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CHAPTER TWENTY
Valerie watched from the passenger seat as the almost castle-like convent appeared on the horizon.
The truck was filled with the sound of Sheriff Carter's laughter as he described a particularly funny episode of his favorite television show. Valerie just shook her head and smiled.
"Don't you have better things to watch?" she asked.
"Nope," he said, still laughing. "That show is my guilty pleasure. I just like to switch my brain off. Do you never switch off?"
Valerie thought about her mind. It was never at rest. If it wasn't on a case, it was dealing with a perpetual fight against oncoming hallucinations. She preferred not to answer the question.
Just then, Valerie's phone buzzed with an incoming call. She glanced at the screen and frowned. It was Heinlein again.
"Are you gonna answer that?" the sheriff asked.
"I don't know," was Valerie's answer. She was avoiding Director Heinlein. The longer she could put off speaking with him, the more time she'd have to make a breakthrough in the case.
She knew she could only put it off for so long.
"If you want my advice," the sheriff said. "Sometimes you need to meet things head on. At least then you know what you have to deal with."
Valerie sighed at those words and reluctantly answered.
Heinlein sounded immediately sharp and angry.
"Are you ignoring my calls, Agent Law?"
"No, Sir," she said. "I've been on the case. I was in the middle of questioning someone."
"Unless it's life threatening," Heinlein continued, "I want you to answer me the second I call. Understand?"
"Yes, Sir."
"But hopefully," he said with a wry chuckle, "we won't have to deal with each other for much longer."
"What does that mean?" Valerie asked, dread in her stomach.
"It means," he continued. "That I've just had word from my superiors. I managed to persuade them that it's no good running the CPU while it's under investigation. In other words, you're getting shut down at the end of today unless you catch this killer."
"And then what?" Valerie asked.
"You'll be temporarily reassigned while the directors figure out what to do with Jackson Weller and his inefficient project."
Valerie wanted to shout at him, but she knew that would only give him recourse to trash her career right then and there. Jackson needed her to pull this one out of the fire for him. Whether it would prove once and for all that what they were doing was worthwhile, she didn't know. But it was all she had to hold onto.
"Understood," she said, grimly.
"And have you made a breakthrough?" he asked.
"You're breaking up," she said. "We're in the ... erry ... ount ... hills ... Bad sig ..."
She then hung up.
Sheriff Carter grinned. "I don't know who he is. But that guy sounds like an asshole."
"He is."
"We're here," Sheriff Carter said as the convent finally loomed large up ahead. They pulled up and got out; Charlie and Will did the same seconds later.
