CHAPTER 72

Laura Preston could barely utter a few words. There was but a faint flicker of life in her eyes when Gunnar reached her side. She hardly had the strength for anything more than a final breath.

“Not…,” she whispered. “Not…to kill you.”

Those were the last words out of her.

But there was really nothing more to say, Gunnar knew. He closed her eyes. He let her lie in the expanding pool of blood draining out of the wound in her back.

Her captor had shot her before Gunnar took him down.

It almost seemed like time had sped up after the gunfight. The office and gym were brightening, first by the lights in the building, then the colored flashes off the police cars’ lights, and then the sun creeping above the horizon. It would be a long day, Gunnar knew, and it would involve endless analyses of every moment of the shooting. His office had turned into a morgue in a matter of seconds, and it would take hours to let the authorities understand it all.

For now, while he had the chance, Gunnar wanted to distance himself from it all. He stood by the door leading to the stairs onto the parking lot. There seemed to be normality out there. A bright morning sun was rising, the traffic was picking up, and Cassandra Hill was still pouting ever so seductively off the billboard advertising American Centerfold.

“Are you okay?” Gunnar heard Erika behind him. He felt her hand stroke his back.

“Am I okay?” he asked and gave her a tired smile. “I’m a tough private eye, don’t you know?”

Her smile was just as tired.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yes. It’s all over. We’ll get out of here soon and let everything get back to normal.”

Gunnar nodded. “It looks normal. But they’re out there.”

“Who?”

“The monsters.”

Gunnar put his arm around Erika’s waist. He had to hold her close. He had to feel her. And as they stood there, he was flooded with love for her.

THE END