Jenn seemed to be prevailing over her opponent, but Eggers suddenly escaped her grasp. He started away alongside the tracks, with Jenn close behind him.
Bill looked down at the helpless woman at his feet. The sound of the locomotive was growing louder.
Much too close, he realized.
And the woman was taped to the track just as the others had been.
He yelled at Jenn.
“Leave him! I need help here!”
Jenn whirled around. She hesitated but then dashed back and crouched beside Bill.
“He’s getting away,” Jenn complained.
“We won’t let him get far,” Bill said. “Help me with the woman.”
Bill and Jenn both kneeled on the train track. They opened their pocketknives and desperately cut into the dense coils of duct tape that held the woman down.
The woman groaned aloud and murmured, “Where am I?”
By the time they got her loose, she was regaining consciousness.
Suddenly she writhed and kicked, and Jenn shouted out …
“Damn it!”
The writhing victim was free now, and she was terrified. Bill briefly struggled with her and finally managed to heave her completely off the tracks. She rolled over, crying, but stayed where she was.
He heard Riley’s voice call out …
“Bill! Jenn!”
“We’re here!” Bill yelled back.
Now the locomotive’s headlight was visible in the distance. The train was rounding the far end of the curve in the tracks.
Riley yelled, “Get off the tracks!”
Bill moved to do that, but Jenn screamed.
She was still lying where they had struggled with the victim, and Bill could see what was wrong.
The heavy sole of her shoe was wedged sideways under the steel rail.
She couldn’t pull herself loose.
“It’s no use,” Jenn moaned. “Get off.”
Bill’s mind flashed back to another young agent, Lucy Torres, who had died right before his eyes.
Not again, he thought. Never again.
With his pocketknife, he worked to slice the leather shoe, to free Jenn’s foot.
Then Riley was beside him, tugging at Jenn’s leg.
But the light was blinding now.
Bill glanced up and saw the terrifying shape of the locomotive hurtling toward them.
“Go!” Jenn yelled.
For a long moment, it seemed that they would all die there.
Just then, Bill saw Jenn’s whole body lift and turn. The movement twisted the shoe loose from the rail.
Bill looked up and saw Mason Eggers standing over them, lifting Jenn up off the track, turning her whole body so that her foot came free.
Then he tossed Jenn off to the side of the tracks.
Bill and Riley both dove off the tracks into the dirt beside Jenn.
A shattering whistle shook the air.
Then there was the scream of metal on metal as the engineer hit the brakes.
Bill looked back from where he lay and saw Mason Eggers still standing in the middle of the tracks, his arms outstretched, the full glare of the headlight bathing his body in dazzling whiteness.
Looking straight at the engine, Eggers shouted—so loudly that Bill could hear his voice over the roaring engine— “Arlene!”
Then the locomotive roared past, and Eggers was gone.
CHAPTER FORTY
As she sat and waited on the stage of the school auditorium, Riley felt an odd chill up her back.
Fear, she realized with some surprise.
Not deep fear, and certainly not panic. Even so, it seemed silly to be fearful at all under the circumstances—especially given all that she and her colleagues had survived just a week earlier.
Besides, it wasn’t the first time she’d spoken in front of a group of people. She’d taught plenty of classes at the BAU. Still, public speaking in front of an audience of mostly strangers always stirred up a certain degree of anxiety in her.
She reminded herself …
This is good. This is a good thing to be doing.
After all, this was a celebration of something very important to her. Today Jilly was finishing middle school. Although the school held no formal graduation ceremony, the PTA had arranged what they referred to as a little inspirational gathering.
They had asked Riley Paige to be the speaker.
And of course, she felt honored to be asked.
The school principal was at the podium now. His rather cliché congratulatory remarks seemed to be taking forever, and Riley had trouble paying attention to his words.
She couldn’t help thinking about Mason Eggers—the terrible crimes he had committed, and the terrible death he died.
There hadn’t been much left of his body for the medical examiners to work with. Even so, they’d found a malignant tumor that had started to grow in his brain. Just as Jenn had suggested, this must have caused him to have terrifying hallucinations.
Judging from his medical records, his condition hadn’t yet been diagnosed. He might have been aware of encroaching symptoms, like headaches, disturbing physical sensations, and cognitive lapses, without ever realizing what was causing them.
He surely hadn’t known why such terrible impulses were taking control of his life—why mysterious and irresistible voices were commanding him to revisit his wife’s suicide again and again, brutally sacrificing live victims in her stead.
It must have been horrifying for him, Riley thought.
After all, he wasn’t evil. He’d been a good man who had lived a good life. But unbidden evil had invaded his mind, destroying him and ending the lives of four women.
Riley tried to imagine how he must have felt in those last seconds of his life.
Maybe it wasn’t so terrible, at least not for him.
She found it easy to imagine that, in the deepening confusion of his mind, the headlight of the locomotive was the tunnel-light of the hereafter. Perhaps he’d known for sure that he was about to be reunited with his beloved Arlene at last.
After all, her name was the last word that escaped his lips before he died.
Or maybe he was thinking …
Who knows? Riley thought.
She tried to put such sad thoughts aside by thinking about something that made her feel much happier—the letter of apology Bull Cullen had been forced by his superiors to write to Jenn about his atrocious behavior.
Whether it would change Cullen’s future actions remained to be seen, but Jenn had done exactly the right thing and had gotten good results.
Riley also remembered with pleasure the cowed and demoralized expression on Carl Walder’s face when he had managed to stammer out his congratulations to her for solving the case. And now she saw that same expression whenever she encountered him around the BAU these days.
Poor guy, she thought—without meaning it.
Now everybody in the FBI knew about how he had done his level best to thwart Riley just when she was on the very brink of stopping a serial killer.
In fact, news of her success had spread throughout the law enforcement community far and wide. Riley’s reputation was restored, as sterling as it had ever been.
But now it was time to put all such thoughts aside—no matter how boring and longwinded the principal was being. After all, some of the people Riley most loved in the world were right here waiting for her to speak.
Jilly was seated in a special section along with the others who would be moving on to high school next year. April was in the general audience, along with Gabriela. So were Bill and Jenn—it had been so sweet of them to come! Jenn was still on crutches from the terrible sprain she’d suffered on the railroad tracks, but she said that she was mending nicely.
Riley was grateful that Blaine was here too. Although he had no child in middle school, he’d said it was important to spend as much time as possible with Riley whenever she was home.
All in all, Riley’s world was good right now. The girls had made it through the stress of finals and were looking forward to the summer off. They had heard from Liam that he was happy in his new home.
At long last, the principal was bringing his speech to a close.
He said, “Now I want to introduce one of our own parents. Agent Riley Paige has had a distinguished career in the Federal Bureau of Investigation, receiving too many medals and commendations to name here. Instead, I will let Ms. Paige speak for herself.”