AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I… don’t know,” Simon said. Amberhad been hoping for something more enthusiastic. “Amber, maybe, but right now,we’re in the middle of chasing down one killer, and another is threatening youand your family. Can we afford to make life complicated for ourselves by divinginto a relationship too? Wouldn’t it complicate our working relationship?”
“Maybe,” Amber said. “Butpersonally, I think it’s worth the risk.”
“Maybe,” Simon said. He looked asif he might say more, but in that moment, his phone went off.
“Ignore it,” Amber said.
Simon shook his head. “It’sDetective Arquet. If he’s calling this early, it’s probably something we needto hear.”
Amber knew he had a point, but evenso, it was hard to just stand there while Simon broke off to talk to thedetective.
“At least put him on speaker,”Amber said. She wondered what this might be. Maybe Arquet had found a way tobreak Alonzo’s alibi. Maybe he’d found proof that the psychic had been inKeystone around the time of Katrina’s murder after all. Maybe he’d found afresh lead in the case that they needed to hear about.
“Arquet, this is Phelps,” Simonsaid. “Agent Young is here too. We were just about to leave for Keystone.”
“Well, you need to get here as soonas you can.” The tension in the detective’s voice made Amber swallow backsudden worry. Something had happened there, and from the detective’s tone, itwas something bad.
“What’s going on, Arquet?” Amberasked.
“A couple of early morning hikersjust hit one of the trails around Keystone,” Arquet said. “They put a callthrough to us a few minutes ago. They’ve found a body, and they… they’retalking about astrological symbols.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Amber could see the police presencewell before she and Simon pulled up. There were police cars dotted around thebase of a hiking trail near Keystone, nestled against a wooded area, so thattheir presence stood in stark contrast to the peace and quiet that wouldpresumably have dominated the location.
Police tape was set out in a widearc to keep back what was proving to be a steadily growing crowd of people.Amber could see a couple of news crews there, their cameras pointed at thescene, presumably hoping to gain whatever information they could.
"Are you ready for this?"Simon asked her, as they pulled up a little way from the scene. It was thefirst thing he'd said in a while. It had been an awkward drive down to Keystonewhen the two of them simply didn't know what to say to one another. It seemedclear to Amber that they both had feelings for one another, it seemed clearthat they both wanted to take things further, but between the case and the factthat they were partners, Amber wasn't sure if they were going to get past thoseobstacles.
“I’m ready when you are,” Amberreplied. She took a breath and got out of the car.
Between the police cars, the crowd,and a couple of news vans, they'd had to park a little way from the policetape. It meant having to push their way through the crowd, using their badgesto get people to give ground so that they could try to get through to see whatwas going on.
As Amber neared the police tape, acamera operator stepped into her path, a journalist holding out a microphone.
“Agent Young? What do you say tothe people stating that FBI involvement has only pushed this killer to escalatewhat they’re doing?”
“We’re doing everything we can tosee the killer brought to justice,” Amber said.
“But if you can’t even catch theman who killed your own aunt, why should people trust you to catch this killer?”the reporter asked.
The question hit Amber like ahammer blow, taking away her breath, making it so that she couldn’t think.Because the reporter had a point. Amber hadn’t managed to catch ColmO’Rafferty, hadn’t managed to save her aunt, or Casey, or Sinead.
Simon was there in an instant,getting between Amber and the reporter.
“We have no comment at this point,”he said. “And the investigation you’re referring to is currently being run byanother department. Excuse us, we have work to do.”
He moved on, taking Amber with him,getting them both safely to the other side of the police tape. Detective Arquetwas waiting for them.
“Agents, I’m glad you’re here. TheCSI units are still working on the scene, and I should warn you that thecoroner’s people haven’t been able to move the body yet. It’s… not a good thingto see.”
Amber took a couple of slowbreaths, trying to regain her composure. It wasn't easy when the reporter hadmanaged to rattle her like that, but she was determined to try.
“We can handle it,” she said. “Whatdo we have, Arquet?”
The detective pulled out anotebook. “From what we’ve been able to gather so far, the victim’s name isRosalind Elm. A former soldier. A couple of the witnesses we’ve talked to saythat she ran these trails pretty regularly. Beyond that, we don’t know much.We’ve been talking to any regulars around the hiking trail, and we’ve beentrying to look more into who she was, if she’d reported anything suspiciousrecently, that kind of thing.”
It didn’t sound as though the copshad had time to do much yet, and Amber suspected that their investigationswouldn’t give her and Simon much in the way of new information. Amber wanted tolook at the scene. Hopefully that would tell them more.
