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CHAPTER 080

The ambulance sped south on the freeway. Sitting in the driver’s seat, wearing her new Bluetooth headset, Dolly talked to Vasco. Vasco was angry, but there was nothing Dolly could do about it. He’d set off in the wrong direction a second time. He had only himself to blame.

“Look,” Dolly said. “We just got telephone records for the last five years. Just got ’em this minute. Alex calls people in this area code named Kendall, Henry and Lynn. He’s a biochemist; we don’t know what she does. But Lynn and Alex are the same age. We think maybe they grew up together.”

“And where are they located?” Vasco said. “The Kendalls.”

“La Jolla. It’s north of-”

“I know where it is, goddamn it,” Vasco said.

“Where are you now?” Dolly said.

“Coming back from Elsinore. I’m at least an hour from La Jolla. Road’s so damn twisty. Goddamn it, I know she was sleeping on this road somewhere.”

“How do you know?”

“I just know. Got my nose working.”

“Okay, well, she’s probably on her way to La Jolla now. She might even be there already.”

“And where are you?”

“Twenty minutes from the Kendall house. You want us to pick them up?”

Vasco said, “How’s the doc?”

“Sober.”

“Sure?”

“Close enough for government work,” Dolly said. “He’s drinking coffee from a thermos.”

“You check the thermos?”

“Yes. Of course. So-do we pick up, or wait for you?”

“If it’s the girl, Alex, leave her alone. But if you see the kid, grab him.”

“Will do,” Dolly said.