“I know how that feels,” Tyler replied with a glance towards the rail where Spalding had gone over. This was what it took to send Sarah over the edge. She drew her gun on him and fired again into his chest as he lay prone on the ground.
“You weren’t doing work!” she screamed hysterically. “What you did was all for your own pleasure!”
Tyler’s eyes suddenly seemed to shrink, and Sarah gasped as she saw the life draining away from him and the realization of what she’d just done came to her. She looked to Freeman, but he was still out cold. She looked back to Tyler, there was anyone was going to be able to do for him now. She put the gun back in his hand and with that moment she understood that Spalding had won. He had turned her into a cold-blooded killer.
Walking to edge of the cliff, not wanting to see Tyler draw his last breath, Sarah looked down at Spalding’s broken body. It was too far down to tell, but Sarah could swear there was a smile on the slain killers face. Was this what he’d been trying to do all along, turn her over to his side? Did he want her to take over his legacy? How had he been able to orchestrate such a fall from grace for her. So much so that it came to her killing an unarmed injured man who should also have been facing jail for his crimes.
Sarah shook her head. These were not the thoughts she wanted to be having. No one had seen what she’d done. She could say Tyler was going to shoot her from the ground and she got him first. After that it would be up to her to sort out her life, regain some kind of freedom and live a life with the new goal of leaving all of this behind her. She was going to leave law enforcement even if they didn’t make her and she vowed now that she would never kill again, no matter what the circumstances. Only then, at the very end on the moment of her own death would she be able to take the victory back from Spalding.
Her own coldness worried her, however. She didn’t feel particularly bad about killing Tyler. In fact, if she was honest she had to admit she felt completely vindicated.
And this feeling was quite liberating.
The End
October 16th 2020-Jan 6th 2021
A Fall of Woodcocks (The Birdwatcher Series Book 5) Page 13