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"Blanche wasn't the first, either," one of the other nuns said. "There are rumors he fathered a child with a nun here last year."
Valerie looked at Sheriff Carter. She was starting to build a profile now in her head. The killer, a man who felt constrained by the Church, not able to fulfill his desires, lashing out at the religious around him.
Excitement grew in her stomach.This could be it.
"Do you know where he is?" Sheriff Carter asked.
Laura answered, "I think I saw him working on a radiator near here this morning. If he's not there, he'll be prowling around somewhere."
The nuns gave Valerie directions, and she thanked them, rushing out of the door and running down the corridors nearby.
"Wait!" Sheriff Carter whispered, his voice still echoing.
"No time!" Valerie replied.
She moved from one corridor to the next, the nuns' directions etched into her mind. Valerie had left Sheriff Carter far behind when she turned a corner, and there was a man sitting on the cold stone floor of another hallway, twisting a valve on one of several old radiators.
He looked up, locked eyes with Valerie, and stood up.
His piercing stare, intense and deep, sent a chill down her spine. He was tall and thin, with short, black hair and pale skin. His eyes were dark, and his jaw was set firmly in a predatory manner that made him seem dangerous.
"Ulrich Dale?" she said, almost out of breath.
"Yes," he replied in a deep voice.
"I'm here to talk with you about Blanche Williams."
As soon as those words left Valerie's mouth, she saw the look of fear on his face. His eyes moved around, and he rubbed the back of his neck.
He's looking for an escape, Valerie thought. And, sure enough, that was what came of it.
He turned and rushed down the corridor away from Valerie.
"Stop! FBI!" Valerie shouted, pulling out her gun. But he was fast and already rounding a corner.
"Glen! We've got a runner!" Valerie shouted, hoping the sheriff would hear her. She rushed off in pursuit of the Ulrich Dale.
The corridors were long and winding, and Valerie could hear Ulrich's footsteps echoing through them. He was making no attempt to be quiet; he knew she was still chasing him.
The stone walls seemed to go on forever. She pushed herself harder and harder, her feet pounding against the hard floor as she chased after Ulrich Dale. Finally, she rounded a corner and saw him sprinting away from her into a small hall.
Valerie raced after him, jumping over chairs and benches that were in her way, and then back into the hallways. The corridor seemed to stretch out endlessly before them, but Valerie was determined not to let him get away this time.
Finally, they reached a dead-end corridor with nowhere else for Ulrich Dale to run but back towards her. He stopped running, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath.
Valerie pulled up short and aimed her gun at him, ready to take him into custody if necessary.
"It's over," she said firmly. "You're under arrest."
Ulrich's eyes darted around and then fixed themselves onto a nearby door.
"Don't do it. Stop, or I'll shoot!" Valerie yelled.
The man leaped through the door. Valerie got one shot off, which embedded into the stone wall near him.
Valerie ran through the door and found a stone, spiral staircase. She was so close to her prey, she refused to give up now. Taking the stairs two at a time, she rushed up them and emerged on the roof of the convent in the pouring, icy rain. The wind whipped her hair around her face as she looked around for Ulrich Dale.
He had disappeared into the darkness. Valerie gritted her teeth and looked around for him, but he was nowhere to be seen. Then she heard it—a faint, creaking sound coming from one of the gargoyles perched atop a nearby building.
