Page 37 of Absent Remorse

Yet, a couple started to stand out. There was an image of a prominent engineer there, and Simon found himself looking through the man’s social media, looking for any hint that he had an interest in either puzzles or languages. There didn’t seem to be either.

Another client was a diplomat who Simon recalled having boasted about learning dozens of languages. Simon looking through another set of social media, but this time there was no sense that the man had any engineering skills, or any other obvious way of producing the puzzle cube.

Obviously, this was just surface level stuff, but Simon couldn’t go deeper without at least a hint of suspicion. He needed something to go on before he started to dive into people’s lives. He certainly couldn’t call the PAs of important people just to ask them if their bosses had an unhealthy interest in puzzles.

He started to look up puzzle experts, but if there were anyone obvious in the area whose style this puzzle fit, wouldn’t Amber have mentioned them already? She knew the puzzlers who lived nearby, had done work with most of them. Even so, Simon knew that he had to check.

“Amber, there aren’t any puzzlers in the DC area you know whose style this all fits?”

Amber looked up and shook her head. “No, if I’d thought of anyone, I would have said. This is either someone new or someone who hasn’t worked in this style before. I know the puzzlers around DC, but most of them prefer to work online or with paper, rather than with physical objects.”

“That’s what I thought,” Simon said, but he’d still needed to make sure.

It did start him down another tangent, though, looking for specialist puzzle box makers. Was there anyone locally who made custom ones, anyone who might have enough of a violent side to potentially kill four people so far?

No, Simon couldn’t find anyone in the city, and it seemed like such a specialized field that only a few people in the country made them at all. Simon couldn’t imagine one of them traveling to DC just to do something like this, but even so, he sent out emails to those he could find, asking if any members of their staff had recently headed to the city.

The more Simon thought about it, though, the more he found himself focusing on the language aspect of it all. There were many people out there with an interest in puzzles, many more with some level of skill in crafting things. How many people were there really, though, who had an extensive knowledge of multiple ancient languages, including Greek, Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, and more? Simon suspected that such people were comparatively rare. More than that, he had a good idea of where to find them.

“Keep working on things here,” Simon said to Amber. “I need to head over to the university.”

***

The administration building of the university was everything Simon might have expected, with ivy covered walls, large, leaded windows, and a sense that it had been there forever.

Simon walked into a foyer that was considerably more modern than the exterior of the building, but which was still adorned with pictures of formerly important figures connected to the university. A woman in her fifties, wearing a sharp white pantsuit was waiting for him as he arrived, her dark hair tied back.

“Agent Phelps? I’m Dean Waters. My PA told me that you were coming.”

Simon hadn’t expected to meet with the dean of the university like this. He’d just needed a member of the administration staff who could guide him through all this, helping to identify anyone who might fit the criteria to be the killer. He wasn’t sure if it was a good sign that the dean was meeting him like this.

“It’s good of you to meet me like this, Dean Waters,” Simon said.

“I wanted to be the one to inform you that I can’t allow you to simply rummage through the university’s personnel files on a fishing expedition without a warrant.” The dean sounded apologetic about it, but also firm, like she wasn’t going to give ground on the issue.

“You’re aware that this is a murder investigation?” Simon tried.

“I am. From what I understand, you’re hunting a serial killer, but that still doesn’t mean that I can allow you to look through all the files here,” Dean Waters said. “I’m sorry.”

She sounded apologetic, but there was something else there, too, like she was hinting at something. If this had just been intended to be about turning Simon away, she could have done that over the phone. Simon got the impression that she wanted to help; he just needed to provide her with a way to do it that didn’t go against her sense of ethics.

“How about this,” Simon suggested. “How about if I describe the kind of individual I’m looking for and if anyone in particular comes to mind, you tell me about them? I’m not asking to look at your files, I’ll look them up myself. I just need to know the right direction to look.”

“You’re aware that there might not be anyone?” Dean Waters said.

Simon nodded. She wasn’t turning him down, which gave him at least a hint of hope that he might be able to get something from her.

“I’m looking for an expert in obscure languages,” Simon said. “Someone familiar with Ancient Greek and Egyptian hieroglyphs, probably several other languages as well.”

“That doesn’t necessarily narrow things down,” Dean Waters said. “Not in a place like this.”

Simon was aware of that. He still hoped that he could find a lead to go on here somewhere.

“This would be someone who also has a fascination with puzzles,” he said. “Someone with the skills to make them themselves: woodworking, metal working, possibly electronics. From the limited security footage we have, we’re looking for a man. Probably something of a loner, certainly someone with a grievance or something to prove.”

Simon knew that they were all very general points, but he still held out hope that it would get somewhere. He could see the thoughtful look on the dean’s face.

“There … might be someone. A former professor of ancient linguistics here. We had to let him go after his behavior became too erratic.”

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