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"The victim you saved sends her eternal gratitude, Charlie. She's being looked after by some of the monks here."
"That's good," Charlie said, wincing. "I think my shoulder is dislocated. I'm pretty beat up."
"Let the medics put you back together," Sheriff Carter said. Then he sighed. "I've put out a call to the Sheriff's Department to arrest Logan Bartlett on sight."
"Kerry County and its hills are pretty vast," Valerie mused. "I hope they find him. I just wish we had another lead."
"Might I suggest something?" Will said.
"I'm all ears," Valerie answered.
"If the profile is correct and Logan Bartlett is symbolically killing his family for leaving the Church behind," he explained. "There's a real chance we've reached the killer's saturation threshold."
"What's that?" asked Sheriff Carter.
"It's when a killer knows they are going to get caught," Valerie said. "So, they hyper-escalate. Basically, they either go on a huge killing spree or ... My God, Will, you don't think he'll try to actually kill his family before we finally find him?"
"I do," he said.
"We need to get moving, then," Charlie groaned.
"You're going nowhere," Valerie said. "That's an order. And Will, would you look after him while you wait for an ambulance?"
"Of course, Valerie. But where are you going?"
Sheriff Carter's face was ashen. "We need to know where his family is. Right now."
Valerie looked out through the balcony doors. The rain was now torrential, and night had fallen. She took out her phone and dialed a number.
"Abbot Collins?" she said as the phone was answered. "Where can we find Logan Bartlett's family? It's a matter of life and death."
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
Sheriff Carter drove almost as fast as Charlie, almost. Valerie felt the power of his truck climbing the uneven road, its wheels grinding against its worn surface.
Outside, the hills of Kerry County were like dark shadows looming in the rain. Indistinct. Threatening.
"How far now?" Valerie asked.
"Not far," Sheriff Carter said. "We got lucky with the distance. Unless you think God played a hand in this."
"I'll take any help we can get."
Valerie watched and saw a sign. In the dim night, she read the words, Owl Marsh Manor.
"Take a right here," she said.
Almost immediately, as they followed the road through twisted forest, a clearing opened up at the foot of the Kerry Hills. There stood a large mansion.
"Have you been to Owl Marsh Manor before?" Valerie asked.
"No," he said. "It reminds me of the sort of place my wife always wanted us to end up. Some old mansion in the woods."
"I hope you get that wish one day," Valerie said.
"Yeah."
But there was nothing idyllic about the house in the winter rain. It was as stark and as imposing as the hills themselves, staring down at them with its countless windows like eyes.
