Until Dark - Mariah Stewart [65]
“I guess you could call them portraits.”
“Kendra does composite drawings, Gran. For law enforcement agencies. She’ll interview witnesses and then make a drawing.”
“Oh, like that one I saw on the news the other night? That man who’s been killing all those poor girls down near Philadelphia?”
“Yes, exactly like that.” Adam sipped at his tea, which he never drank, except when he was here. He wasn’t particularly fond of the beverage, but tea with his gran was a ritual left over from his high school days, and he’d never let on.
“Actually, that was my sketch,” Kendra said, wondering why Adam had neglected to add that.
The woman’s face went white. “Why, I can’t believe they’d let a pretty little thing like you get that close to a monster like him.”
“No, no, Mrs. McGovern, I don’t have to get anywhere near him. I just talk to people who have seen him, and they tell me what he looked like, and I try to draw him from their descriptions,” Kendra assured her. “I never get close to him.”
“She tries to make the picture look enough like the suspect so that if someone sees that person, they will recognize him and call the police.”
“Well, that’s a relief.” Adam’s grandmother did look relieved. “I’d hate to think about you having to meet face-to-face with those awful people. I used to worry something fierce about Adam, until they gave him that nice desk job.”
Desk job? Kendra mouthed the words silently.
Adam winked.
“Now, tell me how you learned how to draw faces like that? It’s an odd profession for a woman,” she frowned, then added hastily, “though I’m sure you’re quite good at it.”
“I’ve always been interested in faces.” Kendra suppressed a smile. “And I’ve always liked to draw. It just seemed natural to combine the two.”
“Did you go to art school, to learn how to draw faces?”
“No. I did have some formal art courses in college, but I really taught myself. I used to sketch the people sitting near me in class, and my neighbors, and the girls in the dorm. I’d go to Ocean City—that’s on the New Jersey shore—and sit on the boardwalk, and draw the people who walked by. When I got older and was looking for a career, I was lucky to be able to find one that let me use that ability.” Kendra left out the parts about her brother and the fact that her well-connected stepfather had opened the door for her first freelance job for the FBI. She had completely understood that while his influence had gotten her the opportunity, subsequent assignments would not be forthcoming if she didn’t get the job done. But there was no point in going into any of this with Adam’s grandmother. She merely said, “I was lucky to get referrals to other law enforcement agencies, but most of my work has been for the FBI.”
“Gran, we’re going to need to change for the wedding.” Adam touched his grandmother on the arm. “I’ll run out to the car and get our things so we can leave on time. I don’t think Dad would appreciate his best man being late.”
“I do appreciate punctuality,” Alice McGovern said to Kendra as Adam left the room. “Especially for an occasion like this. Why, I expect I’ll see some people I haven’t seen since Lynnie died.”
“Lynnie?”
“My daughter. Adam’s mother.”
“Oh.”
“Seven years come August, it will be. Can’t hardly believe it’s been that long, myself, but there it is.”
“Did you have other children, Mrs. McGovern?”
“No, just the one daughter.” The woman’s face brightened. “But she was enough. She was a treasure. A joy, every day of her life. It was the saddest day of my life, the day I buried her. Sadder than losing my husband, and he died when I was only thirty-one.”
“So you raised her alone, for the most part.”
“She was seven when her father died. Mostly, it was just me and her, until she married Frank. I missed her from the day she left to get married. I still miss her. She was my best friend, Lynnie was.”
“I know exactly how you feel.” Kendra touched her arm gently. “I lost my father when I was young. And my mother and I were very close.”
“And she has passed on?”
“Four years