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With a loud pop, it opened, and the doctor pulled away the vent face to reveal the empty space the engineers had shown him before.
He smirked to himself. It was practically the perfect size to store a human body. He was sometimes skeptical of fate, but recent events with Saldana taking the heat off of him and now the cavity in the wall seemed highly coincidental. It sure felt like there was some divine intervention going on. If such a thing existed, he reasoned that his murders were well-thought of by the supernatural powers that be.
Shoving Valerie’s body into the space, he then pushed the heating vent back into place. It clicked, and the doctor stood up looking at the panel. Anyone looking at it would never have known that behind its slatted face, the vent hid the paralyzed body of a woman soon to die at the hands of one of Elmwood’s own doctors.
He walked away, feeling more confident in his purpose and his plan.
He giggled to himself as the thought of flames and heat entered his mind.
“Yes,” he said quietly. “The furnace, that would be a good place to rid this world of another burdensome FBI agent.”
But that would have to wait for later. He had to rush back to his office and pretend all was well. Then, when the dust settled, put Valerie in the furnace boiler and smell her body turn to ashes.
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
Charlie was worried. The phone call with Valerie had cut off quickly, and there had been some interference on her last words.
Will sat opposite Charlie, drinking a glass of champagne in Charlie’s room. What was supposed to be a celebration of closing the case had now turned into a gathering of uncertainty.
“What’s wrong, Charlie? Was that Valerie?” Will asked, putting his glass down on a table.
“Yeah, we got cut off,” he explained. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
He tried to phone Valerie back.
And again.
And again.
Each time there was no answer, and the call eventually ended with Valerie’s voicemail recording.
Will stood up and grabbed his coat that was sitting on the edge of a chair. He put it on and pulled up the collar. “We better go look for her.”
Charlie nodded, but he felt sick in his stomach. He had a terrible feeling that something had happened to her. He grabbed his gun, checked that it was loaded, and then holstered it on his chest.
“Let’s go find her,” he said. And they both left the room.
The residential building was quiet.
“She said that she was going to visit Doctor Winters,” Charlie said.
They walked at a fast pace to the other side of the residential building, coming to Doctor Winters’s room. Knocking on the door, Charlie still felt the same dread.
No one answered.
“Doctor Winters?” Charlie asked.
He could hear something from the other side of the door. A muffled breathing.
“Doctor Winters?” It was Will who asked loudly this time.
Again, there was no answer.
Charlie looked at Will and then took a step back. He was about to lower his shoulder and charge into the door to smash it open when Will stopped him, leaned forward, and opened the door with the handle.
“Not every door is locked, Old Chap,” he said with a wry smile.
They entered the room.