Page 22 of Absent Feeling

Amberfound herself searching for those terms in local newspaper records, trying tofind anything that fit the imagery. She had the skills to do this research, butshe suspected that someone like Joseph would have been able to do a better jobof it.

Thethought of Joseph made Amber pause. She was meant to be his girlfriend now, butshe hadn’t even called him to tell him where she was. She should do that,shouldn’t she? She should definitely call him to see how he was doing. Maybethinking about something else for a minute or two would help Amber to try to approachthe case in new ways.

Ambercalled Joseph, who picked up after only a couple of rings.

“Hey,”Joseph said. “Are you in Guisborough?”

Amberrealized that he must have seen her on the news. That wasn’t the way that she’dwanted Joseph to find out that she’d left DC, and she felt guilty for nothaving called him on the way out of town to let him know that she was going.

“Yes,”Amber admitted.

“Doesthat mean that you’ve accepted the offer from the FBI department Agent Phelpsworks in?”

Amberwished that she could give him a clear answer on that, but it still wasn’t thatsimple for her.

“It’scomplicated,” she said. “It’s like a … trial run, I guess. I’ve been broughtalong on this case to try to help, but I’m also going to try to work out if Ishould say yes.”

Therewas a brief pause on the other end of the line. “Earlier, I thought that maybewe could have met up this evening. Then I saw the news.”

“I’msorry,” Amber said. “I should have told you what was going on. I should havelet you know that I wasn’t going to be in town.”

Becausethat was the kind of thing that a girlfriend would do, right? When the two ofthem had just been casual, Amber could run off to do whatever she needed to dowithout even mentioning it. Now, she suspected that it didn’t work like that;that she should probably at least give Joseph a heads up if she was going to beout of town for a few days.

“It’snot a problem,” Joseph said, “but if you’d told me, maybe I could have talkedto Harry to get him to send me to cover the murders.”

“Plottingto find ways to spend the evening together?” Amber said.

“Well,I could have,” Joseph said. “But now I’m stuck in DC, covering a couple ofpolitical stories.”

“That’sa pity,” Amber said. She meant it too. She would have much preferred thatJoseph was there with her, but then, that would have created its own issues.Amber would have had to be careful about how much she said to him, and just ascareful not to be distracted.

“Itis, but maybe we’ll be able to make up for it when you get back. Whenareyougetting back?”

“I’mnot sure yet,” Amber said. “When the case is done. Soon, I hope.”

“Howsoon?”

“Idon’t know.” Amber couldn’t give him a definite timeframe for it. “Surely youunderstand? You don’t know how long a story will take.”

“ButI’m not chasing after murderers doing that. I worry about you, Amber.”

“I’llbe ok.”

“Ihope so.”

Theyboth hung up, leaving Amber wishing that it had gone differently. She’d hopedthat calling Joseph would reinvigorate her, but instead, she found herselfwanting to throw herself back into research to stop thinking about him.

Amberstarted to look through Raymond Werdly’s social media, searching for anypictures of him marked as being with David Banks. She found several, but theyall seemed to be from the Wellness Institute. Amber kept looking through them,trying to find one that didn’t fit, one that might tell her something.

Shewas still looking as her eyes started to drift shut.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Hewaited until he was sure that Ysabel Jones was alone in her house before headvanced on it, moving swiftly, his eyes darting around for any sign oftrouble.

Hefelt as sharp and focused right then as the edge of the knife that he had inone of the pockets of his shapeless, black jacket. He was becoming more focusedby the day as the medications they’d forced him onto started to fade from hissystem.

Hereached the back door, avoiding the security lights for long enough to cutthrough the cable that controlled them. He knelt by the rear door to the house,working with lockpicks to open it. There was a satisfying click as the lockgave way to his efforts.

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