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“Agents, do you have any leads inthe case yet?”
Amber knew better than to try toanswer all of the questions. She kept moving instead, slipping between people, headingfor the police tape. Simon’s greater size and strength meant that he was ableto clear a path, and Amber followed, moving quickly before the crowd couldclose up behind him.
They made it to the police tape,ducking under it. A uniformed officer moved to intercept them, but Amberalready had her ID out, holding it up in front of her.
“I’m Agent Young, this is AgentPhelps. Who’s in charge of the scene?”
“That would be me,” a man’s voicesaid. Amber looked over and saw a man in his thirties. He was dressed in abeige sports jacket and slacks, the bulge of his gun obvious under the jacket.He was fair haired and blue eyed, with stubble covering his chin as if he’dbeen called in this morning before he could shave properly. “I’m detectiveArquet, Are you the feds?”
Amber saw Simon nod. “I’m AgentPhelps, this is Agent Young.”
“The one who solves puzzles? Good,because we’ve got one here, I can't begin to work out."
“What happened here?” Amber asked.
“You presumably know the basics.Alice Chan was found dead two days ago by her swim coach, Tony Perkins. Thecoroner hasn’t given us his full findings yet, but it looks like she drowned.”
“Drowned?” Simon said. “No signs ofother violence?”
Detective Arquet shrugged. “Wewould have thought it was just some dumb accident if it weren’t for all the…creepy stuff.”
“What creepy stuff?” Amber asked.
Detective Arquet gestured to thepool. “You’d better see this for yourselves.”
“Detective Arquet!” A man’s voiceinterrupted them.
“Coach Perkins?”
A man came forward, past the policetape. He was probably around forty, bald, with a lean, muscular frame andpiercing blue eyes. He was wearing workout gear. His expression as heapproached was pained.
“How long before we can have thefacility back for training?” he asked.
Detective Arquet spread his hands.“It’s too early to say.”
“Well, are you at least making someprogress?” the other man demanded. “Two days since… since Alice waskilled, and I haven’t heard anything!”
“We’ll keep you updated whenthere’s something to tell you, Tony,” Detective Arquet said. “For now, I needto show the FBI the scene.”
The coach made an irritated soundand turned on his heel, heading off with a last glance back towards Amber andSimon.
“That was Alice’s coach?” Ambersaid.
Detective Arquet nodded. “He foundthe body. He’s taken it hard. Obviously, we looked at him first, but we’reconvinced his alibi for the night is solid. He was one town over, at a partywith some friends that lasted until the early hours of the morning. Comeinside. I’ll show you the crime scene.”
Amber and Simon went into thebuilding after the detective, greeted by signs that proclaimed that it was a“High Performance Training Facility”. The lobby had a reception desk with doorsleading off in several directions. Amber could see signs for gyms and lockerrooms, a cafeteria and a massage suite.
Detective Arquet led them throughto the pool area, talking as he went.
“We found the victim’s car in theparking lot, her bag abandoned nearby.”
“So she made it outside?” Ambersaid. “And then the killer brought her back in here to kill her?”
“Or he chased her in here,”Detective Arquet said. He led the way through to the pool.
It was an impressive place,Olympic-sized, with a separate deep pool for diving and lanes clearly markedout across it. Amber was less interested in any of that than in the symbolspainted on every wall.
They were astrological symbols;Amber was sure of that much. She’d memorized the symbols for when they croppedup in puzzles, although she suspected that she would need to do additionalresearch to make more sense of them.
