you didn’t know that off the top of your head.”

  “Would it impress you if I did?”

  “Not sure. I’d have to decide if you were a genius or some kind of freak.”

  “Now you know how we feel about you when you help out on our cases.”

  “Point taken.”

  Metcalf smiled. “I looked up the stat after the Evidence Response Team gave me the shoe size range. Guess I’m not such a freak after all.”

  “I wouldn’t say that.” Kendra stood up. “I saw the crime scene pics of Elaine’s body…Her hands had wounds, didn’t they?”

  “Yes,” Griffin said. “They appeared to be defensive wounds, but the M.E. isn’t sure about that. The wounds weren’t from the same blade that killed her. And if they were truly defensive wounds, they most likely would also be on her lower arms, but those were untouched.”

  She turned to Metcalf. “Mind if I use your flashlight? My phone battery is almost dead.”

  “Sure.”

  She took his high-wattage xenon-bulb flashlight and walked around the area just as she had at Ronald Kim’s murder scene. The close-cropped grass yielded nothing, and the nearby boulders seemed undisturbed. She studied the railing that bordered the path down the hill. It consisted of a series of wooden posts connected by six-foot lengths of nylon mesh.

  Kendra turned back to the others. “Was this railing moved or in any way disturbed by investigators on the scene?”

  “I don’t believe so,” Metcalf said. “Why?”

  Kendra stepped back and looked at it from another angle. “So this is how it looked when Elaine’s body was found?”

  Allison moved closer to her. “This is how it’s always looked. At least since it was put up about ten years ago.”

  “I’m not so sure about that.”

  Griffin stared at the railing. “What are you seeing that we aren’t? Or is it smelling?”

  “Seeing.” Kendra moved the flashlight around the surrounding area. “The position of every garden stake, fence, and gatepost matches the others perfectly.”

  “Our grounds staff possesses an impressive attention to detail,” Allison said. “Nothing unusual there.”

  Kendra ran the beam of her flashlight across the railing posts. “Look at these. Each post is stuck into the ground up to a small globe at the bottom.” She used her flashlight to point out each one. “Globe, globe, globe, globe…”

  “No globe,” Griffin said as her flashlight came to rest at the base of a post just a few feet away from them.

  Kendra moved closer to it. “This post is slightly shorter than the others. Because it’s been jammed farther into the ground. If you look, you’ll see that the ground has been freshly disturbed around the base. It looks as if it was pulled from the ground, then thrust back in without the time or care of the other posts. See?” She moved the flashlight up the post. “And higher up, look at the rough patterned cuts in the wood. If you look closer, you’ll see they’re not completely clean. That could be dirt in the ridges, but I’m thinking it might be…”

  “Blood,” Metcalf finished for her. “That would explain the cuts we saw on the victim’s hands. You think she tried to use this as a weapon?”

  “Maybe. Give me a pair of evidence gloves. I want to see how hard it is for a person my size to pull this out of the ground.”

  Metcalf pulled a pair of nitrile evidence gloves from his jacket pocket and handed them to her. Kendra smiled as she handed him his flashlight and pulled the gloves on. “You brought them in my size. Thanks, Metcalf.”

  “Figured it was time. You’ve earned it.”

  “You’re spoiling me,” she said mockingly.

  Kendra gripped the post midway up and pulled. It rose easily from the soft ground, and with a slight twist it was free from the mesh that still joined the other posts. She held it in front of her, as if fending off an attacker. “It’s awkward, but this might have been the closest thing to a weapon Elaine could get her hands on.”

  Griffin looked doubtful. “But why would the perp bother planting it back into the ground after he killed her?”

  “We’ve all seen serial killers who tidy up their scenes.” Kendra lowered the post. “It could be that he…”

  She stopped and squinted, then slowly raised the post again. Could that be…?

  “Guys, aim your flashlights at the very bottom of this thing.”

  Griffin was the first to react, but after a moment both agents had trained their beams on the post’s pointed end.

  It was dirty from the soft earth, but there was something else there.

  “Blood,” Kendra said. “More blood. But this time I don’t think it’s Elaine’s.”

  Metcalf inspected it more closely. “If this belongs to the killer, then we have his DNA.” He looked back to Griffin. “We need to take this thing back to the lab.”

  Griffin was already entering a number into his phone. “I’m calling the Evidence Response Team now. I’ll have them come out here and take it themselves.”

  “Now?” Metcalf said.

  “Yes. It’ll serve them right for not catching this themselves.”

  Kendra carefully leaned the post against the boulder bottom-side up.

  Allison shook her head. “Impressive. I have to admit that I haven’t paid much attention to this sideline of yours, Kendra, but it’s amusing to finally see you in action.”

  “Don’t be too impressed,” Kendra said. “I have no idea if any of this will help find the killer.”

  Metcalf raised his phone and snapped several photos of the post. “We’re a hell of a lot closer than we were twenty minutes ago.” He turned to Griffin. “Don’t you think?”

  Griffin shrugged. “Possibly.”

  A dog howled in the distance.

  Kendra frowned, her gaze searching the campus.

  The howl came again. It appeared to be coming from somewhere in the vicinity of the main building.

  Kendra turned to Allison. “Hound of the Baskervilles?”

  “Hardly. Harley of Oceanside.”

  Kendra wrinkled her brow.

  “You may remember that Elaine fostered and trained Seeing Eye dogs,” Allison said. “She was seldom without one in her home. The day after her murder, we remembered she had one there. So we brought him here until other arrangements could be made. Our dorm supervisor, Maddie Turman, keeps him in her room overnight. Unfortunately, the dog isn’t exactly quiet.”

  “He’s probably just missing Elaine,” Kendra said. “His name is Harley?”

  Allison nodded. “That’s what Elaine told me. Though she didn’t name him. She got him from one of the local vets who knew she had a way with dogs. I’m not sure if Harley is going to cut it without her around.”

  “Why not?”

  “He’s…unusual.”

  Kendra cocked her head. “Unusual how?”

  Another howl wafted across the campus.

  “I’d better go tend to this,” Allison said. “He’s probably woken up everyone in the dorm by now. If you’ll excuse me…”

  “May I go with you?” Kendra asked.

  Allison nodded. “Certainly, but trust me, that dog isn’t going to help you solve this or any other case.”

  Kendra turned back to Griffin and Metcalf. “I’ll be back in a few minutes. You’ll be here?”

  “Metcalf will,” Griffin replied. “He’ll wait here for the Evidence Response Team. I’m heading home and going to bed.”

  Metcalf sighed. “Rank has its privileges.”

  The dog wailed again.

  “This way,” Allison said.

  Kendra followed her up the path and across the lawn to the dormitory. A single window was illuminated on the first floor. Allison swiped her key card across a reader at the main entrance, and she and Kendra made their way down a long hallway.

  The dog’s wail echoed eerily down the dim corridor. In there, it sounded less pathetic and more creepy, Kendra thought.

  They made their way toward the one door where a sliver of light cut underneath. Allison rapped sharply on the door and it was answered by Maddie Turman, who looked totally exhausted, with dark circles under her eyes.

  “Dr. Walker, I’m so sorry,” Maddie Turman said quickly. “I’ve been trying to keep him quiet.”

  “I know, Maddie,” Allison said. “But this can’t continue. The students are already upset and on edge.”

  “Tell me about it,” Maddie said wearily. “And the kids could take that wailing, it’s the other stuff that keeps scaring them. He’s definitely an acquired taste. Even Elaine was at her wit’s end trying to find a home for him. That’s why she still had him four months after he was rescued.”

  “Home?” Kendra repeated. “She wasn’t training him to be a Seeing Eye dog like the others?”

  “Not Harley,” Allison said dryly. “He’d already had his initial training but something happened and Dr. Napier, the local vet, asked Elaine if she could take him. You know Elaine, she’s always been a sucker for a lost cause.”

  “He flunked out as a Seeing Eye dog?” Kendra asked. “Not smart enough?”

  “Elaine said he’s the smartest dog she’d ever seen. He’s just…different.” She saw Kendra frown and then said impatiently, “Oh, see for yourself. I’ll wait for you here.” She dropped down on the couch. “Take her to see him, Maddie.”

  Maddie shrugged. “Why not? At least he’ll stop howling.” She led her down the hall to the bedroom from which the howling was issuing. “Don’t be scared, okay? He won’t hurt you. You shouldn’t be afraid.”

  “I’m not afraid. I like dogs. And Elaine would never accept a dog that would be a danger to anyone. He probably just needs some additional training.”

  The dog broke off in mid-howl as Maddie started to open the bedroom door. He whirled on Kendra and then bounded toward her. She had a lightning glance of a large, golden-tan dog, either a German shepherd or a retriever or…something, and braced herself for the leap. But before he reached her, he fell to the floor and made a sound deep in his throat.

  Chills ran down her back. He sounded like a hungry lion snarling. “He’s going to attack.” She instinctively backed away as the dog snarled at her again. “I’ve never heard anything like that.”

  “None of us have,” Maddie said. “But he’s not growling, Kendra. Elaine said that he’s barking. He’s not threatening you. She thought it was his attempt to make friends.”

  “He’s growling,” Kendra said positively. And it was the deepest, roughest, fiercest growl she’d ever heard. “And forget the bit where I told you I wasn’t afraid of dogs.” She tried to get a grip on herself. “You’re sure he’s not on the attack?”

  “I’m sure. You saw how he dropped and lay at attention before he reached you. That was part of his training as a service dog. Harley was probably the most affectionate dog you’ve ever met until he was injured. Elaine said she believed that’s part of his problem now. Just ignore that blasted sound he’s making and look at him. You’ll see it.”

  Kendra was already looking at him. His tail was wagging and his large, dark eyes were shining at her from that big, square retriever face. No, one dark eye, she realized. The other was a crystal light blue, but it was shining at her with just as much eagerness as its darker mate. It was as if he was trying to tell her something. His golden fur clung tightly to his lean, powerful shepherd body, and his ears were long and floppy. He looked unusual, funny, and maybe even almost huggable…as long as he didn’t open his mouth. “What breed is he?”