Page 61 of No Escape

Tom smiled at her and put his arm around her shoulders. “I told you it was worth it.”

“We can’t have you rattling around that apartment any longer,” Charlie said, giving Valerie a hug.

“But… What about your job with the FBI?” Valerie asked.

“The CPU just hasn’t been the same without you, Val,” Charlie said. “It’s grown stale.”

“There are new agents in the department now,” Jackson said. “After Heinlein’s investigation was discredited, the unit has been given an upgrade. We’re now training more than thirty agents to carry on the work you started.”

“You might be interested in the curriculum they’re following,” Will said, smiling. He handed Valerie a folder.

Valerie opened it up. It was a list of study texts, all part of the training for agents within the Criminal Psychopathy Unit.

But Valerie read the titles of the texts. She had to hold back tears.

Valerie Law Profile Protocols, one title read. Another wasWill Cooper Interview Techniques, and another wasCharles Carlson Tracking and Suspect Engagement Procedures.

Looking down the list further, she realized that the entire training curriculum was based on the approaches and techniques they had created together as a team across the two years they handled serial killer cases.

“How is this even possible?” Valerie said.

Jackson smiled. “Will and Charlie put the curriculum together for the FBI. Just as you studied books and cases by famous agents who came before you, now new agents looking to profile and solve serial killer cases will know all that you did.”

“They’ll know everything you did,” Charlie added. “The people you saved.”

Valerie felt a tear rolling down her cheek. She wiped it away with her hand. “I don’t know what to say,” she almost whispered.

“It’s the least the FBI could do,” Jackson explained. “After everything you did… Everything you sacrificed to help people.”

Then Valerie turned to the door again and read the words aloud: “Law, Carlson, and Cooper Detective Agency?”

“It has a ring to it, don’t you think?” Will said.

“And of course, we at the FBI will help you when we can,” Jackson said. “In fact, if you go inside, you might find something interesting on your desk.”

“My desk?” Valerie asked.

“Go on,” Suzie said.

Tom touched her on the shoulder gently and then opened the door.

Valerie stepped inside to find a reception area for clients, complete with a reception desk and a comfortable couch.

In front of her, she saw four doors. The first was a briefing room, but the others were private offices for Charlie, Will, and her.

Valerie stepped forward and opened the door with her name etched upon it on a brass nameplate. Inside was a cozy office with desk and chair, along with some empty bookcases and a window looking down to the street below.

“We thought you’d want to decorate,” Tom said. “So we left it a blank canvas for you.”

Valerie smiled at Tom. She still couldn’t believe it all. She moved over to her desk and saw that a brown case folder was on it. She read the name of the case that was emblazoned upon it in black ink.

“Clawstitch,” Valerie said. She knew exactly what it referred to.

“The one that got away,” Jackson said from the doorway.

“Clawstitch?” Suzie asked, sounding confused.

“Early in my career,” Valerie said, “I ended up chasing a killer called the Clawstitch Killer. I made a mistake…”

---