Miles felt a cold realization settle over him.He had made another mistake in his reasoning, similar to the error with Dr.Linden in Seattle.He had been so focused on finding someone who worked with aerial equipment and had trauma related to heights that he had overlooked a fundamental fact about the method of murder.This killer was using helium specifically—thatwas their element of choice.Weather balloons filled with helium gas, not hot air.The choice of helium was not arbitrary.This was still an elemental murder, still connected to Gabriel Kane's philosophy about the periodic table, as they had suspected.The killer had selected helium as his element, his tool of purification.
Hot air balloons operated on an entirely different principle.They used propane burners to heat the air inside the envelope, creating lift through temperature differential rather than through lighter-than-air gas.Sullivan's expertise was in thermal dynamics and atmospheric pressure, not in the properties and handling of helium.
The profile was wrong.Or at least, incomplete.
Miles looked at Sullivan, who was still visibly shaken just from discussing the accident and his fear of heights.The man's hands continued to tremble.Sweat beaded on his forehead despite the relatively mild morning temperature.
"Mr.Sullivan, I appreciate your time and your honesty," Miles said, putting his phone away."I don't think I need to take up any more of your morning."
Sullivan looked surprised."That's it?You're done?"
"You're not the person we're looking for.I'm sorry to have brought up painful memories but as I said, I do appreciate your cooperation."
"No, I understand.You're just doing your job."Sullivan stood up, steadying himself with one hand on the armrest."I hope you catch whoever is doing this.What you described, sending people up in the air like that and just leaving them there to fall…that's evil."
Miles stood as well."I agree.”
Miles walked back to the Uber, noting that it had been only thirteen minutes rather than the twenty he’d asked for.His thoughts were already shifting to what this new realization meant for the investigation.The killer was not just someone who worked at heights or had trauma related to altitude.The killer was someone who understood helium specifically—and though he and Vic had modestly suspected this from the start it was now blatant and in-your-face.
So now they knew that they were looking for someone who knew how to acquire it, how to handle it safely…and how to calculate the lift capacity needed to send a person into the air.
That narrowed the field considerably.Helium was a controlled substance in large quantities, tracked by suppliers and regulated for safety.People who worked regularly with compressed helium gas were a much smaller pool than the broader category of everyone who worked at heights.
He got into the car and pulled up his phone, typing a quick message to Vic about the interview and his realization about the helium angle before giving the driver a destination.
Miles thought about Terry Sullivan's panic attacks, about a man so traumatized by watching people fall that he could not even lift ten feet off the ground without his body revolting.That kind of fear was not something someone could fake, not with the physical symptoms Miles had witnessed.The killer they were looking for did not fear heights.The killer sent victims into the sky and watched them drift away with cold calculation.That required a different psychology entirely, one that Sullivan simply did not possess.
Miles needed to refocus the investigation on people who worked with helium specifically.Gas suppliers, industrial users, research facilities.Somewhere in that smaller pool of suspects was the person who had killed Amanda Parker and Michael Thompson and tried to kill Lisa Anderson.
He just had to find them before another victim went into the air.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Sarah Kim’s Uber pulled into the parking lot of The Silver Lake Climbing Center at 7:12 in the morning.The building was a converted warehouse with large windows along the front and a mural of climbers painted on the eastern wall.The parking lot was empty except for a white pickup truck near the entrance.
She had called the owner immediately after leaving the diner and had been pleasantly surprised to find that he was already at the center; he was installing new handholds on the beginner’s path.He had not been thrilled about receiving guests at the early hour, but she had stressed the urgency.Now she just hoped he would be cooperative enough to help her find what she needed in the security footage.
Kim got out of her car and walked to the front entrance.She knocked on the locked door, and it was opened almost right away by a man in his thirties.He wore cargo pants and a faded t-shirt with the climbing center’s logo across the chest.His hair was pulled back in a short ponytail and he had the lean, muscular build of someone who spent most of their time climbing.
"Mr.Reeves?"Kim showed her credentials as she approached.
"That's me.Andy, please."He pushed the door open wider and gestured for her to come inside.
"I appreciate you seeing me at the early hour."
Reeves flipped on the lights and the interior of the gym came into view.Climbing walls stretched up to the ceiling on three sides, with routes marked in different colors.Crash mats covered the floor beneath the bouldering section.The place smelled like chalk dust and rubber—not an altogether unpleasant smell, honestly.
"You said on the phone this was about Lisa Anderson?"Reeves walked toward the back of the gym."Is she okay?"
"She was attacked when she left here last night,” she said, deciding to keep the details to a minimum.“She survived but she's in the hospital with serious injuries."
Reeves stopped walking and turned to face her.His irritation about the early morning vanished."Jesus.What happened?"
"I can't discuss the specifics of an ongoing investigation.But I need to see your security footage from last night.Lisa was here climbing and she says her attacker admitted to dosing her water bottle with something.I’m hoping we can catch it on camera.”
"Of course.Whatever you need."Reeves led her through a door marked Staff Only into a narrow hallway."Lisa's been coming here for three years.She's one of our best climbers.If I can help catch whoever hurt her, I'll do whatever it takes."
They entered a small office cluttered with climbing gear and paperwork.A desk sat against one wall with a computer monitor and keyboard.Reeves sat down and pulled up the security system interface.Kim was impressed; it was a newer system, sleek and capable of a lot more than a basic setup.
