Текст книги "The Naked Eye"

Автор книги: Iris Johansen

Соавторы: Roy Johansen
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Текущая страница: 2 (всего у книги 19 страниц)

CHAPTER 2

“DR. MICHAELS? KENDRA MICHAELS?”

Still groggy, Kendra sat up in bed and adjusted the phone against her ear. Had she been more awake, she probably wouldn’t have picked up. She glanced at the clock. 7:25 A.M.

“Depends on who’s asking?”

“Sergeant Hank Filardi, Olancha Police Department.”

It took her a moment to make the connection. “Olancha … Right. You left a message on my phone.”

“Yes, ma’am. I apologize for the calls, but I was wondering if you could help me out with something.”

“I see. A homicide case? Is there something about the killer’s M.O. that makes you think I would have special interest in—”

“No,” he interrupted testily. “Dr. Michaels, we’re quite capable of handling our own homicide cases here. We don’t call on outsiders to—”

“Then why did you just wake me up?”

“I’m calling about a young woman named Beth Avery. Do you know her?”

“Beth.” Kendra tensed. “Is she okay?”

“Is she a relative of yours?”

“Is she okay?” Kendra repeated harshly. “Answer me.”

“She’s fine. Is she a relative?”

“No.” Kendra threw off the covers and stood up. “She’s the sister of a friend. Eve Duncan. What’s this about, Sergeant?”

“I wish to hell I knew.” His voice was surly. “I have a Beth Avery in my jail, and I don’t know what to do with her.”

“What?”

“She’s been in lockup since last night. She was arrested on assault and battery charges.”

Kendra shook her head. This conversation was getting more surreal by the minute. “Repeat that … You think that she…”

“There were witnesses. It happened outside a bar called Blitzed just down the street from here. She worked a guy over pretty good.”

“A guy? There has to be some kind of mistake. Beth Avery isn’t much over middle height and she’s not that strong. Besides, she’s not a violent person.”

“Tell that to the six-foot-two guy she put in the hospital.”

“This is crazy.”

“I agree. And what’s crazier is that she could have posted bail and been out before midnight, but she’s made no effort to do that or even make a phone call. She doesn’t appear to be an indigent, and she drives a nicer car than I could ever hope to own.”

Because Beth was a multimillionaire, and that car was one of the few indulgences she’d allowed herself since she’d decided to stay here in California. What in hell have you gotten yourself into, Beth?

“Look,” the sergeant continued gruffly. “I’m just trying to help her and get her out of our jail. She doesn’t belong here. We tested her for drugs, and she’s clean. Harley Gill, the guy she beat up, is a local and has a history of violence and misdemeanors. She seems like a nice woman, real friendly. I’d like to process her and send her on her way before he’s released from the hospital and this escalates into something out of control.”

“I second the motion. How did you find me?”

“I found your number in her phone under In Case of Emergency.”

Kendra nodded. The last time she’d seen Beth, six months before, she’d grabbed the phone and typed in the number herself. They had spoken several times since then, and Beth always seemed happy and well.

“Okay. Can I speak to her?”

“She doesn’t seem interested in talking to anyone. She said that she didn’t want anyone to know she’s here. I think she’d refuse to speak to you. You say you’re friends with her sister?”

“Eve Duncan, but she lives in Georgia. She probably couldn’t make it there before tonight.” She paused. “And Beth wouldn’t want Eve to know she’s in trouble. Eve really wanted Beth to stay with her and let her take care of her.”

“Not a bad idea,” he said sourly. “Look, I don’t know how you want to handle this. I can help you process bail for her, but I’m not sure if that’s what she wants or will accept even if—”

“I’ll come there,” Kendra said quickly, before even thinking it through. “I think I can be at your town a little after noon.”

“Well, she could definitely use a friend even if she won’t admit it. She’s being held at the Inyo County Jail in Independence. You got a pen?”

Kendra jotted down the address and prisoner number. “Thanks, Sergeant.” She hung up the phone.

She shook her head in bewilderment.

Beth Avery. In jail.

It was all wrong.

Beth had been illegally imprisoned for years by the corrupt director of a mental institution, and was only now beginning to taste the freedom that had been denied her for so long. Was it too much for her?

Possibly. Kendra remembered her own chaotic few years after she had first gained her sight. What she always referred to as her “wild days.” A world of sights and colors had finally been revealed to her, along with more freedom and independence than she ever imagined possible. She’d worried her friends and family sick in her relentless pursuit of every variety of sensory stimulation she could soak in.

A few nights in jail had also been part of her own package, Kendra remembered. As much as she said she didn’t regret anything in her wild days, she could have done without that particular experience. Or at least modified it a bit.

She picked up her phone and glanced through the calendar app. It was supposed to be a research day, compiling data for a music-therapy study she and a colleague at Tulane University were conducting.

It would have to wait.

Beth Avery needed her.

Inyo County Jail

12:30 P . M .

KENDRA SETTLED INTO THE tiny conference room, which usually hosted meetings between prisoners and their attorneys. The Inyo County Jail was located in the rural community of Independence, California, where miles of desert scrub brush collided improbably with a line of snowcapped mountains. She’d never had any reason to visit the place, and she doubted she ever would again.

The door swung open, and Beth Avery stepped into the room. She looked different than the last time Kendra had seen her. She liked the change. Beth was thinner than Kendra remembered her and wearing calf-high boots, jeans, and a blue plaid flannel shirt. But it was her demeanor that had undergone a transformation. Her color was high, and her blue eyes sparkled with energy. Despite her present situation, she was walking with a confident stride, altogether different from the hesitant gait she’d had after her release from the mental institution. Her shoulder-length dark hair flowed behind her with a healthy luster that had a vibrance of its own.

“Hi, Beth.”

Beth froze in her tracks as she caught sight of Kendra. She shook her head emphatically. “No. Only in case of emergency…”

“It seemed like it might head that way.” Kendra stood to give her a hug, but the guard gestured for her to back away.

“Does Eve know?” Beth asked.

“Not yet. I didn’t want to worry her until I found out what you’ve gotten yourself into.”

“Then you’ll worry her.”

“Probably.”

“No, it’s not necessary.” She took a seat at the small table, and Kendra sat across from her. “I’m sorry they called you, Kendra. I really wish they hadn’t.”

“Beth … Why in the hell are you here?”

“I’m making a point.”

“They’re about to process you. The woman up front says you’re about an hour away from getting a jumpsuit and joining the general jail population.”

Beth smiled as she looked down at her clothes. “Maybe you should have waited. A bright orange jumpsuit would have been much more striking.”

“I didn’t come here for a fashion show. I’m here to help you.”

“And I appreciate the effort, but I can help myself.”

“Not in here you can’t. What happened?”

Beth took a deep breath and looked away, as if deciding whether or not to tell her.

“Beth.”

“Okay, I was at a bar in Olancha last night. A place called Blitzed. There were two UCLA girls there who were on their way to Tahoe. Nice kids. One of them stepped out to make a phone call, and I saw a scary-looking guy slip out a minute or so later. So I went out there just in time to see the asshole trying to force himself on her. I told him to stop, but he didn’t.” She shrugged. “So I made him stop.”

“How exactly did you do that?”

“I put him down face-first into the parking lot,” Beth said casually, as if it were an everyday occurrence.

Kendra nodded. “You drew a weapon on him?”

“No.” Beth was clearly insulted by the suggestion. “I used his weight against him. I dislocated his shoulder and most likely cracked a rib or two.”

Kendra stared at her for a long moment. “Where in the hell did you learn to do that?”

“Bakersfield. I was there for a couple months, and I spent almost every day taking self-defense classes from this amazing older woman.”

“You studied martial arts?”

“I studied everything that works. After all those years of feeling helpless in that mental hospital, I decided that I’m never going to let myself feel that way ever again. I’m still learning. I have a bunch of her videos on my iPad, and I practice every day.”

Kendra could understand her need for independence. The staff of the hospital had orders to keep Beth weak and drugged, and they’d done it for the years she’d been kept there. Falsified reports and diagnoses by corrupt doctors and officials had assured that she remain almost in a zombie state. Now, free of those drugs, there was nothing in the least zombielike in her personality or vision of life. She’d taken control with a vengeance.

“I see.” Kendra’s lips turned up. “So you’ve become The Terminator.”

Beth grinned. “Nah, I liked the way Linda Hamilton put all the bad guys down in those movies. She used brains and not superhuman brawn.” Her smile faded. “The guy had it coming. That college kid was just there to have a good time, and he tried to make a victim of her.”

“I don’t doubt he had it coming. So what happened next?”

“The girls freaked out and hit the road. Bubba-Joe’s friends came out of the bar and—”

“Bubba-Joe is the guy you put down?” She frowned. “That’s not the name the police gave me.”

“I didn’t pay much attention to what the police called him. I was too busy arguing and trying to keep from being thrown into jail. He looked like a Bubba-Joe, so that’s how I think of him.”

“Gotcha.”

“His friends came out, and it must have occurred to him how bad it looked to have his ass handed to him by little ol’ me. So he made up this story about him enjoying a smoke outside and me attacking him from behind with a heavy metal beer sign. By the time the cops got there a minute or so later, his friends were claiming to have witnessed the whole thing, just the way he said it.”

“Nice. And the UCLA girl was nowhere to be found.”

“Exactly.”

“You could have made bail, Beth. For God’s sake, you’re a wealthy woman. Besides your family money, I know you got a fortune in your settlement from that Seahaven mental health institution. When the state board found out about the corruption there and what they’d done to you, they couldn’t recommend a high enough compensation in the courts.”

“I don’t want bail.” Her jaw clenched. “I want to stay and fight. I want everyone to know what he did. And I want everyone to know I don’t belong here.”

Kendra could understand. As tough as Beth appeared to have become physically, she was still carrying emotional scars from her years as a prisoner. “We’ll get you a good lawyer. The best. Put this behind you, and let’s get out of here.”

“Not yet, Kendra.”

“Seriously?”

“I know I could make bail, get some super-duper lawyer, pay the guy’s medical costs, and be done with it. I don’t want to do that. I’m not paying him a dime. I’m going to stay here and get a good local attorney and maybe a private investigator. We can’t let scum like that bully people.”

“You can fight him from anywhere. You can hire an army of lawyers and investigators to make his life miserable forever. You don’t have to stay here to do that.”

“It will put more pressure on the locals to do the right thing. ‘Wealthy heiress detained in small-town jail’ will attract a lot more attention than ‘Entitled Rich Bitch Victimizes Local Man.’”

“I have a third headline for you: ‘Former Mental Patient Might Be Crazy After All.’”

“Very funny.”

“I’m not trying to be funny. If Bubba got his hands on a sleazy lawyer, that’s what they’d make people think.”

Beth gave her a questioning glance. “Not people like you.”

“Of course not. It’s just…” Kendra struggled to find the words. “I told your sister I’d look after you. Eve would have loved for you to move to Georgia to be near her, but she understood that you needed your space. I thought the same thing. Now I’m thinking I didn’t do a very good job.”

“A good job looking after me? I don’t need or want to be looked after. I had that all those years I was in the institution. I wanted freedom. I always knew you were there, Kendra, just a couple hours drive away. That’s all I ever needed.” She leaned forward in her chair, her gaze holding Kendra’s. “The choice was never yours or Eve’s. I just wanted to be on my own for a while. I thought you understood that.”

“I do. When I got my sight, I didn’t want anyone hovering over me for those first few years. I wanted you to have space, Beth. I think I understood that better than Eve. But I know she wants to get to know you better. You were separated your entire lives until she found you.”

“And I want to get to know her. But I want to be a complete person when we come together again. Not a victim. A year ago at this time, we didn’t even know each other existed.” She shook her head. “Hell, I didn’t exist. I wasn’t me with all those drugs they forced down me. But the next time I see Eve, I’ll be complete with experiences and a personality that’s totally my own. And I won’t see her again until that happens. That’s why you mustn’t tell her about this. Do you understand?”

“Yes, I understand.” She understood the passion and the struggle that Beth was going through better than ever before. She had thought that her own battle for independence and discovery were similar to Beth’s, but that wasn’t true. Kendra’s wild years were principally exploration. Beth was also having to go through a painful element of creation. “And I won’t call Eve into this.”

She gave a relieved sigh. “Thank you.”

“But that doesn’t mean you’re not stuck with me.”

“I don’t need you to—” She stopped as she saw Kendra’s expression. “You’re not going to give up, are you?”

“It won’t be painful if you’ll just work with me. Let’s look at the situation. You’re a guest of the Inyo County Jail. We both know I’m not going to abandon you. But it will be a real drag to have to stay here at this jail and hold your hand. I have a life, you know.”

“I believe I’ve heard rumors to that effect.”

“Then I have to satisfy your idealistic goals in order to get on with it. I promise that I’ll do that.” She looked her in the eye. “But first you have to let me bail you out.” She held up her hand as Beth opened her lips to protest. “I know. I know. But trust me. Before we leave town, I’ll find this guy—your Bubba Joe—and see what I can do for you.”

“Like what?”

“I’m not sure. I have a few ideas, but I may have to change with the situation. That’s where the trust comes in.”

“That’s not very reassuring.”

“Trust me,” she said again.

Beth gazed at her for long moment. “I do trust you.” She suddenly smiled impishly. “And if you don’t get me what I need from Bubba, I can always do some more damage to him and end up right back in jail.”

“Yes, that’s always an option.” She smiled. “But you’d better start thinking of him as Harley Gill and not Bubba if we have to deal with him.”

“I like my name for him better. You know, it might be fun working this out with you.”

“Another experience?” She shook her head. “Where can I find him?”

Beth tilted her head, thinking. “I have a pretty good idea…”

Highway 395

Olancha, California

AFTER A HEFTY STACK OF PAPERWORK and the transfer of $2,500 in bail money, Beth and Kendra made their way to what passed for Main Street Olancha—a gas station, a bar, a diner, and a fresh beef jerky stand, all on the same side of a lonely stretch of two-lane highway. As Kendra stood and took in the scene, a tumbleweed literally blew across the road.

“What ever made you come here?” Kendra asked.

Beth shrugged. “I’ve been to lots of places like this in the past few months. Big cities still kind of freak me out. For now, I’m comfortable in places where you see the same people every day.”

“Until you move on to the next town?”

“Well, I don’t want to get too comfortable. But I’ve met a lot of nice people along the way.”

“And at least one rotten one.” Kendra nodded to the bar ahead, identified by the faded, sand-blasted sign that read BLITZED.

Beth suddenly slowed her pace. “Yes. But I’m not going to be a victim anymore. I can take care of myself.”

“You’ve already proved that. But part of taking care of yourself is knowing when to let people help you. It took me a while to learn that one.”

“You’ve already helped me, Kendra. You and Eve both. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t—” She stopped dead in her tracks. “That’s him.”

Kendra looked ahead to see a beefy man wearing a Transformers T-shirt that didn’t quite cover his bandaged torso. A black extension sling held his arm at an awkward angle before him, and he had a massive bruise over his right eye that resembled a patch. He stood next to the bar’s front door, smoking a cigarette.

Kendra squinted. “Did you give him that black eye, too?”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot about that.”

“Jeez, Beth. You are The Terminator.”

The man’s sunburned face practically turned white when he saw Beth. He dropped his cigarette and stepped back. “Stay away from me.”

Kendra smiled. “We’re just taking a walk, Harley. Care to join us?”

His gaze was still on Beth. “No.”

“Too bad,” Kendra said. “Nice day.”

Beth nodded. “Beautiful.”

Harley glared at Beth. “I’m pressing charges against you, bitch.”

“Oh?” Beth said. “And I thought I spent the night in jail for the turndown service and exquisite cuisine.”

“Just keep sassin’ me. You’ll see where that’ll get you.”

Beth stepped toward him, and he instinctively recoiled so quickly that he nearly stumbled. He winced in pain.

“I’d be less worried about her and more concerned about yourself,” Kendra said.

“Why’s that?”

“Because you lied to a police officer. And your friends did, too. And if this goes to trial, are you willing to perjure yourselves?”

“Oh, it’s going to trial. And it’s her word against all of ours.”

“Not just her word,” Kendra said.

“What do you mean?”

She pointed to the roofline of a defunct, graffiti-ridden Laundromat next to the bar. A small security camera was aimed toward the sidewalk. “These days there are eyes everywhere.”

“What…” He took a few tentative steps toward the camera, as if it were a bomb that could go off at any moment.

“Yeah, I talked to the building owner this morning,” Kendra said. “I guess he got tired of vandals, so he put this camera up a few weeks ago.” She reached into the pocket of her jeans and produced a USB flash drive. “I got video of the whole thing. You attacking that college girl and Beth here kicking your ass all over the sidewalk. Once your friends know we have this, do you really think they’ll stick to their stories?”

Harley stared at the flash drive in her outstretched hand. He moved toward it, but Beth menacingly blocked his path. Kendra fought the urge to either laugh or shake her head in amazement at this slender young woman getting away with threatening a man who easily had a hundred pounds on her.

Harley glared at Kendra. “And who in the hell are you? Her lawyer?”

“Never mind who I am. All that matters is that I’m holding an HD video file that makes you look pretty damn ridiculous. We all know this woman didn’t sneak up from behind you with a pole sign. She came right up into your face with nothing but her bare hands. Not only will your buddies run for the hills when this surfaces, they’ll know that this sweet young thing mopped up the sidewalk with you. Is that really something you want them to see?”

Harley looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

Kendra rolled the tiny USB stick across her open palm. “And it’s not just your buddies who are going to be laughing their asses off. I’ve already uploaded this to my YouTube account, and I set it to go live in a little less than two hours from now. Then the whole world will see what happened out here last night. But if you’re cool with that…”

“You bitch.”

She ignored him. “It’s just the kind of thing that could go viral, don’t you think? A big, beefy bully getting pounded into the sidewalk by a cute little woman. I’m sure that every evening news program in the country will pick it up to show right before the last commercial break. You’ll be famous, but not the kind of fame you’ll like.”

His face was now the color of a radish. He gathered himself as if he was about to lunge at Kendra.

But Beth wagged her finger at him. “Careful, Harley.” She pointed back at the camera. “You have an audience.”

“Shit.” His hands clenched into fists at his sides. “What do you want?”

“I want to get the hell out of here and never lay eyes on you again,” Kendra said. “And that’s what Beth feels, too. So we’re going to hit the road.” She checked her watch. “But in the next hour and forty-nine minutes. I want to hear that you called the Inyo Country Sheriff’s Department and told them that you had too much to drink last night and were confused and Beth Avery is completely innocent. You’ll tell them that you’re not pressing charges and would like to put this behind you. You want it so badly that you’re going to furnish them with a signed written statement to that effect and drop it off with Sergeant Filardi. If I get that call from the Sheriff’s Department, I’ll take the file off my YouTube account before a single person sees it.”

He pointed to the USB stick in her hand. “What about that video?”

“We keep the video.” Kendra smiled. “Maybe we’ll pull it out once in a while on girl’s night out when we’re looking for a good laugh after a few glasses of wine. But other than that, no one will see it.”

“How do I know you’ll keep your word?”

Beth shook her head. “I have no special desire to be known all over the world as ‘that girl who beat up the redneck dumbass.’ Why would I? It would just get in my way. Sure I’d do anything I had to do to show you that you can’t get away with this kind of bullying. But if I win the battle, all I’ll want to do is turn my back on you.”

Kendra shrugged. “I’d actually love to see The Today Show gang giggling over it some morning next week, but the ball’s in your court.” She glanced at Harley, who was glowering at them. “Personally, I hope that Harley is stupid enough to fumble around and blow it.” She tapped her watch as she and Beth turned and headed back to her car. “Tick-tock, Harley.”

*   *   *

KENDRA AND BETH HAD JUST RETRIEVED Beth’s car, a silver Mercedes SLS AMG roadster, from the impound lot when a call came to Beth’s mobile phone from Sergeant Filardi at the Sheriff’s Department. Beth put the caller on speaker.

“Harley Gill is dropping all charges. He just came by with a written statement,” the officer said. “Mind telling me what you said to him?”

“Nothing much,” Beth said. “Just a little commonsense wisdom.”

“Ma’am, I’ve known Harley most of his life, and ‘common sense’ and ‘wisdom’ are two things that aren’t usually mentioned in the same sentence as that guy.”

“Well, in the cold light of day, I think he realized it wouldn’t be too good for his rep for people to know that he’d been beaten up by a woman half his size.”

“That I can believe. In any event, the case is now closed. Have a good day, ma’am.”

Beth cut the connection.

“You didn’t mention the video,” Kendra said.

Beth’s eyes narrowed on her. “Well, I didn’t think it was a good idea to lie to a cop. Which is what I would have been doing, right?”

Kendra smiled. “Would you?”

“I may not have your powers of observation, Kendra … But I’m pretty sure that camera wasn’t there last night.”

Kendra feigned a look of total innocence. “Really? Hmm. I guess you were too busy pounding that guy’s face into the ground to notice.”

“Kendra…”

“Fine.” Kendra shrugged. “I might have dug an old webcam out of my closet before I left home in case I needed it. And I might have stuck it under the roofline with some double-sided tape.”

“When?”

“Just a little while ago, on my way to the jail to see you. I wanted to take a look at the scene before I got your story.”

“You did more than take a look.”

“I know you. I knew you weren’t guilty. I thought it wouldn’t hurt to be prepared if push came to shove.” She made a face. “No big deal. If it wasn’t necessary, all I’d have lost was an old camera that hadn’t worked in years.”

“Well, I’d say it worked pretty well just now.”

“I guess it did. Most bullies don’t like to broadcast it when they get pummeled by one of their victims.”

Beth pointed to Kendra’s pocket, where the USB stick still bulged. “And what was on the memory stick?”

“Data for my music-therapy study. Good thing I didn’t have to show it to him. I might have bored the guy to death.”

Beth threw back her head and laughed. “Good thing.”

“You won’t have to worry about him anymore. As long as you leave town, I think he’ll be happy to forget about the whole thing.”

“That makes two of us.” She paused. “After you tell me how you managed to play Bubba so cleverly. I was watching you and you were able to meet his every response almost before he made it.”

She glanced away. “You described him. He wasn’t hard to analyze.”

“Kendra.”

“He was the easiest mark imaginable.” She looked back at Beth. “Nicholas Marlin would have considered him totally unworthy of using him.”

“Mark?” Beth’s eyes were suddenly eager. “And who’s Nicholas Marlin?”

“Someone I knew from my unsavory past. A friend of a friend.” She sighed. “He was a con artist. He was fairly despicable, but I learned a lot by watching him. He was truly amazing. He could read things about his marks that were totally incredible just by observing body language and facial expression.”

“Then I can see how that would be useful to you.”

“It was. My other senses were honed, but my visual acuity had to be sharpened. I had to know what I was seeing. I learned a lot. Not all of it good. It’s incredible how the human mind can be manipulated if you study just how to push the buttons.” Her lips tightened. “In the end, I tried to forget him and the more sinister aspects of what I’d learned by watching him.”

“Sinister?”

“Drop it.” She smiled with an effort. “And forget it as I’ve done. Except when I need to pull something out of the hat as I did with Harley.”

“Interesting. But then you’re always interesting.”

“Forget about me,” Kendra said firmly. “We obviously have some catching up to do. What have you been doing with yourself, besides morphing into a one-woman army?”

Beth tilted her head. “Why don’t you tell me?”

“What?”

“Come on, Kendra. You don’t have to pretend with me.”

“What do you mean?”

“You can probably tell more about me and what I’ve been doing than I could myself.”

“That’s ridiculous. I’m not psychic.”

“You’re better than psychic. You’re real. I knew it before, and after today, it’s more clear than ever.” She grinned. “Come on. You start, and I’ll fill in the blanks. If there are any.”

“I told you, I tried to forget about that con artist for a reason. Now you’re trying to—”

“Except when you choose to use what you learned. Choose it now. Heck, there’s nothing sinister about me. I just want to see what you can do.”

No, there was nothing sinister or dangerous about Beth, but she could be damnably persistent. “I don’t know what you think I can possibly—”

“Please? Spill it.”

Get it over with.

“Okay. Well, I know you’ve been all over the northern half of the state in just the past couple of weeks. You’ve been in Bear Valley in Colusa, all the way up to northern California, where you spent some time at the Yurok Tribe reservation.”

Beth’s eyes widened. “Wow. Keep going.”

“Somewhere in there, you tried rock climbing, maybe a bit of rappelling in Yosemite?”

“Castle Rock.”

“You drove back on the coastal route. You saw Seahaven. It must have been strange seeing the place that holds many horrible memories for you. Did you actually drive onto the grounds?”

Beth nodded. Her eyes were suddenly glistening, and Kendra could see the tough veneer she tried to assume softening. “As close as I could get. I couldn’t resist going back. It was … drawing me. It’s closed now, and the gates were all locked. It’s actually very beautiful. I never saw much of the outside when I was there.”

“Their license was revoked. I don’t know what’s going to happen to the place.”

Her face tightened. “Good. The sooner it’s gone, the better.”

“I agree.” It was better to change the subject. “You spent some time at or near the beach before cutting across to this part of the state. You made the drive just yesterday.”

“Very good. See, I didn’t have to tell you anything.”

“It’s nothing. I still don’t know how you’ve been thinking and feeling about your new life. I know it’s been an amazing time for you.”

“It has. Mostly good, but not all.” She waved her hands in a “let me have it” motion. “Okay, how the hell did you know all that? Start with the Indian reservation.”

“Your shampoo is very fragrant. A mixture of yucca, soap root, and a bit of vinegar. Only the Yurok tribe makes it quite that way, and they sell it on their reservations.”

“You’re an expert on every shampoo out there?”

“No. Most Americans use one of six shampoos. Anytime I’ve gotten a whiff of one that smells as unique as yours, I’ve made it a point to ask what it was. When you can’t see, how a person smells becomes very important. It’s a big part of that first impression.”

“But you just reeled off my entire route. I know my shampoo didn’t tell you that.”

“It didn’t. Your car did.”

“I already thought of that.” Beth turned back toward her Mercedes. “There are no brochures, no tacky bumper stickers, nothing that could possibly tell you where I’ve been.”

“Your front grill and headlights tell me pretty much everything I need to know.”

Beth crouched in front of her car. “There’s nothing here but a whole mess of squashed bugs. Unless you’re telling me…” She looked up at Kendra. “Really?”

“Even if you’re not into bugs, it’s pretty easy to spot the phosphorous yellow-green splat of fireflies on the front of your car. I’ve never seen fireflies this far south. It tells me you’ve been to a cooler, wetter area. Northern California has them. It also has the biggest Yurok reservation in the entire country, up in Humboldt County.”