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Francesca pulledthem up on one of the computers for Amber to read.
She started to gothrough them, while at the same time looking through Steven Boon’s socialmedia, trying to get a sense of anything connected to him, anywhere that mightbe special.
This seemed to bea man who liked order, who, despite the appearance of his apartment, likedthings to be neat. Would he have been as neat about his choice of locations forthe murders?
“Dave Muldeer waskilled above a failed fish restaurant,” Amber said. “Francesca, is thereanything special about it?”
“There was onething that came up in my notes when I looked into the locations. It seems tohave been used for money laundering for a while. It only came out when thefamily closed it in the wake of their son’s death in the car accident.”
That caught Amber’sattention. She went back into the files. “Emily Chen was killed in an abandonedwarehouse. I remember you said that criminals had started to use it to storeillegal goods. Thomas Jackson? Where was he found?”
“The basement of ahouse. One that had been the home of a guy who worked as muscle for a localgang for a while,” Francesca said.
“So he’sdeliberately picking locations that have connections to other crimes?” Simonsaid, coming over. He could obviously see Amber’s interest in this. “But howdoes he know?”
“That’s thequestion,” Amber said. “There must be only a limited pool of locations that heknows about that fit his needs and that are connected to old crimes. He likelydoesn’t have access to police records. So what places does he know about?Francesca, where’s that list of locations connected to him?”
“There are toomany there, Amber,” she said.
“Not if we cross-referenceit with old crimes,” Amber insisted. She was sure that would reduce the numberof potential locations considerably.
Francesca noddedand began to pull up the old case files that connected to the locations on thelist. Amber leaned in closer, studying the files and trying to find anyconnections to Steven Boon. She looked at his old jobs, quickly researching thecompanies, trying to see if anything stood out.
It took a while,but finally, they found something. A few years ago, there had been a caseinvolving a company that Steven Boon had worked for before he joinedWestford-Myer. The company had turned out to be a front for a local gang. Onethat had been involved in money laundering and had used a series of locationsto funnel goods and funds through.
Amber’s heartraced as she made the connection. If Steven Boon had been involved in thatcase, he would know about the locations. He would know that they had beenabandoned.
“Francesca, do youhave a map of the city?” Amber asked.
Francesca pulledup a map of the city on her computer. Amber studied it for a moment, thenpointed to an old boathouse near a river on the far side of town. “There. Thatboathouse was a part of the operation, and it’s the last place on the list thathe would have known about. That’s where he’s planning to kill his next victim.It has to be.”
“That’s a big leapto make,” Francesca said.
“There’s nowhereelse on the list. Ithasto be there, unless he’s found some otherabandoned location where something wrong happened that he feels he has to makeright.”
Which meant thatthey had a chance to get there before Steven Boon did. If they staked it out,they had a chance to catch him in the act.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Sydney Locksencould feel nerves jangling through her like the keys in her purse. She hurriedthrough Westford, heart racing, shoes clicking sharply on the sidewalk as shekept barely the right side of running.
She was going tobe late. There was no stopping that now. The day of her interview for the newjob, and she was going to be late. She had been so confident, so sure that thiswas the job for her. She had spent weeks preparing, researching the company,practicing her interview questions. But now, all of that felt like it had beenfor nothing. She couldn’t believe that she had made such a rookie mistake,leaving her house late and not accounting for how busy it would be at this timeof the day.
It wasn’t like itwas easy to get a new job in Westford. Sydney had been doing temporary gigsever since she’d left Westford-Myer. It used to be a great name to have on herresume, but now, after the court case and the recall, it closed as many doorsas it opened.
Today, she was upfor a job working for a tech startup company that had a lot of buzz in theindustry. She had heard that the company was doing really well, and the CEO waslooking for a PA with her exact skill set. A PA would be a big step up for her.She couldn’t let this opportunity slip through her fingers.
Sydney paused acouple of streets over from where the company was located. She forced herselfto slow down. Appearing out of breath and sweating wasn’t going to help her getthe job.
Because she sloweddown, Sydney heard the footsteps behind her. She looked around and saw a manthere, heavily built and wearing a hooded sweater, with the hood up coveringhis face. Some instinct made Sydney shiver slightly and she started to walkagain, quickening her pace.
She wasn’t afraid,not exactly, but ever since the news reports had started to come out about thedeaths of people who’d worked at Westford-Myer, Sydney had found herselfworrying far more, looking over her shoulder when she went out with friends.Several times now, she’d crossed the street to keep away from people she’d beenworried about, quickened her step to get away from people who just seemed alittle… off. Each time, nothing had happened, of course.
There was nological reason for Sydney to be worried. She’d been no one at Westford-Myer; anadministrator, nothing more. But the media coverage had been relentless, thefear palpable in the air. And now, with this man behind her, Sydney felt herheart rate spike. Maybe it was just paranoia, but she couldn’t take anychances.
She turned acorner, hoping to lose the man, but the footsteps behind her only grew louder.Sydney’s heart began to race as she realized she really was being followed thistime, and she started to run. She couldn’t help it. Fear made her legs movefaster and faster, and the footsteps behind her did the same.
She felt like shewas running for her life as she turned another corner and finally saw thebuilding where the interview was being held. Sydney just had to make her wayalong a row of parked cars, past a black panel van, and then across the street.
