Page 36 of Absent Feeling

“That’san … interesting theory,” Detective Heart said. He didn’t sound as though hebelieved it was likely to be true, though.

“We’redealing with someone who is obviously mad in some way, or why murder likethis?” Amber pointed out. “The motive only has to make sense to the killer.”

“Ok,I can buy that maybe he was obsessed with the Rorschach patterns, but I stillwant to see something linking him physically to the crimes.”

“Ifhe hadn’t caused such a scene at the Wellness Institute, then maybe we wouldhave had a chance to look,” Amber suggested. Maybe that had even been thepoint. Maybe the doctor had gambled that he could distract the FBI agentsvisiting him and get them to ignore whatever evidence he had in his office bymaking them focus on him instead. Amber wondered if she and Simon should goback to search Dr. Harvis’s office.

Simoncame back to them then. He didn’t look happy.

“Thatwas Palliser,” he said. “She wanted to know what progress we were making, and Ihad to tell her about bringing in Dr. Harvis. I didn’t tell her everything thathappened, but she’s still not happy. She wants results.”

“So,we go in there and get answers,” Amber suggested. Even as she said it, she sawthe lawyer waving them in.

“Notyou, Amber,” Simon said.

Thatmade Amber stop and stare at him. “What do you mean, not me?”

“Yousaw that lawyer,” Simon said. “He’s the kind who’ll make a big deal about youstill being a consultant. And … well, you were pretty impulsive back there. Idon’t think I can afford to have you in the room on this.”

“ButI might be able to help,” Amber insisted.

Simonshook his head, though. “I’ll take this one with Detective Heart. If you wantto be useful, run as much background as you can on Dr. Harvis. Try to findsomething incriminating, some reason why he would want to kill these threepeople.”

Amberwanted to say no, wanted to insist that she should be a part of this, but sheknew that she didn’t have some automatic right to be in the interrogation, andshe could remember the things Simon had said earlier about her needing to dowhatever was necessary for the investigation, not just what she wanted.

Thatraised concerns for her, more questions to worry about when it came to whethershe should become an FBI agent. Could she work like this, taking orders, doingthis someone else’s way? She thought of Simon as a friend. Could she handle himas something closer to a boss?

Amberhad to force herself to nod. “I’ll do what I can.”

“You’llstill be able to listen to the interrogation,” Detective Heart said.

Simonshook his head again, though. “I need Amber back at our desk, researching. Ifyou find anything, message it through to me, Amber.”

Again,Amber made herself nod. She was there to help, so she would help as much as shecould.

WhileSimon and the detective went through into the interrogation room, Amber wentback out into the main office of the Guisborough PD. She headed back to thedesk that she was working from, using a terminal there to start to pull up moreinformation about Dr. Harvis. She guessed that Simon wouldn’t want all of this,so the question was how to reduce it to something manageable, finding the partsthat might actually help to get answers out of the doctor.

Itwas frustrating being there at the desk, rather than in the interrogation room.It felt as though Amber was being punished for following her training, movingto stop a man from lashing out. Ok, so he said that he was reaching for hisphone, but Amber had no way of being certain of that at the time, did she?

Didshe, or had she just been so on edge trying to prove herself that she’d actedwithout really thinking? Amber didn’t know, but the result was that she had tobe here, rather than in the place where she could help the most.

No,Amber was determined to find a way to help here. She started to look for Dr.Harvis’s work and started to skim through it, trying to find answers. She foundher eye drawn by his suggestions for new inkblots to add to the existing set. Hisargument seemed to be that adding them would allow the Rorschach test to havegreater diagnostic power in a wider range of conditions. Copying the images,Amber sent them through to Simon.

Askhim about the design we found at the scene,she messaged to him.

Amberkept looking online, looking for images of the doctor. It wasn’t hard to findpictures of him with all of the victims so far. Even Constance Banks, standingbeside her husband and Dr. Harvis. She sent those to Simon as well, wonderingif it would do any good. Judging by the way he had been back in his office,Amber doubted that Dr Harvis had any intention of answering any of theirquestions.

Itwas frustrating, and not just because Amber couldn’t find out what was going onwithout heading back to the interrogation room against Simon’s instructions.No, not instructions, orders. Again, he’d treated her like she was asubordinate who had to be told what to do in every situation, not like someonehe truly trusted to work alongside him.

Ambergot up, frustrated. She needed some air. This time, she didn’t even care if thereporters spotted her outside. She needed to think. Walking out of the office,Amber headed through the police department’s reception area and then out intothe open air. There were fewer reporters there than there had been, but theystill called out questions as Amber passed.

“Ms.Young, have you made any progress on the case?”

“Youhave a suspect in custody. Does that mean that you’ve found the murderer?”

“Whenwill you be joining the FBI full-time as an agent?”

Amberkept walking, even though the last question made her want to stop. The truthwas that she didn’t know the answer to it. She still didn’t know if she wantedto accept Agent Palliser’s offer. If anything, she was further away fromaccepting that ever. What kind of partnership would it be between her and Simonif he pulled rank on her every time they disagreed, and he didn’t allow Amberto pursue the things that she felt certain were relevant?

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