Page 15 of Absent Feeling

“Whenwas that?” Simon asked.

“Fiveyears ago. Since then, she’s been here alone. You’ve seen the yard; it was allgetting a bit too much for her, but she was still happy with her work, and shestill had her friends. They would go out on these road trips on the weekend,visiting all the places they’d planned on seeing when they were younger butnever got around to.”

Ambercouldn’t help smiling at that. It seemed as though Constance Banks had beendetermined to wring as much from life as possible.

“Whatwas her job?” Amber asked. “You said she was happy with her work; what did shedo?”

“Mymother worked as a librarian,” James said. “Among other things, it means thatthis old place is absolutely full of books. I have no idea what I’m going to dowith them all now. With any of it.”

Because,of course, he would inherit all of this. If it were just a single murder, Amberguessed that would make him a potential suspect, with a strong motive, but thelocal PD had already cleared him even before the second murder took place.

Itwas frustrating how few links there seemed to be between the victims. They weredifferent ages, lived in different areas of town, and worked in differentfields. There seemed to be no context in which the killer could have picked outboth Constance and Raymond to be his victims, and no obvious point that wouldmake him choose both of them if he were simply settling on a particular victimtype. They were simply too different from one another.

“Whenyou found the Rorschach test card, did it mean anything to you?” Amber askedbecause it was the most unusual part of all of this. It was the part that madethe murders stand out and which linked them most clearly, so that they had tobe by the same killer.

“Iwas in shock at the time,” James pointed out. “I had just found my mother.”

Amberfound herself looking around the room, trying to find anything that would lether make the connection she needed. Her eyes fell on a bookcase there,automatically skimming the titles. She was surprised to find several there onpsychology.

“James,can I ask you, why are there so many psychology books here?”

Itwasn’t much to latch onto, but Amber couldn’t help the feeling that it mightmean something. She had to check.

“Well… yes, I guess there are a few. My father, David Banks, was a psychiatrist,though, so it was just from that.”

Thatone piece of information was enough to stop Amber short. She’d thought thatthere was no potential connection here, but now, a possible one was staring herin the face. She knew that she had to dig deeper, though, to try to understandit.

“Yourfather was a psychiatrist?”

Shesaw James nod. “Until the day he died. He was always working, either down atthe hospital or in his study here.”

“Heworked here?” Simon said, the note of interest in his voice obvious to Amber.He’d obviously seen the significance of the connection too.

“Yes.He kept his study just the way he wanted it. I don’t think my mother eventouched it after his death. I can show you if you like.”

“Yes,please,” Simon said.

Jamesled the way through the house, and Amber followed eagerly, sure that this wasthe connection they’d been looking for. They reached a small door near the footof the stairs, which James unlocked with a key.

Itwas dusty, like it had simply been left untouched for months, if not years. Therewas a large, oak desk, with a comfortable chair behind it and a couple of leather-boundledgers on it. There were bookshelves around the walls stuffed withpsychological and psychiatric books. There were several pictures of adistinguished looking man in his fifties who had to be James’s father.

Andthere were inkblots, framed and set around the walls the way someone else mighthave hung up artworks. They were like intricate butterflies hanging there, andthe moment Amber saw them, she was sure that this was the connection that she’dbeen looking for. Constance Banks might not have anything that linked directlyto Raymond Werdly, but her husband did.

Amberlooked over to Simon, who nodded. “Thank you, Mr. Banks. I think we’ve seeneverything we need to see here for now.”

Amberand Simon headed back out towards the car.

“Whatdo you want to do now?” Amber asked.

“Iwant to start looking into possible direct connections between Raymond Werdlyand David Banks. Did they have any of the same patients? Did they work at anyof the same places? There’s a chance that this isn’t random after all.”

Whichmeant that there was a chance to both work back towards the identity of thekiller and identify their next movements. The two of them would have to workquickly, though. They needed to establish the pattern before the murderer had achance to kill again.

CHAPTER TEN

Hewas watching the next house now, keeping his distance, trying to work out hisbest way in. He was carefully keeping out of sight among some trees, becausenow that the news of the first two people he’d killed had gotten around, he wassure that people would be more cautious. They would call the police the momentthey saw him or even come out armed to challenge him.

Hewould have to back off then, and even if he got away, the people here would bemore cautious. They would be ready for him when he came for them, and thatmight mean that he didn’t succeed in what he had to do, in the only thing thatwould make the voices of the past go quiet, even for a while.

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