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“This is DetectiveFrancesca Angelique. I need backup to my location: uniform to secure a crimescene, forensic teams, and the coroner.” She took a breath before she said thenext part, because she didn’t like the fact that she had to say it. She wantedto believe that she could handle this herself, but she also knew that this wastoo big, that it was spiraling out of control.
“And put in a callto the FBI. We’re going to need their help with this one.”
CHAPTER TWO
Amber Young’s eyesnarrowed as she worked on the puzzle box, trying to find an answer, movingquickly, not daring to hesitate even for a moment.
The puzzle box wasmeant to be almost impossible, but Amber was determined to find the rightanswers. She wouldn’t give up, wouldn’t slow down. Her fingers moved quickly,shuffling the pieces around, trying to find the right combination. She hadalways loved puzzles, the way that every piece fit together perfectly to createsomething beautiful. This box was no exception, and she was going to find a wayin. She had to.
Amber bent herpetite frame over the cube as she worked on it, her dark slacks stretching withthe movement. She pushed her glasses up high on her button nose. Her blondebraid swung into her field of vision and she flicked it back out of the way sothat she could concentrate. She had rolled up the sleeves of her cream sweaterto work, determined to get this right.
She could feel thepressure building up in her, every second that ticked past only making thetension in her muscles feel greater. Amber could feel her fingers fumbling withthat tension, slowing her down when she needed to move fast, making it harderto get the pieces of the puzzle to move in the right way.
There was somecomfort in knowing that she’d already gotten part of it right: a series oflevers whose pattern seemed to match that of a sine wave. That had lit up asecond section, forming a maze that it seemed she had to guide a marker throughwithout touching the lines. Amber was doing her best to achieve that now, hereyes flicking back and forth between the pattern on the box and the marker. Itwas a delicate process, and she could feel her fingers almost cramping with theeffort, but she was determined to get it right. One slip and she would have togo back to the start.
There was no timefor that. No time for anything now except to succeed.
More seconds wereslipping away. Amber was running out of time. The stakes here were high, butshe couldn’t let that distract her. She had to focus, to keep her mind sharpand clear. She couldn’t let her attention drift to anything beyond the puzzle,couldn’t think about what it would mean to succeed, or to fail.
Amber got themarker through the maze and allowed herself a brief breath before moving on to startwork on another face of the cube. This was a moving tiles puzzle, reconstructinga design that Amber quickly realized was a copy of the Mappa Mundi, the famousmedieval map of the known world. That meant that she had to recall as much asshe could of that medieval design, then try to shuffle the tiles, trying to getthem to produce the correct design. One false move, one misjudgment about howto move the tiles, and she could lose precious, irreplaceable time on this.
Amber gritted herteeth and kept going. She knew she was getting closer, that she was makingprogress, but she also knew that she couldn’t afford to get complacent. Thepuzzle box was a test, a challenge designed to push her to her limits. Failurewasn’t an option.
She continued towork on the tiles, moving them around until she had the correct pattern. Therewas a click, and then the box started to shake.
It took Amber afew seconds to realize that there was a pattern to the shaking, a second or twolonger to understand that the pattern consisted of long and short bursts ofvibration. Morse code. It was a trick that might have caught a lot of peopleout, not understanding what was happening, but Amber could pick out the lettersas easily as if she were reading them.
Amber turned tothe next face of the cube, seeing letters there arranged like a computerkeyboard. Amber used it to type in the letters that the Morse code was spellingout.
Open me and see
There was a click,and Amber felt a sudden sense of triumph as the sides of the cube fell away,revealing an envelope within. Amber tore it open and read what was written on thefolded sheet of velum inside.
What can’t talk,but will reply when spoken to?
That was almosttoo easy.
“An echo!” Ambercalled out, looking up from the box. “The answer is an echo!”
Applause eruptedall around Amber. To either side of her, the line of the other competitorsgroaned. Most set down their puzzle boxes. Amber was gratified to see that themajority of them were at least a full face of the cube behind her. Some werebarely even halfway.
Amber looked on intriumph as a few of them kept working, obviously wanting to complete the cubejust to see how quickly they could do it. But Amber knew that she had alreadywon this round. She was the best puzzle solver in the room, and she had theproof right in front of her.
As Amber savoredher victory, she couldn’t help but think about what had led her here. She’dalways loved puzzles, had practiced them and learned all about them ever sinceshe was a girl. Now, at twenty-six, she’d spent time as the puzzle editor oftheWashington News, and she had become an FBI agent.
Amber knew thatshe was the one that everyone was watching. She had been the favorite to winthis puzzle challenge from the start. That had brought its own kind of pressurewith it, and now that she had solved it, she felt a deep sense of relief.
She looked around,taking in the sights and sounds of the room. It was a large auditorium, filledwith dozens of people. Some were competitors, while others were spectators,enthusiasts, there to watch the puzzle competition and see the best take oneanother on. The air was filled with the sounds of clicking and clacking andshuffling as people worked on their puzzles.
The MC of theevent, a tall, thin man with a microphone, approached her from the side of thestage. “Ladies and gentlemen,” he said, his voice echoing through theauditorium, “I present to you the winner of the puzzle challenge, and earningan invitation to our national final, Amber Young!” The crowd erupted into moreapplause, and Amber felt herself blushing with pleasure. It wasn’t just thatshe’d won, it was that everyone there hadseenher win.
The MC handed hera small trophy, a silver cube with a puzzle piece engraved on one side. “Congratulations,”he said, smiling broadly. “You’ve earned this.”
Amber smiled back,feeling a sense of pride wash over her. She held the trophy up high, feelingthe weight of it in her hand. She knew that this was just a small victory, butit was a victory nonetheless.
That victory wasonly made sweeter as her boyfriend, Joseph, came out of the crowd, hurryingtoward her. He was tall, dark-haired, and handsome, with high cheekbones anddark eyes Amber could easily lose herself in. He was a reporter with theWashingtonNews, and he took several photographs of Amber as she stood there,holding the trophy.
“Planning anotherstory on me?” Amber asked, wrapping her arms around him and kissing himbriefly, swept up in the excitement of the moment. Or at least, it made a goodexcuse to kiss him.
