Page 75 of No Quarter

“You don’t mean that, Logan,” the doctor continued.

“Don’t I!?” The voice swirled again in the wind.

Valerie felt he was about to break, about to rush out and attack the doctor at any moment. She had to be quick.

She moved forward again to another headstone, and then another, always crouched, always unseen.

“Logan,” the doctor said. “Come out. Talk to me face to face. I can help make you whole again.”

“Oh, I’ll come out,” Logan shouted. “Come over there and put my hands around your scrawny neck!”

Valerie saw, at the last moment, a piece of cloth hanging out from the side of a gravestone in front of her. It was the edge of an arm, and it moved as the person stood up.

The figure rushed toward the doctor, but Valerie had anticipated that. She pulled herself up onto the top edge of a headstone, then jumped to another, and then leaped at the figure.

She didn’t need to pull the trigger of her gun. All she needed was to bring the cold metal down onto Saldana’s head with ferocity and precision.

Doctor Whitmore recoiled back in fright as Saldana crumpled to the ground.

Valerie quickly turned his unconscious body over and cuffed Saldana. She looked up at Doctor Whitmore who gave her a relieved smile.

“Well done, Doctor. Well done,” she said. “Now let’s get the hell out of this cemetery.”

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

Valerie said “when” to stop her glass being filled up too much with champagne. When Doctor Whitmore didn’t stop pouring, she laughed and said, “what the hell, why not?”

She stoodthere in Doctor Whitmore’s study, sipping her glass surrounded by the triumphant faces of Charlie, Will, Doctor Whitmore, and Sam Teller.

“I don’t see the problem,” Charlie said, taking a large gulp of his drink. “We’re not driving back until tomorrow in any case.”

“I’m not sure it’s appropriate, what with Melanie Adler’s funeral tomorrow,” Will said.

“Oh, come on,” Valerie said. “We caught the killer. We can celebrate that, can’t we?”

“I suppose you’re right,” Will said. “I’m just glad we could catch him before the funeral. Charging Saldana gives them some closure at least, though I can’t imagine what the families are going through.”

“Well, I’m glad you could catch him at all,” Doctor Whitmore said. “If it weren’t for you, he might have gotten away with it. I’d have never suspected Logan Saldana.”

“It was nothing, really,” Valerie said, modestly.

“Nonsense,” Doctor Whitmore said. “You were brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.”

“Yes,” Sam Teller said. “You were. And it’s been a real honor to be part of the case, even in a small capacity.”

“Speaking of that,” Charlie said, slapping Sam a little too hard on the shoulder. “We’ve had a little discussion and we’re each going to sign a letter of commendation, should you ever want to join the Bureau.”

“I don’t know what to say,” Sam blushed. “Thanks so much.”

Will looked at Sam and then back at Valerie, Charlie, and Doctor Whitmore. He smiled and raised his glass. “Here’s to catching killers.”

They all clicked their glasses together and took a drink. Doctor Whitmore then quickly filled up their glasses again.

“I do feel for Logan,” Doctor Whitmore said. “He’s a sick man.”

“There’s a good chance he might get to spend the rest of his life in a secure psychiatric ward, rather than a prison,” Valerie said.

“Is that justice?” Charlie asked.

---