“You sure?”Coulter asked.“It’s seven stories.”
“I run a lot,” Kate replied.
Coulter muttered something that sounded like “Idon’t,” but she didn’t hesitate to follow Kate up the staircase.Here, there was no need for façade.The stairs were bare metal, the walls plain concrete, no windows in sight save for the small rectangles in the doors at each floor.Much like Cox, this courthouse was grand, imposing, regal on the outside but dig deeper and there was only emptiness within.
Get your head out of Cox’s ass and into the game,Kate scolded herself.
She nearly chuckled, imagining how Marcus would react if he heard that.Maybe she’d tell him later.
She reached the roof, and when she stepped outside, her rollercoaster of emotions steadied instantly.The officers behind her all shuffled and muttered anxiously when they appeared under the spotlight of the police helicopter and felt the wash of the rotors, but Kate was perfectly calm.
No, not calm.She still didn’t know what Cox intended for her part to be in all this.Until she knew that, she couldn’t be entirely sanguine about her situation.
But she was focused.She knew what she had to do.
“Coulter, I want you and your officers to give me space.Don’t approach unless I say so.”
Coulter’s brow furrowed.“I don’t like the sound of that, agent.What are you going to do?”
“You don’t have to like the sound of it.I’m going to talk to her.I’m going to try to convince her not to jump.”
Coulter sighed but didn’t argue further.“All right.”
Kate approached Emily, moving slowly so as not to frighten her.When she was about thirty feet behind her, she angled to the side so Emily would see her long before she was close.When she was twenty feet away, she lifted a hand for Marcus to stop talking over the megaphone and called, “Hey!”
Emily flinched.Her right foot slipped off the edge, and electricity crackled through Kate’s limbs, but Emily caught the railing and pulled herself back before she fell.
That was a good sign.She didn’t want to die.
Kate kept her hands up, fingers splayed.She approached until Emily called, “No closer!”
“Okay,” Kate said.“Okay.Listen, they’re not going to give you a megaphone, okay?”
Emily’s lips trembled.“Why not?”
“Because they don’t want you to jump, and they know that once you say what you need to say, you’re going to jump.”It was risky to be this honest with Emily, but Kate felt that was the right gamble to take right now.
The killer’s lips trembled.“I have to tell them.People have to know.”
“I know.That’s why I’m here.You’re going to tell me.But first, I’m going to tellyousomething.”
Emily looked warily at her and said nothing.
“My name is Kate Valentine.Does that mean anything to you?”
Emily shook her head slowly, then stopped.“Wait.You imprisoned the Lawgiver.You took him away!”
“I brought him to justice, yes,” Kate said.
“That wasn’t justice!Youpervertedjustice!You’re a sinner!”
“I’m definitely not perfect,” Kate agreed.“But I’ll give you your chance to talk when I’m finished, okay?”
Emily’s eyes narrowed, but she fell silent.
“Elijah Cox has been obsessed with me for a while,” Kate said.“Over a year, at least, and probably much longer than that.He believes that I’m supposed to be the culmination of his mission on Earth.He believes that I’m supposed to be the scapegoat.”
Emily flinched again.“You?But…I’mthe scapegoat!I took on the sin of the violation of the Sixth Commandment to correct the errors of humanity!”
