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Sixty feet of empty air separated Ella from the ground, and for once, she didn't mind.

Her legs dangled over the edge of the I-beam where, an hour earlier, Sister Mary and Mia Ripley could have easily plummeted to their deaths. The beam no longer felt like a tightrope between life and oblivion. Now, it was just a piece of metal.

Up above, night claimed the sky. Down below, red and blue lights pulsed across the construction site. Cops moved through the shadows like insects in a kicked anthill, documenting, photographing, gathering. Sister Mary Elizabeth sat in the back of Westfall's cruiser with her head bowed. Whether in prayer or simple exhaustion, Ella couldn't tell from this height.

‘You got here fast,’ Ella said.

Ripley was sitting beside her, giving her own middle finger to vertigo. ‘Broke every speed limit possible. Pretty sure the speedometer hit a hundred at one point.’

‘Awesome.’

‘I’d be banned from driving if it wasn’t Westfall’s car.’

Ella laughed. ‘How’d you find me here, anyway?’

‘Gunshots leave a trail, Dark. I heard them a mile away.’

‘But how’d you know I was here?’

‘You said on the phone you were coming to the church. When I was at Walsh’s house, I saw a document with Sister Mary’s signature. She’d signed the ‘i’ with the little cross as the dot.’

Ella fit the pieces together. ‘Just like at Harper’s murder scene. The scene she rushed.’

'Yup. She probably wrote that message on the wall by muscle memory. That's when I realized she was our killer. I tried calling you a bunch of times, but it went straight to voicemail.'

‘Probably no signal in that concrete box of hers.’

‘I heard gunshots when I was down the road. Then I got here and saw a smoking car. A minute later, two people appeared in mid-air.’ Ripley tapped the beam. ‘I thought, yeah, that’s classic Dark.’

‘True. Pretty stupid of me to follow her up here, honestly.’

‘You didn’t know what was up here. How did you know she was our unsub, anyway? Was she waiting for you in her house?’

‘No. It was empty when I went in. I found a Latin Bible in there, and a mirror with a W carved into it. So she could look at her reflection.’

‘Wow, and she calls other people vain.’

‘Are you two insane?’ Westfall's voice cut through their momentary peace. He stood at the edge of the platform with his face twisted in a grimace that suggested heights weren't his favorite companion. ‘We're five stories up, and you're sitting on that thing like it's a park bench.’

Ella asked, ‘You want to join us?’

‘I’m joining nothing. You want to come off there, or should I tell the coroner to stop by?’

‘Relax. We’re fine. Is Sister Mary talking?’

‘Singing. I actually had to tell her to shut up until we got her in the cells.’

Ripley said, ‘Wise choice. What’s she saying?’

‘She knows details we never released to the press. Specifics about how each victim died, the exact wording of messages left at the scenes. She's our killer, no doubt about it.’

‘What's her story?’

‘From what we can piece together, her outbuilding was scheduled for demolition too. Part of the power station expansion. She'd been living there for fifteen years, since the old priest took her in. The church was her only home.’

‘Good old revenge,’ Ripley said.

Ella pictured Adam Canton sitting in his cell, the weight of false confession lifted only to be replaced by betrayal. ‘What happens to Canton now?’

‘He'll face charges for stalking Rebecca Torres, but that's it. He's guilty of being obsessive, not homicidal.’ Westfall gestured toward the power station grounds. ‘On the upside, this place is now a crime scene. I can get the whole expansion suspended for a while. The new council president might be persuaded that a murder magnet isn't the best investment for taxpayer dollars.’

‘The church survives?’

‘For now. Sometimes evil accidentally does good, I guess.’

‘I hope it works out.’ Ella turned back to the view, to the town that had housed a killer who thought she was an angel. ‘What do you believe in, detective? God, karma, anything?’

‘Hard to believe in anything in this job, but I believe in my own two eyes.’

‘Is that right?’

‘Yeah, and my eyes are seeing two women sitting on a death beam.’

‘Fine.’ Ella smiled and swung her legs back over. Ripley followed, and they both stepped onto the relative safety of the platform. ‘Better?’

‘Much.’ Westfall extended his hand. ‘Thank you. Both of you. We don't get cases like this in Granville. Not usually.’

The gratitude in his voice transcended professional courtesy. For a moment, the badge-wearing civil servant vanished, replaced by a man who understood that some debts couldn't be repaid with words.

‘You too,’ Ella said.

‘Thanks for lending me your car,’ Ripley said.

‘Don’t mention it. I’ll send you the bill for any speeding tickets.’

‘Fair.’

Westfall’s radio crackled to life. A voice called his name through static. ‘Duty calls. Gonna get Sister Mary back to the cells. You two coming?’

‘We'll be right behind you,’ Ella said. ‘We’ve got a flight in two hours.’

‘Alright. For what it's worth, you're welcome back anytime. Preferably when no one's being branded.’

‘We appreciate it. Good luck with everything.’

Westfall disappeared down the staircase and left them in silence. Ella looked out at Granville. ‘It’s been a funny old case, hasn’t it?’

‘You can say that again. Ready to get going? I can get us business class on the way back.’

‘Can you?’

‘Yeah. Edis is paying.’

‘Sounds good.’

They descended the spiral staircase in silence. Each step carried them further from the moment suspended between sky and earth, back to solid ground where cases ended and paperwork began. Back to a world where serial killers quoted scripture, corrupt politicians milked their towns dry and the good guys didn't always win .

But sometimes they caught the monster before the body count hit double digits.

Ella counted that as victory enough.