Page 41 of Absent Feeling

Simonanswered. “We have a suspect in custody and will let you know more as soon as we’reable to.”

Itwas a cautious answer, but Amber could hear the note of triumph there, the onethat she knew the reporters would hear. Simon might not be saying that they hadtheir guy yet, but the very fact that he’d answered the question would let thereporters jump to that conclusion.

Thefact that Chris Avery was still trying to attack the two of them would onlyhelp with that. Footage of him thrashing and trying to strike at Amber andSimon would hit the news channels in a matter of minutes, letting everyone seehow wild he was, and how dangerous.

Fornow, the key thing was to get him in there. Amber kept moving forward, keptholding onto Avery until they were all inside and three strong looking membersof the Guisborough PD could take over for her and Simon.

Amberand Simon led the way into the office area, heading for one of theinterrogation rooms. Amber could feel the eyes of the police officers anddetectives on her. Detective Heart came up to them.

“Who’sthis?” he asked as the three police officers continued to manhandle Averytowards an interrogation room.

“Thisis Chris Avery,” Simon said. “Our killer.”

Therewas none of the caution that he’d employed with the reporters. Simon seemedcertain, but then, why wouldn’t he be? This was a man who had attacked them themoment they’d started to question him, a man who had a connection to thevictims and who clearly hated the Rorschach test.

“Youcaught him?” Detective Heart said. He sounded like he didn’t believe it for amoment, but then Amber saw him look closer at Avery as the police officersdragged him to the interrogation room. “You actually caught him.”

Thetrio of police officers shut Avery in the interrogation room, leaving him inthere alone, still cuffed. Instantly, he stormed around it, kicking out at thewalls and door as if he might break out simply by smashing everything there. Heshouted and raged as he did so, the hatred on his face visible.

“I’llkill you! I’ll kill all of you! You’re evil! You’ve been trying to kill me foryears!”

Hewas wild, the words difficult to make out because of the ways the angerdistorted them. Amber could see Detective Heart looking at him through the one-wayglass, staring with a kind of satisfaction.

“It’sreally him, isn’t it?”

Simonnodded. “It’s looking pretty likely. We’ll need more physical evidence to tiehim to this, and we’ll need as much background as we can get on him, but I’msure now that we’ll find it.”

“I’llget a forensic team to his place to search his place thoroughly,” DetectiveHeart said. “If there’s anything to link him physically to the crimes, thenwe’ll find it. What do you have on him so far?”

Simonlooked over to Amber. “You came up with the idea that found him, Amber. Whydon’t you set it out for the detective?”

Ambercould hear the note of praise there, and she had to admit that it felt goodcompared with how things had been between them before.

“ChrisAvery is an outpatient at the Guisborough Wellness Institute. He was formerlyheld there after he murdered his wife. He stabbed her to death. He was declaredinsane after a Rorschach test, and just the mention of it was enough to makehim attack us. He hasn’t provided an alibi.”

Simonheld up an evidence bag then, containing the knife that Avery had tried to useto kill them. “This is the knife he attacked us with. We should get it tested tosee if it matches the wounds on the victims.”

DetectiveHeart nodded, taking the knife from Simon. “I’ll see to it. We’ll findeverything we need to put this bastard away. A confession would be good,though.”

Ambersaw Simon nod towards where Avery was raging. “We’ll have to wait for him tocalm down first.”

Amberdidn’t think that was going to happen anytime soon. Avery seemed to haveutterly lost control of himself, unable to calm down even for a moment.

Thatworried her, slightly. This was a man who seemed to be incapable of actingcalmly, who reacted violently and suddenly, without thought. Who didn’t seem tobe able to come back to himself once he was caught up in his anger.

Thatdidn’t seem to fit with what Amber knew of the killer. This was a man who hadcalmly broken into people’s homes, who had confronted them and only then killedthem. A man who burst into rage to stab his victims, but who then carefully,calmly, arranged the scene to fit the image he had in his mind. That suggesteda man whose storming rage broke quickly, whereas Chris Avery seemed to beincapable of calming down.

“Doesthis seem right to you?” Amber asked Simon.

Simonfrowned. “What do you mean?”

“Thekiller is calm after he kills. He has a burst of violence and then he’s back incontrol. Avery isn’t. Look at him.”

“Thiscould just be because he’s been caught,” Simon said. “We’ll need to get apsychiatrist in to assess him. My guess is that he’ll be declared insane againand go straight back into the Wellness Institute.”

Ambercouldn’t argue with that part, but she still wasn’t convinced about Averyraging purely because he’d been caught. She wasn’t an expert, but to her, itseemed that this kind of rage was a part of Avery’s nature, essential to who hewas.

“I’mreally not certain that he could have done this,” Amber said.

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