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By this point, Simon was staringover Amber’s shoulder, obviously wondering what she was doing. Amber could seethe sudden concern on his face. It was nothing compared to the deep, gnawingfear that had started within her, her heart beating faster just at the threat.
“This is the other case?” Simonsaid. “Amber, are you okay?”
Amber shook her head. “No, becauseI’ve solved his puzzle, and I still don’t know who he’s planning to kill next.”
“Someone close to you,” Simon said.“Maybe your family? Maybe Joseph? After all, he’s attacked him once.”
It was possible. Amber didn’t knowwho it would be, only that she couldn’t let this happen. Yet, she couldn’timagine how to keep everyone she cared about safe.
Thankfully, Simon was there tohelp. “I’ll call Palliser, tell her what you’ve found. Even an ass like Mallorywill take this threat seriously. And if he doesn’t, Palliser will. We’ll getprotection for the people he might target.”
That made Amber feel a littlebetter, although not much. “A part of me feels as though I should be there. Asif I should be helping to protect people.”
Simon put a hand on her shoulder.“You’ve done your part, Amber. This puzzle… no one else would have come up withthis answer. But that’s true of this case, too. Mallory can handle aprotection duty, but if anyone is going to solve the puzzles the killer inKeystone is leaving behind, it’s going to be you.”
Amber swallowed back the urge totell Simon that she had to go anyway, had to make sure. She knew that he wasright. She wasn’t cut out for a protection detail, but she could help tocatch a serial killer here. She had to find whoever had killed Alice Chan andKarina van Nuit, and that meant finding a way through the puzzle the killer hadleft behind.
For that, she needed to know moreabout astrology and about the victims.
CHAPTER SEVEN
They met Katrina’s sister at acoffee shop not far from her job in the middle of town. Amber would havepreferred to meet her somewhere more personal, somewhere with more of a senseof who Katrina had been to it, but it seemed as though this was the best theywere going to get at such short notice.
The coffee shop was relativelyquiet for the moment, somewhere between the lunchtime rush and the earlyevening one. There were only a few people in it, but even if it had been full,Amber would have been able to pick Elsje van Nuit out of the crowd.
She looked exactly like her sister.So much so that Amber might have been looking right at Katrina, sitting therein a corner booth, a cup of coffee already carefully nursed between her hands.Amber had only seen photographs of Katrina, blonde haired and blue eyed, with slightlyangular features and a crooked smile, but this was all of that brought to life.Elsje was wearing a pale sweater and dark slacks, sitting there with anexpression caught somewhere between worry and hope.
“Katrina’s sister is her twin?”Amber asked Simon.
“It looks like it. It didn’t sayanything in the reports.”
Amber wished that it had, becausesuddenly, it felt very significant. “All the astrological symbols left aroundthe scenes. Do we have dates of birth for Alice and Katrina?”
“Alice was born on February 13th,Katrina on May 29th,” Simon said, after spending a moment looking itup. “You think it’s significant?”
“The killer murdered a swimmer whowas an Aquarius, and a twin who was a Gemini,” Amber said. “It can’t be acoincidence.”
It felt like there was somethingthere, some clue to the killer’s motives, some reason he might have done allthis, but there was no time for thinking about that, because Elsje had spottedthem and was waving them over.
She looked over at them nervouslyas Simon and Amber moved to join her, sitting across the table from her.
“You… you must be the agents. I’msorry I can’t meet you at home, but I couldn’t get away from work for thatlong, and… I guess I spent enough time with the police sitting in our home twoyears ago.”
“You shared a place with yoursister?” Simon asked.
Elsje nodded. “I know some twinslike to do everything separately, like to try to be as different as possible,but we were never like that. We figured, since we were each other’s closestfriends, why not share a place?”
“What do you do for work, Elsje?”Amber asked her.
“I work at a local charity.”
“Is that one of the ones Katrinavolunteered at?”
She saw Elsje nod. She could alsosee the pain on her face every time she had to mention her sister.
"Yes, she was… I'm sorry, itwas like losing a part of myself. It hurts every time I think about her becauseit reminds me that I'll never see her again." Elsje took a shudderingbreath. “And now you’ll ask me the same questions the police did, right? Aboutwhether she had any enemies and whether I can think of anyone who might havewanted to kill her?”
Amber could hear the bitternessthere. She guessed that, over the last two years, Elsje had lost a lot of herfaith that law enforcement would be able to catch whoever had done this to hersister.
