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That was all therewas, though. There was no sign of the victim. They’d gone there certain thatthis was the right place, but there was nothing. They’d hit a dead end.
Amber feltsomething close to panic rising in her. She’d been the one to decipher thehangman clue, to solve the puzzle, yet she hadn’t taken them to the rightplace. That meant that, somewhere out in the city, there was a victim slowlydying. They might already be dead. Amber had failed before, and now she wasfailing again.
No, she wouldn’tlet that happen. She wouldn’t give in so easily. She would use every last scrapof time to find the victim.
“We have to be inthe right place,” Francesca said. “The street where this began. This is thestreet where the first murder took place.”
Amber froze inplace, a thought coming to her, sparked by Francesca’s words.
“But that’s notwhere this began, not for him,” she said. “All through this, it’s been aboutsome kind of twisted justice for the failures of the WM 120 project. That’swhere this began, for the killer.That’sthe starting point, not thefirst kill.”
Amber saw Simon’seyes widen. “You’re right,” he said. “The killer’s obsession with WM 120 hasbeen at the heart of this from the beginning. Which means…”
“We need to lookfor a building on the same street as the Westford-Myer Motor Company,” Ambersaid.
Francesca chimedin. “When the whole court case happened, they contracted their operation. Theygave up several nearby buildings that they’d been using as workshops andR&D facilities.”
“And was one ofthem connected to the WM 120?” Amber asked.
Francesca got outher phone. Amber knew she would be scanning through the court files, trying tofind an address.
“Yes, it’s here inthe files. The R&D building where the 120 was designed was abandoned.Westford-Myer seemed to think it showed them making a clean break after theirmistake.”
“You think that’swhere the victim is?” Simon asked.
“It’s the onlyplace left,” Amber replied.
It was more thanthat, though. It was a place that perfectly represented Steven Boon’s obsessionwith the project. A space that represented another sort of crime from the onesthat had been associated with the buildings he’d picked so far.
“We have to movefast,” Amber said.
She just hopedthat they would be in time to save the life of Steven Boon’s latest victim.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
Every second thatthe ride over lasted was like torture to Amber. She knew that, somewhere ahead,a victim would probably already be on the verge of being hanged by Boon’s crueldevice, if they weren’t already being dragged into the air by it.
She cursed herselffor the time she’d wasted, for taking a wrong turn in the puzzle, for notseeing at once that this had to be what Boon meant. At the same time, she hopedagainst hope that they would be in time.
The R&D facilitylay just ahead, on the side of the road leading up to the main Westford-Myerfacility. The workshop was a massive building, square and squat, with a coupleof windows boarded up and some old dumpsters abandoned at the side.
Amber could see afaint light shining through one of its windows, and she knew that their searchwas finally over. It was clear that the building wasn’t as abandoned as itappeared from the outside. A closer look showed her a black panel van parkedaround the side, where it was hard to see from the road. Had that been leftthere when the workshop closed, or did it mean that someone was there?
“This is theplace,” Amber said. “It has to be.”
The car skidded toa stop, hard enough to throw Amber forward against her safety belt. Without aword, she and the others jumped out of the car and ran toward the building,their weapons at the ready.
There was anunlocked door at the side of the building, another sign that this place wasanything but empty right now. As they entered the R&D facility, the smellof rust and machinery filled their nostrils. The sound of something whirringechoed through the halls, and their footsteps were the only other sound as theymade their way forward.
The interior ofthe building was a maze, and mostly dark, except for a faint light ahead,somewhere deeper inside the facility. Amber turned on her flashlight toilluminate the space ahead, but it was Simon who took the lead. Amber did herbest to cover him, with Francesca bringing up the rear.
Amber’s heart waspounding in her chest as she searched for any signs of Boon or his victim. Sheknew they were running out of time, and she couldn’t shake the feeling thatthey might already be too late.
***
Deeper inside thefacility, Steven Boon tried to keep himself from letting out a cry of rage andfrustration.
“How?” The wordcrept out before he could stop it. How had the police managed to get here, to theplace where he was executing Sydney Locksen before she got the justice shedeserved?
