by Blake Pierce
There were footprints along all of them, some fresh, others older.
Which were the freshest?
Lucy’s heart was pounding. She couldn’t decide. Was she too agitated to think clearly?
Surely Agent Paige wouldn’t have this problem!
Lucy took a long, slow breath, knelt down, and looked at the paths more carefully.
She simply couldn’t see any difference.
She decided to follow the middle path and hope for the best.
She hurried along that way until she thought she heard a noise from her right.
She turned and thought she saw something move some distance off among the brush and branches.
“Murray Rossum!” she yelled.
Now she was sure that she detected another flash of movement.
Should she retrace her steps and follow the path to the right?
No, there wasn’t time for that.
Lucy plunged through the thicket, lashed all over by twigs and branches.
She emerged into a clearing.
And there the girl was.
She was hanging by the neck from a rope looped over a bare tree branch. Her feet were dangling just a foot or two off the ground. It looked as though she had been pushed off a fallen log.
Her face was an unnatural shade of blue, almost as if she’d been painted.
Lucy saw no sign of movement.
Is she dead? Lucy wondered.
She reminded herself that the other victims had been drugged. Just because the girl wasn’t struggling didn’t necessarily mean she wasn’t alive.
Just then she saw a figure moving away farther down a path.
“Murray!” she yelled.
He didn’t stop, and Lucy had no time to pursue him. She ran to the hanging figure and wrapped her arms around the girl’s hips, lifting her a little so that there was slack in the rope.
Just then the girl’s body jerked and she coughed.
Rachel was still alive!
But how was Lucy going to get her down?
To untie the rope, she’d have to release her hold on the body. If she did, Rachel would be strangled anew—probably fatally.
Still barely conscious, Rachel let out a groan.
“Stay with me!” Lucy said sharply.
But she could see that the girl was slipping back into unconsciousness.
Lucy shook the body, but Rachel didn’t respond.
She’s dying! Lucy thought.
Keeping one arm wrapped around the girl’s hips, Lucy released the other and reached up to try to loosen the noose.
It was still tight around her neck. Rachel’s breathing was coming in hoarse, semi-conscious gasps. The blood flow was still cut off. Lucy felt hopelessly clumsy, clutching the body with one hand and fumbling with the knot with the other.
For a moment, Lucy thought she was loosening the knot.
Then, to her horror, she realized she’d tightened it instead.
Rachel was no longer breathing at all.
Lucy didn’t dare keep trying to loosen it. She’d only make things worse.
She couldn’t possibly save Rachel by herself.
Then, over the sound of her own heart beating, she thought she heard voices and footsteps.
“I’m here!” she yelled. “I’ve got her! Help me! She’s not going to make it!”
Then she didn’t hear anything at all.
Had her ears been playing tricks on her?
Then Agents Paige and Jeffreys burst into the clearing.
“She’s alive!” Lucy yelled out to them. “I need help!”
Agent Jeffreys helped Lucy support the weight of the girl’s body. They lifted her a bit higher.
Agent Paige clambered up onto the log, reached out, and loosened the noose. Then she slipped it off of the girl’s neck.
Lucy and Agent Jeffreys carefully lowered the girl’s body and stretched her out on the ground.
“Where is Murray Rossum?” Agent Paige asked.
Lucy pointed.
“Headed in that direction,” she said. “You two go after him. I’ll take care of Rachel.”
Agents Paige and Jeffreys took off down the path as Lucy called for emergency medical care.
CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT
Murray climbed a little way up into a tree that hung over the path. He was holding the spare noose he always kept with him. He’d thought he might have to use it for himself someday.
It was over now, and Murray knew it.
The path ended here, and there was no way for him to escape.
He’d seen the young agent coming after him. The only reason she hadn’t followed him was to save the girl.
Murray smiled a little.
She had surely been too late for that.
He’d carried out one more act of retribution.
That was enough to satisfy him once and for all.
It had been a good game, a fine chase, and he’d enjoyed it.
He had especially enjoyed the sympathy he had gotten from that woman—Agent Paige.
How easy it had been to make her believe that he was a victim!
Of course, that was what he really was—a victim.
If people had cared about or tried to understand him, no one would have had to die.
The girls had brought their deaths on themselves.
And now he was going to finish everything on his own terms, nobody else’s.
He worked his way out onto a branch and tied the rope to it. He placed the noose around his neck. He tightened the noose. Now all he had to do was step off into space. The fall probably wouldn’t be enough to break his neck. But he would certainly be strangled to death.
He found himself hesitating.
But why?
He knew perfectly well that it had to end this way.
He had no reason to be afraid.
And yet …
… he was afraid.
He viscerally remembered that night in the garage when he’d faked his own suicide attempt. He found himself reliving the instinctive terror, the frantic thrashing and clutching as he’d fought to save himself.
He dreaded the thought of it happening again.
It seemed strange to be frightened of something he truly wanted to do.
But it couldn’t be helped.
He stepped off the branch. He dropped a short way and hit the end of the rope with a painful jerk.
He couldn’t breathe, and he immediately felt the loss of blood flow to his head.
And sure enough, his hands grabbed at the rope, and his feet kicked at nothing.
Then he saw that woman … Agent Paige.
Was it a hallucination?
He didn’t know.
CHAPTER THIRTY NINE
As they rushed to find Murray Rossum, Riley and Bill had separated at a fork in the path. When Riley found her way into the clearing, she saw Murray.
He was a short distance ahead and above her, hanging from a rope attached to a tree limb.
He was kicking wildly and grasping at the rope with his hands.
Her first impulse was to rush forward and try to help him as they had done with Rachel.
It shouldn’t be hard. She only needed to climb up to the branch where he was hanging, carefully hoist him up, and free him from the noose.
She took a couple of steps forward and reached out toward him.
As she did, she saw the bracelet that Shane Hatcher had given her.
It still felt heavy and unfamiliar on her wrist. She hadn’t been able to defy his wish that she keep on wearing it.
She stopped in her tracks and watched Murray Rossum writhe. His eyes were bulging, and he was staring straight at her.
It was a desperate, imploring look.
But what did he want from her? To cut him down or let him die?
What was going on in his twisted mind?
He wanted to die. If he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have done this to himself.
And yet his body was still fighting for its l
ife.
Riley remembered something from the Bible:
“The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Now she felt as though she understood.
Of all the killers Riley had pursued, Murray was possibly the weakest.
But now he was fighting one last battle against his own weakness.
And she herself was fighting her own battle: her own battle against weakness. The weakness of saving this boy’s life.
Or of getting vengeance.
Vengeance for all the girls he had cruelly killed.
Vengeance for a justice system that would surely declare him insane.
Vengeance for the wealth that would buy him the world’s best attorneys and set him free in a matter of years, if not months.
She stood and watched, and she fought her own battle.
Little by little, Murray’s movements slowed, and his body calmed and slackened, and his eyes closed.
His face turned a weird bluish color right before her eyes.
Finally, he didn’t move at all.
And neither did she.
A long, slow silence crept over her.
As she watched silently, Riley found herself remembering a question Shane Hatcher sometimes asked her …
“Are you already, or are you becoming?”
He had actually answered that question once.
“You’re becoming. You’re becoming what you’ve always been deep down. Call it a monster or whatever you want. And it won’t be long before you are that person.”
She still didn’t understand exactly what Hatcher had meant.
But she shuddered at the thought that he’d been telling the truth.
At that moment, Bill appeared in the clearing.
Riley realized that he’d given up searching in the other direction and had come back to find her.
“My God,” he murmured as he saw the body.
There was no longer any question that Murray Rossum was dead.
Bill stared straight into Riley’s eyes.
She knew that he was silently asking her a question:
“Did you let this happen?”
By staring silently back, Riley told him the truth.
Bill nodded ever so slightly.
He was telling her that he understood.
And that he himself may have done the same.
“Let’s cut him down,” he said.
CHAPTER FORTY
Early the next morning, Riley was in her office at the BAU. Meredith had scheduled a meeting to review the case, and Riley wanted to put in some phone calls before that got started.
First she called her friend Danica Selves, the district medical examiner. She thanked Danica for her invaluable help in getting the case underway.
Next she dialed Mike Nevins’s number.
He sounded excited to hear from her.
“I heard the news! It sounds like congratulations are in order!”
“I’ve got you to thank,” Riley said. “Without your letter to Autrey, I’d never have gotten the case off the ground. I’m so glad you pitched in and helped.”
Mike sounded a little sheepish.
“Yes, well … I’m not sure I did my best work this time around. I can’t believe I interviewed that kid and didn’t pick up on the fact that he was the killer.”
“He had me fooled too,” Riley said. “He was a weak man, and he did what weak people do best. He manipulated us, played on our sympathies.”
“Well, he was damned good at it,” Mike said. “Compassion’s a tricky thing, isn’t it? In our business, I mean. Too much of it clouds your judgment. Too little of it and you become a monster.”
Riley winced at Mike’s words.
They cut too close to home at the moment.
Shane Hatcher’s words echoed again through her mind.
“You’re becoming what you’ve always been deep down.”
Riley thanked Mike again and ended the call.
There was one more phone call she wanted to make. She reminded herself that it was still very early morning in Seattle. But Van Roff didn’t keep normal hours, and she doubted that he was asleep. And if he was asleep, he wouldn’t mind if she woke him up.
She dialed his number. Like Mike Nevins, Van Roff had already heard the news.
“I couldn’t have done it without your help, Van,” she said.
“Think nothing of it. I’m always eager to bend the rules.”
That reminded Riley of their last awkward phone call, when Van had refused to help her find Shane Hatcher. She felt the need to apologize for putting him on the spot like that.
“Van, about that other thing I asked you to do …”
“What thing? I’ve got no idea what you’re talking about.”
Riley smiled. It was Van’s way of telling her not to worry about it.
Riley was still on the phone with Van when Bill poked his head into Riley’s office.
He said, “Walder wants to see everybody in the conference room right now.”
Bill disappeared again.
“Oh, shit,” Riley said to Van.
“What’s the matter?”
“It’s the uber-boss. Through this whole case, I’ve disobeyed his orders even more than usual. Now I’m really in trouble.”
“You’ll bounce back,” Van Roff said. “We troublemakers always do.”
Riley thanked him again and headed for the conference room.
The whole team was there—Bill, Lucy, Craig Huang, Sam Flores, Brent Meredith, and Walder himself. To Riley’s surprise, Walder’s babyish, freckled face was beaming with joy.
“Excellent work, Paige,” he said. “And to all the rest of you as well.”
“Thanks, sir,” Riley said, cautiously.
Then, almost chuckling at her own irony, she added, “Coming from you, that really means something.”
Walder held court for a little while, heaping praises on everyone who was present. Riley found it to be an amazing performance. He seemed to have forgotten his fury about the multiple tricks and deceptions that Riley had pulled to get this case underway.
His capacity for denial was truly remarkable.
But of course, denial was part of how a weak man like Walder wielded his authority.
“The only tyranny that lasts,” Riley reminded herself.
When he was gone, Meredith led the team in a routine debriefing. Murray Rossum was dead—a real suicide to follow four murders and another attempt, all faked up to look like suicides. Rachel Mackey was in the hospital, badly bruised but out of danger—at least physically. Riley knew that it would take her a long time to get over the emotional trauma.
If she ever gets over it, she thought.
As the meeting drew to a close, Bill jokingly asked, “Do you think maybe we should touch base with Willis Autrey, just to reassure him that everything’s OK?”
Meredith let forth a peal of rumbling laughter.
“I don’t think so,” he said. “I’m sure he never wants to hear from any of us ever again.”
*
That afternoon, Riley got home just after the girls returned from school. She hadn’t seen them since before they’d caught Murray Rossum. Riley hadn’t returned home the night before until after the girls were in bed, and she’d left before they awoke this morning. Tiffany was there with April and Jilly. They all rushed to her as soon as she got through the front door.
“Did you find him?” April asked.
“Was it that guy in poetry class?” Tiffany wanted to know.
“Did you lock him up?” Jilly asked.
“We did find him,” Riley told them. “It’s all over now.”
She took off her coat and sat on the sofa. The girls clustered around her.
“He’s dead,” she said. “He’ll never hurt anyone else again.”
Jilly asked, “Did you blow him away or what?”
Riley shook her head.
“He killed himself. Hanged himself. He knew the game was up.”<
br />
Tiffany’s eyes widened. Then she burst into tears.
“Oh, thank you, thank you!” Tiffany said to Riley. “Thanks for believing me in the first place.”
April hugged Tiffany, comforting her.
Riley felt a pang at Tiffany’s words. The truth was, she hadn’t believed Tiffany right away—or her own daughter, either.
Next time I’ll pay better heed, she thought.
“So tell us all about it!” Jilly said, bouncing with excitement. “How did you nail the guy?”
Riley sighed.
“I’m sorry, but I’m all tired out,” she said. “I’ll tell you some other time, real soon.”
April said, “Tiffany’s parents said she could stay the night. Is that OK, Mom?”
Riley smiled.
“Of course it’s OK,” she said.
Tiffany noticed the bracelet on Riley’s wrist.
“That’s pretty,” she said. “Where did you get it?”
Riley felt an urge to tuck it under her sleeve. But it was too late to conceal it.
“It was a gift,” Riley said.
“From an admirer?” April asked mischievously.
Riley shivered a little. Instead of answering the question, she said, “You kids go have a good time.”
Chattering and giggling, the girls hurried off to the family room. Their cheerful voices warmed Riley’s heart. Whatever her situation might be with Ryan, her girls were doing OK. April was helping Jilly settle in to her new life, and they were both helping Tiffany get over the trauma of her sister’s death.
Riley was proud of them.
She heard Gabriela in the kitchen, singing a Guatemalan song as she fixed dinner. It felt good to be home.
Then Riley saw that there was a message on the answering machine.
It was from Ryan.
“Hey, gang. Sorry to be away lately, but I’ve got a lot of business here in DC. I’ll come back when I can. Love to all.”
The message ended with a beep.
Riley sighed. She had been trying to accept that Ryan was gone again, for good this time. But now what was going to happen?
It was terribly confusing.
*
Riley went up to her office. There was one more phone call she wanted to make. It was to her sister, Wendy. It was time to take care of some unfinished business.