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“Such as potential places thekiller might want to murder her.”
That was a good point.
“The note said that she would notbe strong enough to support the weight of her work,” Amber said. “That makes itsound like he’s planning to crush her under one of her own statues.”
Simon nodded. “That was mythinking. So, if we can identify where those statues are, we can potentiallyguard them all, and we’ll be notified if the killer shows up.”
It was worth a shot, but Amberdidn’t want to take her attention from what she was currently doing. “If youfocus on that?” she suggested. “My guess is that a local artist like this mighthave work in local galleries, might have made pieces for public places, mighteven have a storage locker somewhere to store pieces until she can sell them.”
“I’ll look into all of those,”Simon said. “You’re going to keep running down the pendants angle?”
“If I can find the connection, itcould give us the killer, and then we can get Loretta’s location from him,”Amber said.
She kept going, looking throughimages. Amber realized after a minute or two that she had a more direct route,one that might be quicker, one that might let them find the killer in time.
Making sure that she had picturesof the pendants on her phone, Amber left the police department, looking up asmall store dedicated to selling new age and alternative therapy related items.She had to step past a couple of dream catchers and a selection of wind chimeson the way in.
The store was an eclectic mixtureof items. There were clothes along one wall, small art objects and crystals incases, a selection of books on everything from chakra realignment to reiki offto one side. There was a small selection of jewelry, and Amber was careful tolook through it before she approached the counter, making sure that there wasnothing like the pendants there.
A woman in her sixties stood behindthe counter, dressed in flowing white clothes, a collection of jewelry drapedaround her neck. She smiled as Amber approached.
“Hello, there. I’m Mavis. What canI help you to find today? You strike me as a woman in need of the calmingpowers of a lovely herbal tea. Something to help you destress and detoxify.”
Amber was about to reply that shedidn’t have any stress, but that definitely wasn’t true. She was in the middleof one of the most stressful experiences of her life, hunting for a killerbefore he could end another woman’s life. She just didn’t suspect that herbaltea was going to help her with it.
“I hoped you might be able to helpme in a different way,” Amber said. She took out her badge. “I’m Agent Young,with the FBI.”
“The FBI in my store?” Mavis said,sounding both surprised by that and faintly amused. “What kind of investigationcould possibly involve me? You’re not looking into that last batch of healingcrystals from China, are you? I assure you, I have the proper paperwork foreverything.”
“It’s nothing like that,” Ambersaid. “I just figured that maybe you might help me to trace where someone mighthave gotten some jewelry.”
Mavis frowned slightly. “I sell alittle, obviously, but it’s hardly my main stock. There’s a jeweler on FrankStreet who might be able to help you more.”
“This is quite specializedjewelry,” Amber said. She took out her phone and showed the store ownerpictures of the pendants. “Since it has an astrological connection, I thoughtmaybe you might have come across it before.”
Mavis raised an eyebrow. “Well, Iguess I do know everybody who’s anybody in the local alternative healthcommunity. And I do know a few people who are heavily into astrology.Just let me get my glasses.”
She took out a pair of wire-framedspectacles, settling them carefully into place on her nose.
“Hmm, I haven’t seen these specificpieces, but the style of the design does ring a faint bell. Let me think… comeon back into the office. I’m sure there’s something there.”
Mavis led the way into a backroomof the store, most of it taken up by boxes, a small corner given over to anoffice space. There were catalogs there and a couple of ledgers that looked asif they'd been there longer than most of the rest of the city block. Mavisstarted to flick through one of them.
“No, that’s not it. No, nor that…”
“I could leave you my card in caseyou think of something later,” Amber suggested.
“Sometimes, you have to learnpatience,” Mavis said, and then stopped. “Wait, that was it. The pushy youngman at the convention.”
“What convention?” Amber asked.
"Oh, there are alwaysconventions for this sort of thing. Or retreats, or gatherings. Quite often,they don't like it if you call it a convention. But I was at one of thesethings, and there was this young man, local, who started trying to push me tobuy some of the jewelry he was making. I listened to him for a while, mostlybecause who wouldn't listen to a good-looking young man for a while whenthey're bored of people talking about breathwork? But I had to tell him no, inthe end. Anyway, his designs were almost identical to the ones in yourpictures."
“Do you remember his name?” Amberasked.
"Of course I remember. I maybe old, but I'm not senile. It was Mich, something or other. Mich… Howarth,that was it."
“You’re sure?” Amber asked.
