Page 38 of Absent Feeling

Noneof it matched, not even when Amber considered the possibility that the inkblotmight be a kind of map. Its shape didn’t seem to match up to the state or thecity, nothing that might prove helpful in the case. The edges weren’t quitesquared off, and there were lines of darker color within it that looked asthough they might represent something, but Amber couldn’t see what.

“You’reobsessing,” she told herself at last. By this point, her coffee was almostcold, but she barely noticed as she drank it and ordered another. “Simon wasright; there’s nothing here.”

Thatwas a thought that brought a fresh wave of frustration with it, and not justbecause of the disappointment of Amber’s big idea about the relevance of theinkblot not panning out. It wasn’t just that this clue wouldn’t lead them tothe murderer; it was that it meant this case really wasn’t a puzzle waiting tobe unlocked, the way the previous ones Amber had worked on had been. If therewasn’t a puzzle at its heart, then Amber’s confidence in her ability to provideSimon with an answer could only ebb away. She was good at solving puzzles, notguessing the psychological motivations of murderers.

Someonelike Dr. Harvis might be better than Amber at that, but she had already messedup any chance there was of her and Simon working with him. He’d been combativeanyway, but the moment Amber had tackled him, thinking he was about to attack, anyremaining hope that he might help had gone. Soon, he would be back in theGuisborough Wellness Institute, seeing another one of his outpatients and probablycontemplating all the different ways he could sue Amber and Simon.

Outpatients.Amber froze in place, staring at her second coffee as she contemplated thatword. It had surprised her when she’d realized that the Wellness Institute hadthem, but she hadn’t been able to focus on the significance of that thoughtbecause she’d been busy thinking about talking to Dr. Harvis.

Now,though, Amber found herself considering it. She guessed that their searches withMs. Dern had been solely focused on the patients being held thereinvoluntarily. That meant that there was potentially a whole other pool ofpatients they could search for possible suspects.

Wasit possible that there was a patient violent enough to have done this who wasonly an outpatient? Maybe not initially, but Amber was willing to bet thatthere was at least one who had been released, supposedly rehabilitated, but whowas still visiting the Wellness Institute for regular appointments. Someone whomight have met all three of the victims.

Amberfelt a surge of excitement and hope at that idea. It felt like the right one.This had something to do with the Wellness Institute, she was sure of it, andthis idea potentially gave them a way to narrow things down to a singlesuspect.

Amberhurried out of the café, determined to get back to the precinct to run this newidea past Simon. She just hoped that this one would be the one that would leadthem to the killer.

Amberran back along the street in the direction of the Guisborough PD. She thoughtthat she might have to push her way past the reporters near the door, but theyseemed to be lined up in front of Dr. Harvis, who was giving what appeared tobe a press conference, accompanied by his lawyer.

“Theway I have been treated by the FBI is completely unacceptable. I intend to suethem for wrongly arresting me, for assaulting me, and for defaming me by makingit sound as if I am some kind of deranged monster rather than a respectedacademic!”

Atleast that gave Amber an opportunity to slip inside and head up to the office.Simon was there, not looking happy with the way the case was going.

“Wherehave you been, Amber?”

“Ihad an idea,” Amber said. It seemed better to lead with that rather than anythingelse.

Shesaw Simon frown. “What idea?”

“TheWellness Institute has outpatients. What if the killer is one of them? Someonethey all thought was reformed, but who secretly hated everyone he came intocontact with?”

Thatseemed to catch Simon’s interest. He stood there in the middle of the office,considering it. “That might let us narrow down the list of patients,” he said.“We need to call the administrator again.”

Hewent over to the desk they were sharing to make the call, and Amber couldn’thelp pacing in front of it while she waited for Ms. Dern to answer. Her voicefinally came onto the line.

“Hello?”

“Thisis Agent Phelps,” Simon said.

“Isit true that you arrested one of our members of staff?” Ms. Dern asked.

“Weattempted to interview him and when he became uncooperative, we were forced tobring him in to question him,” Simon said. “We have now established that he hadnothing to do with any of this, but we need your help to look through patientrecords again.”

“Again?I don’t want to be unhelpful, but I’m not sure what else there is we can do.Especiallywhen you just arrested one of our people.”

“Wedo have a warrant, Ms. Dern,” Simon pointed out. “And we’re trying to catch akiller. I get that you’re angry with us right now, but I believe that you wantto help us bring this individual to justice,especiallywhen the killerseems to be targeting individuals connected with your institution.”

“I… that’s true, but I don’t see what good this will do. We already looked forpatients who meet your criteria.”

“Whatabout outpatients?” Amber asked. “Would your search have covered someone whowas previously held there but released a long time ago and who now attends onlyas an outpatient?”

“Well… no, but typically, outpatients are less serious cases, certainly lessdangerous.”

“Couldyou check anyway, please?” Simon asked.

“Allright, but I—wait, there’s something here.” Ms. Dern sounded surprised by that.“Chris Avery. He was released … oh, years ago now. We don’t even have theoriginal files, but I remember some of the details, and we have his outpatientnotes. He murdered his wife and was locked up here, diagnosed with paranoidschizophrenia.”

Exactlythe kind of thing that a Rorschach test might be used in the diagnosis of.

---