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“Follow my fingerwith your eyes.”
Amber complied.
“How much pain doyou have in your throat?”
“It’s fine,” Amberassured her.
“That’s for me tosay,” the doctor insisted.
Amber rolled hereyes, but didn’t protest as the doctor continued to examine her. She knew itwas probably a good idea to get checked out, just in case, after almost beingstrangled to death. It was just frustrating to have to do it. She felt a bitsore from the struggle with Boon, but she was sure it was nothing too serious.
Amber sat on theedge of her hospital bed, wishing that she were anywhere else right then. No,not anywhere. She wished that she were in the interrogation room of theWestford PD, getting answers out of Boon along with Simon and Francesca.
Partly, that wasbecause Amber wanted to help to close the case, making sure that they had allthe answers they needed. Partly, she had to admit, it was because she didn’tlike the idea of leaving Simon and Francesca to work alone together as a team.
Finally, thedoctor finished her examination.
“You are, as yousay, fine. Just a bit bruised and shaken up, but nothing that won’t heal withtime,” she said, scribbling something down on a clipboard. “I’m confident thatcollapsing like that was an aftereffect of so much exertion so soon after beingnearly strangled to death. You should recover perfectly.”
“Good,” Ambersaid, relieved.
“You were lucky,”she said. “Another minute of strangulation and you could have suffered seriousdamage.”
“I know,” Ambersaid, feeling grateful that Francesca had come when she did.
“Very well, we’llrelease you in just a little while, once I’m sure there are no lingeringaftereffects.” The doctor left without saying exactly how long a little whilewas likely to be.
That left Ambersitting there, considering whether she should just get up and walk out. She wasstill considering it when both Simon and Francesca walked in.
“We thought we’dsee how you were doing,” Simon said.
“Shouldn’t youboth be back at the department?” Amber asked. She was surprised that they werethere, rather than finishing off the case against Steven Boon.
“We’re ahead ofschedule,” Francesca said, taking a seat beside the bed. “Boon’s confession waspretty straightforward once we had him alone.”
Amber raised aneyebrow. “You already got a confession out of him?”
Simon nodded. “Oncehe got past blaming everyone else for it. The whole thing was everyone else’sfault except his. The WM 120, the killings, all of it.”
“Which was how heended up confessing,” Francesca said. “He started to blame each of his victimsfor their own deaths, then us for not solving the puzzles quickly enough.”
Amber felt atwinge of guilt at that. She still felt as though she should have been able tosave Dave Muldeer.
“While we’re here,we’re also going to get a statement from Sydney Locksen,” Simon said.
“I’ll do that oncethe doctors say it’s okay to talk to her,” Francesca said.
It was a reminderthat even when Simon and Amber went back to DC, there were still loose ends totie up. Amber couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief, though, that they hadfinally caught the killer who had been terrorizing Westford for so long.
“Good work, bothof you,” Amber said, feeling a sense of pride for her team. “I’m sorry I couldn’tbe there for the interrogation.”
“You did yourpart,” Simon said, giving her a small smile. “You solved the puzzle that led usto Sydney, and to Boon.”
Amber nodded,feeling a sense of satisfaction at having been able to contribute to the casein her own way.
“And thanks toyou, I might be able to open an investigation into the cover-up atWestford-Myer,” Francesca said. “Most of the people involved are dead, but myguess is that Richard Myer knew more than he let on.”
“Will you haveenough evidence with most of the potential witnesses dead?” Amber asked. StevenBoon’s actions had been designed to punish those connected with the WM 120, butthere was a chance that he’d actually made it harder to ever get justice forthose who had suffered because of it.
