Page 21 of Absent Feeling

“Whatnow?” she asked Simon, hoping that he had a solution.

“I’mnot sure,” he admitted. “Matthew Aymes was the best shot we had. He was theobvious suspect.”

“Theonlysuspect,” Amber pointed out. That was what made this so difficult.Their search through the psychiatric institution’s records had yielded only oneresult that fit all the criteria they’d been looking for. If this had been somekind of logic puzzle, then it would have been impossible for him not to be thecorrect answer.

Yet,somehow, he wasn’t. Matthew had an alibi, one that was easy to check, and whichmeant that he couldn’t possibly have killed anyone. Amber’s mind immediatelyleapt to his sister, who was obviously angry at the fact that her brother hadbeen locked up and who clearly wanted to protect him, but the fact that they’dhad friends over last night meant that her alibi was as good as his.

“We’llhave to find a new one,” Simon said. “The killer’s out there somewhere, and I’mconvinced that the connection between the victims is more than justcoincidence.”

“So,do we head back to the police department and go through the case files again,maybe call a few more places they might have potentially worked together?”Amber wasn’t sure what it would take to make a breakthrough on this case, butshe was determined to keep going. There had to be something there that wouldlet them make progress.

“Inthe morning,” Simon said. “It’s getting late, and if we don’t have a clear leadto chase down, we don’t gain anything by pushing late into the night. We needto get some rest and come back fresh tomorrow. Maybe we’ll be able to seethings differently then.”

“Idon’t want to stop now,” Amber said. “I don’t want to stop before we have someway into all of this. The killer’s still out there, and if he’s killing soquickly, us stopping might mean that someone else dies.”

Shewouldn’t stop with a puzzle if she’d run into a dead end. Amber would keepworking on it, worrying at it like a dog with a bone, until she made someprogress. She wouldn’t be able to sleep if she just tried to leave it because theproblem would continue to be there at the back of her mind, refusing to go away.

“Inthe morning, Amber,” Simon insisted. “I know it’s frustrating, but we aren’tgoing to be able to make any more progress tonight, and I need you to be freshto start again tomorrow morning.”

Hedidn’t seem to be backing down, and Amber knew that she wasn’t going to be ableto change his mind. She certainly wasn’t going to be able to keep going withthe investigation alone. Hospitals had already made it clear that they weren’tgoing to hand over information just to her; she needed Simon for that part.

Itmeant that she didn’t have any choice other than to go along with Simon as hedrove out to a motel. Amber found herself thinking about the case as theydrove. Where had they gone wrong with the case? Amber ran over the chain oflogic that had led the two of them to Matthew Aymes and, no matter how shelooked at it, that chain of logic seemed irrefutable.

Thebest link that they had between the victims was the potential of Raymond Werdlyand Constance Banks’s husband David to have worked in the same place.Especiallygiven the Rorschach test angle. It had to be about something psychological.There was no way that it wasn’t. A patient who hated both Raymond and David wasthe most logical explanation of the killer and his motive. Which led back toMatthew Aymes.

Itdidn’t work somehow, and Amber couldn’t see how.

“Weshould at least check the alibi and try to break it,” she said. “If we can finda way to do that, Matthew becomes a viable suspect again.”

“Iwill, but do you really believe that it’s him?” Simon countered. “You saw him,Amber. He’s not in the middle of some kind of fresh breakdown, and it’s obviousthat he feels remorse for what he did. I just don’t see him doing this.”

“Buthe’s the most logical option,” Amber insisted.

“Maybein the morning, things will look different.”

Theyreached a motel. Simon got them a couple of rooms. He passed Amber the keycardto hers.

“Tryto get some sleep. Don’t spend all night going over this in your mind.”

“I’lltry,” Amber said, but she knew already that it was likely to be impossible tostop herself. Already, the question of how else this case could fit together ifnot around Matthew Aymes was lodged in the middle of her mind, refusing tomove.

Sheheaded into her room, looking around at the plainness of the motel bedroom. Ithad a bed, a chair, and a small table. Amber took the chair, set it down infront of the table and perched herself there with her phone while she tried towork out the best way to do something that might be useful on this case.

Shecouldn’t call the private psychiatric institutions and hospitals because Amberhad already seen that they wouldn’t talk to her without a badge number to quote,and they certainly wouldn’t hand out patient details without a warrant.

Maybethere was another way to do that side of things, though. Amber composed anemail, trying to work out the best way to get the smaller psychiatricinstitutions to give her what she needed.

I’mwriting as part of the investigation into the murders of Raymond Werdly andConstance Banks. My partner Agent Simon Phelps is heading up thatinvestigation. We are currently looking for any locations where Raymond Werdlymight have worked alongside a psychiatrist named David Banks. Can you pleasecontact Agent Phelps on the following email address to confirm whether the two haveworked at your institution, either separately or together.

AmberYoung (consultant).

Sheincluded Simon’s work email, knowing that it would look a lot more officialthan her own account. There was a chance that her efforts might actually get aresponse rather than being ignored. It was possible, wasn’t it, that thiswasn’t about the Guisborough Wellness Institute, but rather about events thathad occurred somewhere else? Sending the email was really the only thing thatAmber could do to find out.

Onceshe’d done that, though, Amber found herself calling up pictures of the inkblotsthat had been found at the crime scenes. She stared at them for a minute ortwo, trying to make sure that she would recognize them if she saw them. ThenAmber started to search for images of inkblots. She knew that this wasn’t oneof the ten main Rorschach ones, so that raised the possibility that it wassomething else—a historical example or a modern artwork.

Amberlooked through them one by one, trying to find one that matched exactly. Itwasn’t easy because while there were some that were obviously vastly different,there were others that were only a little way from being the same.

Didthat matter? Was this a design that was deliberately between two or three otherexamples, trying to reference them because they meant something to the killer?There was one called “the orchard” that was similar and another called “the tworivers”. Amber wondered if those two names were significant, maybe a clue to alocation where something had happened in the past.

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