FBI, Jack answered.

Then you know this man is a sex offender, right?

Thats bullshit! Dillinger said. It was one time, when I

Zip it, Mr. Dillinger, Jack said. Now is not the time.

Hes no good, Holcomb went on. And if I kill him, everyone moves up the list. Not just my mother. Everyone.

Something dark and barbed stirred within Rachel when she realized there was a bit of logic to this point. She recalled Dillinger telling her he was lax about taking his meds. And this was apparently a common problem with Dillinger. Was he terminal? Was his a lost case? Maybe taking him out of the list would help others.

Thats got to be the tumor talking, Rachel thought. As if in response, she felt a tremor in her head, an echo of the horrendous pain shed felt while down in the stairwell.

Listen to me, Mr. Holcomb, Jack said. If you dont drop that scalpel and step away from the bed, Im going to have to shoot. You understand that, right?

But I have to. I have to make her happy…I have to save her.

Rachel could tell by the growing confidence and yearning in Brandon Holcombs eyes that he wasnt going to back down. He had no intention of letting his mother down. And he would be willing to take a bullet in order to take this step.

A crazy idea came to her and when it locked itself in place, she felt tears stinging at her eyes. Before she could change her mind or talk herself out of it, she opened her mouth and started talking.

And by then, it was too late to take it back.

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

I hope you know we dont want to shoot you, Rachel said. In fact, we dont want anyone else to get killed. No one else has to die. I know your mom must be scared…just like this man in the bed. And I know what that fright feels like. You see, Mr. Holcomb, Im dying, too.

There. There it was. Out in the open. As the words came out of her mouth, it felt like a huge river of poison came flowing out of herpoison that had been pooling up and collecting around her heart, coming out in the form of words. In the form of confession.

Dont lie to me! It was clear he thought she was simply trying to give him some fake sympathy, trying to connect with him. But Rachel thought she also saw a softening in his eyes. She recalled the way shed originally felt when shed read Joseph Quinns storyabout how he knew loss just like the family hed had to deliver that awful news to.

She saw that in Brandon Holcomb. In his eyes, she saw the hope that someone else might have at least some sort of glimmer of what he was dealing with.