Page 13 of Absent Feeling

“Why?Raymond isn’t the one who did anything wrong!”

Ambercould hear the grief in her tone. It was enough to make Amber want to backaway, leave the house, and not come back, but that wasn’t something she had theoption of doing. She and Simon had a job to do and doing it meant getting asmuch information as they could that might give them a clue as to why someonewas doing this.

“We’renot suggesting he did,” Simon said. “But the more we know, the more chance wehave of finding out who did this to him.”

“Whatwas Raymond like?” Amber asked.

“He… he was like a rock,” Rea said. “So calm, so together. Whatever was happening,no matter who came to our place, they always seemed to go away calmer.”

“Nomatter who came to your place?” Simon asked.

“ForRaymond’s job. He used to be a psychiatrist at the hospital where I work, buthe became a therapist when we decided to have a family. It meant that he couldwork more from home. Although he would still do a couple of days a week up atthe hospital.”

Apsychiatrist? That couldn’t just be a coincidence, could it, when someone hadleft a Rorschach test behind?

“Youwere the one who found the body, weren’t you?” Simon asked. “Can you tell uswhat you remember? Any detail might help.”

“I… don’t know what to say. I was working nights at the hospital, just the shiftsI’d caught, you know? The kids were staying with some friends overnight. Ididn’t get home until morning. I got back, and I saw … I saw the blood. I … I’msorry, I don’t think I can …”

“That’sall right,” Simon said. “You’ve already been very helpful.”

Amberhad caught it too. The killer had picked a moment to strike when he’d knownthat his victim would be alone, but how had he known that? It was another thingthat pointed to him watching his victims closely, which in turn suggested thathe’d picked them out ahead of time. This wasn’t random.

“Didyour husband have any enemies?” Simon asked.

“No,of course not!”

Amberknew from her training that it was common for people to reply that way. Theycouldn’t imagine the people around them ever angering someone to the pointwhere they might want to kill them. Amber tried a more specific approach.

“Didanyone ever make threats?” Amber asked.

“Idon’t know, maybe some of his patients.”

“Andwere any of those patients ever violent?” Simon asked.

“Ireally don’t know the details,” Rea said. “I work in pediatrics, not psych. Hehad to deal with some very messed up people sometimes. We’d talk about themwhen he needed to let off steam, but he tended to keep the worst ones from me.He didn’t want to worry me.”

Butit was possible that he’d upset a patient somewhere. One who might have wantedrevenge.

Therewas one more question that Amber desperately wanted the answer to.

“Didyour husband ever use the Rorschach test in any of his work? Did he use it toassess people?”

“I’mnot sure. Not often, I think. Raymond mentioned them once, but it was about howsome psychiatrists kept using inkblots when they were only really of any use ina limited number of cases.”

Whichfit with what Amber remembered. Still, it was possible that he’d used the testin the few situations where it had been shown to have a diagnostic value betterthan chance. That was something that might be worth looking into deeper.

“Didyour husband know a woman named Constance Banks?” Simon asked.

“No,I don’t think so. I’m sorry,” Rea said. “I really don’t feel … I can’t copewith this right now. Is it ok if we stop?”

“Yes,of course,” Simon said. “We won’t intrude on your time any further. If youthink of anything that might help us, though, no matter how small, please don’thesitate to contact us.”

Heput a card down on the kitchen table and stood to leave. Amber followed hiscue, heading for the door with him.

“Whatnow?” she asked.

“Now,I think we need to talk to the family of Constance Banks,” Simon said.

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