AllFreeNovel
Share Us
That left only the bridge problem, and what was Amber meant to do with that? It wasn't even a real puzzle when there were seven bridges. There was no way to walk across all of the bridges in turn without crossing back over one of them. Logically, it simply didn't work.
But another part of Ambercouldsee a way through it. What had she thought about the problem that Victoria Crossing had solved? That the parameters for it hadn't been well designed?
Amber went back to the note that she'd found in Victoria's apartment, reading the words there carefully. She'd had to walk over all seven bridges by midnight, not crossing any of them more than once. It seemed like it was impossible, but when worded like that... Amber could see a way to do it.
"I think I just solved the Konigsberg bridge problem," Amber said.
"I thought that was meant to be impossible?" Simon replied with a frown.
"It is, if it's worded carefully or if you stick to the spirit of it, but the killerhasn'tbeen careful about the way he's worded his version. I think-"
Amber was interrupted by her phone ringing. She answered at once and found Chief Williams on the other end of the line.
"All right, Agent Young, one of my guys just radioed in that they've seen a woman approaching New Bridge, looking scared. She's standing there, staring at a piece of paper. My guess is that she's the next woman this bastard has singled out to be his victim. What do you want to do now? I can get units there in five minutes."
"Tell your men to keep their distance," Amber said almost automatically. "Let me and Agent Phelps handle this. We don't want to risk scaring him away."
Amber hung up and turned to Simon. "There's a probable next victim on New Bridge."
"So we need to get over there."
Amber hesitated for a moment before she said the next part. "I think I need to do this alone."
"What? No way!" Simon said. It was obvious that he had no intention of going along with that.
"Think about it, Simon," Amber said. "If you show up with me, what does he see? The FBI arrives to save a woman. He'll run, and we might never see him again. Plus, she'll never be safe. If he sees me, he just sees a woman. With a man like this, it doesn't matter to him that I'm an FBI agent. I'm just another potential victim."
"And when he attacks you?" Simon demanded.
"Then I take him down. Or I hold him off long enough for you to get there. I'm not saying that you need to stay away. I'm saying that you need to hang back."
Simon looked at Amber, his eyes full of concern. "I don't like this, Amber. It's too risky."
"I know, and I don't like it either. But it's the best chance we have to catch him," Amber said, her voice firm. "I can handle myself, Simon. You've seen me take down killers before."
Simon's lips pressed into a thin line as he considered her words. Finally, he nodded. "Okay. But I'll be nearby, just in case."
"Thank you," Amber said, grateful for his compromise. "There's just one more thing."
"What do you need?"
Amber pointed to a spot near one of the bridges. "I need you to arrange with Chief Williams to leave a small boat tethered exactlyhere."
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
Amber drove at speed through Verdice, determined to get to the New Bridge before it was too late. How long did it take to cross a bridge? Not long. How long might it take a scared young woman who knew that she would die if she did this in the wrong order?
Amber hoped that would buy her time to get there, but even so, she drove as quickly as she dared, doing it without lights or a siren, not wanting to alert the killer to the fact that law enforcement was coming.
The bridge came into view, lit from below in a way that turned the carvings on its sides into something grotesque. Amber pulled up short of the bridge and walked the rest of the way. She could see the woman on the bridge, clutching a piece of paper in her hand, looking lost and terrified. She was dark-haired, with a coat wrapped around herself, huddling against the rain that was starting to fall. It was a night when no one would have been out if they didn't have to be. Amber felt a pang of sympathy for her. No one should have to go through what this killer was putting these women through.
Amber approached the woman carefully, not wanting to startle her. "Excuse me," she said softly. "Are you okay?"
The woman looked up at Amber, her eyes wide with fear. "No," she said, her voice shaking. "I don't know what to do. I'm supposed to cross the bridges in a certain order, but I don't know which one to start with."
"It's okay," Amber said, moving closer to the woman. "Let me see that paper."
She took it gently. The diagram on it was the same as it had been for Victoria Crossing. The Konigsberg bridge problem. The same impossible problem that the killer had used before. Amber read the instructions carefully, wanting to make sure that the killer had
