AllFreeNovel
Share Us
As far as Ambercould tell at first glance, there wasn’t anything to be found in the papers,but she wanted to go through them more thoroughly.
“I think we shouldtake all of these back to the precinct,” she said. “At the very least, they’reevidence that he’s the killer that we’ll need when there’s a trial, but theremight also be something here that will help.”
“I’ll haveforensics bag it all up,” Francesca said. “For now, though, I want to get backto the department. Boon obviously isn’t here, and we need the department’sresources to conduct a proper manhunt.”
***
“Do you have anyidea where Steven might be?” Amber asked the man on the other end of the phone.His name was Raymond, and he had been a colleague of Steven’s at an engineeringfirm before Steven left to work for Westford-Myer.
Raymond hesitatedbefore answering. “I haven’t spoken to Steven in a few days,” he said. “Normally,we talk pretty regularly. I spoke to him about a week ago, and he sounded likehe was in a pretty bad place. He kept talking about some project he was workingon, but wouldn’t go into details. I could tell that he was struggling withsomething, but he wouldn’t tell me what it was.”
It had been thesame story from everyone she’d talked to so far, making calls to those ofSteven Boon’s family and friends they’d been able to identify, trying to findout if any of them had had any contact with him recently.
Amber almost hungup then, but a part of her wanted to know more. She suspected that the more sheknew about Steven Boon, the better the chances were of being able to predicthis next move.
“You worked withSteven before he joined Westford-Myer? What was he like?”
Raymond paused, asif considering his words carefully. “Steven was…a little different. I mean, hewas brilliant, there was no denying that. But sometimes, he was so focused onhis work that he didn’t seem to know what was going on around him.”
“In what way?”Amber prompted.
“Well, forexample, one time there was a fire alarm in the building, and everyone startedto evacuate. But Steven stayed at his desk, working away. We had to go back andphysically drag him out of the building.”
Amber felt a chillrun down her spine. It sounded like Steven Boon was a man who was willing to dowhatever it took to get the job done, even if it meant putting himself andothers in danger. It sounded as though he was obsessed.
“Did Steven evertalk to you about the WM 120 project?” Amber asked.
Raymond hesitated.“He mentioned it a few times, but he always seemed…I don’t know, uncomfortableabout it. Like he didn’t want to talk too much about it. And after that wholebusiness with the recall, I didn’t want to ask him too much.”
“Raymond,” Ambersaid, “can you tell me anything that might help me to understand why Stevenstarted killing his colleagues on the WM 120 project?”
“I…” There wasanother pause on the other end of the line. “I know he wasn’t happy when thelawsuit came in, the one that led to the recall. He thought… he mentioned oncethat he thought the company was covering up how bad things were, just trying tomake it go away rather than dealing with the problem.”
“But he would havebeen one of those involved in designing the vehicle,” Amber pointed out. “Hewould have been implicated in the lawsuit, along with the company.”
“I know, and whenthe case collapsed, I expected him to be relieved, but… I think he felt guiltyabout that. I’m sorry, I don’t know what else to tell you.”
Amber thanked himand hung up. It was frustrating, but at least they were making progress. Theywere starting to build a picture of Steven Boon, and hopefully, that would leadthem to him.
“I’ve got nothingfrom the location searches,” Francesca called out across the Westford PDoffices. “Nowhere stands out to me, and there’s no sign of anywhere he might beusing as a bolt hole.”
Simon nodded. “Thecar is a dead end. It was found abandoned in a parking lot. He’s obviouslyswitched vehicles.”
Which meant thatit wasn’t going to be easy to find Steven Boon. He’d been clever.
But Amber wasn’tgoing to give up. She knew they had to keep digging, keep searching until theyfound him. It was their duty to bring him to justice for the lives he hadtaken.
She sat at herdesk, going over the papers from Boon’s apartment again, trying to findanything that might start to provide a clue as to where he was. Her firstimpressions had been correct, though: while these provided plenty of evidenceof his involvement in the murders, they didn’t help to provide a location wherehe might be now.
Amber neededsomething else; she needed to think more about Boon, the kind of man he was. Itwasn’t idle curiosity. Amber had found that, with puzzles, the personality ofthe question setter often intruded more than they thought. They would producepuzzles based on favorite books, movies, historical facts. The puzzles someonecreated said as much about their personalities as anything else they did, maybemore.
What did thechoice of hangman say about Steven Boon? The connection to the method ofkilling was the most obvious reason he’d picked it, but what else was there? Itshowed that he liked things to be straightforward, perhaps, even if the detailsof putting everything in place were anything but that.
“Francesca, howmany officers have you had talking to Boon’s family and friends?” Amber asked.
“A few, why?”
“Are their notesand statements anywhere here?”
