Page 41 of Absent Remorse

“Simon, who is this?” Amber asked. She frowned. “Is he drunk?”

“Drunk?” the strange man said. “I’m not drunk! I am in full control of my …” Simon had to catch him so that he didn’t fall over. “Faculties.”

“This is Professor Alvin Quern,” Simon said. “Iwasconsidering him as a suspect, but he appears to have an alibi.”

“So, why is he here?” Amber asked, not quite understanding.

“He’s also a former professor of ancient languages. I thought he might be able to help with the symbols on the puzzle.”

“Wait, you’re bringing a drunk in to help?” Amber said.

Simon shook his head. “Once he sobers up, he might be useful.”

That was more hurtful than Amber could have thought that it would be. It wasn’t just that Simon suddenly seemed to value the abilities of a random drunk guy over her; it was the feeling that her involvement in the last case and her efforts on this one didn’t count for anything.

“But this isn’t about the symbols,” Amber insisted. “They’re a maze. I just have to be more precise about the route through it.”

“Amber, you’ve been trying that since before I left. You’re no further along. We need to try something else?”

“Something like trying to get help from a drunken former professor?” Amber couldn’t believe that Simon was trying something like that. At the same time though, she knew that she was just worried that she wasn’t able to contribute.

No, it was worse than that. She was worried that she had only been able to contribute to the last case by chance, that she wasn’t really cut out for any of this. She’d gone to Quantico because she’d thought she had the skills to bring in criminals, but what if the Puzzle Killer case had been the only one that she’d truly been able to help with? What if she was getting in the way here? It was obvious that Palliser didn’t want her around. Now, it seemed that Simon thought that she was getting in the way as well.

Maybe she was. After all, she hadn’t found the answers they needed yet.

“I just think that maybe the symbols might provide a clue to how to open this,” Simon said. “Maybe they’ll help to fill in the gaps.”

He reached out and took the pyramid that he and Amber had constructed together, holding it up to the professor. “Professor Quern, can you make any sense of these symbols?”

“I would be able to if you’d stop moving about so that they swim in front of me so much!”

As far as Amber could see, he was holding it perfectly still. She wanted to take it out of Simon’s hands, to keep working on it, but she knew that she couldn’t. If this was the way Simon wanted to go with this, then Amber had to go along with it, drunken professor, and all. Maybe she just had to leave him to it.

“I … I need some air,” Amber said. “Call me if he thinks of anything.”

Amber headed out of the office, then out of the building. It felt as though she’d been focusing on the puzzle so intently now that she’d almost forgotten how to breathe. She stood there outside the FBI building, trying to relax, trying to tell herself that it didn’t matter if Simon had grabbed a random drunk guy to help with the puzzle.

Not that Amber really believed that it would help. She felt sure that the symbols were merely forming a maze to follow to solve the puzzle, or perhaps some kind of map.

A map? Where had that thought come from?

Amber briefly thought that it was just about the lines providing directions that the ball bearing was meant to follow, but now that the thought had come to her, it wouldn’t leave. She found herself pulling out her phone, looking up a map of Washington. The patterns of the puzzle were already burned onto her brain through hours of trying to make sense of them.

Now, it was impossible to ignore the similarities. The lines on the puzzle seemed to fit over the streets almost exactly. Amber could picture where the symbols sat on that map, and as she looked at the locations, Amber felt realization sweeping over her in a rush.

The symbols sat on the locations where the murders had taken place!

Amber rushed back inside, heading up to Simon’s office at a run. The professor was still there with Simon, both of them staring at the puzzle. Amber stepped in between them, pushing the professor aside.

“Amber—” Simon began.

“I have the answer!” Amber said. “I know how the puzzle works! Come on!”

She grabbed the blank pyramid, heading out of the office with Simon following quickly behind. He looked worried rather than excited.

“Amber, what are you doing? You can’t just—”

“Come with me,” Amber said. “The puzzle is a map of the city, and the first four symbols are spots where the murders took place.”

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