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He didn’t want that,at least not before his work was completed. After that… well, he didn’t careabout himself. The dead certainly didn’t care about him. They spent as muchtime telling him that he should be dead as they did telling him to kill histargets. To execute them the way they deserved.
For now, he had toleave her where she was outside the cafe, however difficult it was to do that.He had to get back in his van, force himself to drive away. It wasn’t time totake her yet.
Instead, he droveto the location he had picked out for the next round of the game. It was onethat he had already scouted out, one that would make for the perfect game ofhangman with the authorities, reminding them that they had done nothing toprevent the deaths of those killed by the cars, just as they could do nothingto prevent the deaths of those responsible. It was a place that had a beautifulirony to it.
He moved insideandset up the winch. In spite of the device’s large metal frame it didn’ttake him long to get everything in place, and he felt a sense of satisfactionas he stepped back to admire his handiwork.
Soon, SydneyLocksen would pay for her inaction with her life.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“Jack Morrison hasan alibi.”
Those were thewords that Amber had been hoping not to hear, even as she’d dreaded that shewould.
Francesca wasstanding across from her in the offices of the Westford PD, with Simon sittingat a desk to one side.
“One of my peopleis watching him at the hospital,” she said. “He came around long enough to tellthem that at the time of Emily Chen’s abduction, he was at a local bar withtwenty witnesses, trying to drink his way through the grief. His friends saythat he’s been on a downward spiral ever since the court judgment. We’ll checkin with the bar, but it’s looking less like him by the moment.”
Amber felt a knotform in her stomach. Jack Morrison had been her prime suspect for the hangmanmurders, at least until she’d found him hanging by the side of the road. Now,she saw him for what he was: a man rocked by the grief for his dead family, onewho thought that there would never be answers or justice for them. He’d losteverything, and decided that there was simply nothing left to live for.
Amber sighedheavily, feeling the weight of the case bearing down on her. Jack Morrison hadseemed like the most likely suspect, and now that their theory had been blownapart, what did that mean for the investigation and the hopes of finding thekiller? It seemed that their investigation was going nowhere. She glanced overat Simon, hoping for some kind of comfort or reassurance, but he was watchingFrancesca. Amber saw the detective look across his way. Was there the faintestflicker of a smile there?
If so, why did shecare?
“So where doesthat leave us?” Amber asked finally.
Francescashrugged. “Back to square one, I’m afraid. We’ll keep looking into Morrison, ofcourse, in case his alibi breaks, but without a new lead, we’re at a dead end.”
Amber sighed,trying to think of anything else useful they could do. It seemed to her thatthere was no choice but to simply pick up where they had left off when theywent after Morrison.
“Then we go backto the list of people who were hurt or who had loved ones hurt,” Amber said. “Wetry to find someone else who matches the profile of an engineer living locally,someone whose case against the company shows that they might have had a grudgeagainst the company or the project. I know it’s not much to go on, but it’ssomething.”
Simon nodded. “Wedon’t have a lot of better options. We’ll start pulling files again and see ifthere’s anyone who stands out. Francesca, do you want to help with that?”
With Amber, wouldit have been a question, or simply an assumption?
Francesca smiledat Simon. “Of course. I’ll get on it right away. I’ll get a team to startlooking at some of the less likely people too, just in case there’s more therethan we think. Hopefully, we’ll find something soon.”
“Great,” Simonsaid, standing up from the desk. “Let’s get to work then.”
They started to gothrough the files again together, working through the claimants in the caseagainst the Westford-Myer Motor Company one by one. For each one, they had tolook into their location, their background, anything that might provide cluesas to whether they could have done this. They had to find reasons to eliminatethem one by one. The lawsuit was a huge pool of people with a potential motiveto want to hurt those connected with the WM 120, but now they needed toestablish who had the means and the opportunity.
To Amber, it felttoo much like they were going over old ground. They’d looked at the lawsuits. Asfar as she could tell, there was nothing new to uncover in the files, and thefrustration was palpable in the room. There weren’t any engineers other thanJack Morrison who lived locally and were involved in a lawsuit.
She knew they hadto keep trying, had to dosomething, though. They couldn’t give up untilthey had caught the person responsible for the hangman murders. They couldn’tjust sit back and wait for the answers to come to them. Amber couldn’t bear thethought of another victim being added to the list.
As they worked,Amber couldn’t help noticing the small looks between Simon and Francesca, themoments they found to move closer to one another. Amber was sure that she sawtheir hands brush, not quite accidentally.
She tried to pushthe thought out of her mind, focusing instead on the case at hand. But as thework wore on, the tension in the room seemed to grow thicker, and the glancesbetween the two became more frequent and intense. Amber felt as if she ought togo work somewhere else, just so that she wasn’t in the way.
Should Simon even bedoing that in the middle of a case? Should he be flirting with a localdetective like that, even if she was good-looking and intelligent? A part ofAmber wanted to tell them both to knock it off and focus on the case.
Amber had to admitthat what she was feeling in that moment was jealousy, but it didn’t makesensethat she should be jealous. After all, she didn’t feel anything for Simon,did she?
Did she? It wouldmake no sense to Amber if she did.
She had aboyfriend. One who was handsome, and kind, and…
