Page 28 of Absent Feeling

“Veryrarely. I did most of my work in forensic psychology before I moved to thearea, and I’ve since focused more on applications of psychology withinbusiness.”

“Wasthat hard for you to do?” Amber asked. It intrigued her that someone had gonefrom an area where they were working directly with criminals, trying to make adifference, to taking a step back and focusing on something other people wouldhave called more mundane. It sounded far too close to the decision she wastrying to make in her own life.

“No,”Dr. Lloyd said. “Ultimately, I realized that I had done my share. I chose toreprioritize my life to focus on the thingsIwanted to do. I see noreason to apologize for that.”

Wasthat what Amber should do? Focus on the thing that she loved most in the world,puzzles, even though there was a chance for her to make more of a difference inthe FBI? What did she have left to prove to herself now that she’d passed thetraining and caught two killers?

“Evenso, I think you might want to take extra precautions for a few days,” Simonsaid. “This killer appears to be targeting people in the psychiatricprofessions.”

“Ialready have,” Dr. Lloyd replied. “I watch the news, the same as everyone else.But you didn’t just come here to warn me, did you?”

Simonshook his head and took out the latest inkblot.

“We’vebeen finding cards like this at the crime scenes. We believe that they might belinked to the Rorschach test in some way, especially given that the victims sofar have all had psychiatric links.”

“MayI?” Dr. Lloyd took the card, turning it over between her elegantly manicuredhands. “Are you aware that this is not, strictly speaking, one of the standardRorschach cards?”

“Weknow,” Amber said. That had been her point all along, her reason for suspectingthat it was the key to some kind of puzzle.

“Whichmay mean that your killer has designed it to reflect something specific that hefeels,” Dr. Lloyd went on. “It may represent the emotional state that he entersin order to kill, or some event from his past that has triggered his violence.”

“Andcould we work out what that event is?” Simon asked.

Dr.Lloyd shook her head. “The Rorschach test is, by its nature, projective. Thepoint of it is to give an ambiguous stimulus for the patient to react to.”

“Haveyou used it in your work?” Amber asked.

“Iused to, occasionally. Now, it isn’t really relevant, and of course, there arethose who argue quite strongly against it.”

Thatseemed to catch Simon’s interest. “Does that include anyone local?”

Dr.Lloyd frowned for a moment and then nodded. “Ashley Seaver, for one. He hasbeen a campaigner against the use of the test for several years. His ownexperiences with it have left him … quite angry on the subject.”

Thequestion now was how angry? Angry enough to kill over it? Angry enough totarget those who might have helped to administer the test to people? Angryenough to leave his own rage filled interpretation of one of the cards at everyscene?

Simonseemed to be thinking the same thing because he looked over at Amber.

“Ithink we need to go talk to Ashley Seaver. At the very least, this is someonewho can give us some insight into people who are against the Rorschach test.”

Andif they were lucky, he might also turn out to be someone whose objections to ithad spilled over into much more violent methods.

*

“Doyou really think Seaver might be the killer?” Amber asked as they pulled upoutside the address for Seaver that they’d gotten from the DMV.

“It’shard to say,” Simon said. “Sometimes, people do extreme things to make theirpoint if they think that no one’s listening.”

“So,he’s a suspect?” Amber wanted to know how they were going to approach this.

“Apotential suspect. For now, though, he’s someone who can potentially provide uswith more information on the Rorschach test. I don’t want to go in too hard tostart with.”

Ambernodded. She’d been willing to back Simon up if he’d been about to charge inthere and demand answers from Ashley Seaver, but she agreed that it wasprobably better to approach this calmly. There was nothing beyond a vaguesuspicion to connect him to any of this, after all, and he also had thepotential to tell them more.

AshleySeaver lived in a small, single-story house on the fringes of the town, with anovergrown yard, as if he didn’t have the time to give it any of his attention.

Amberand Simon walked up to the front door, trying the bell. It took several secondsbefore there was any answer, but eventually, the door creaked open.

Theman who stood in the doorway was a little shorter than Simon, shaven headed andwith a short, blond beard. He was probably in his early thirties, wearing jeansand a plaid shirt. He looked out at the two of them with suspicious eyes.

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