He finally had her.

But she wasn’t acting like herself.

He blinked, and her face righted. “I’m not going to burn him yet.” He had to get Rick over the edge of the bridge first. He couldn’t move a burning body. He strode to the back of the van, opened the cargo doors, and pulled out a large piece of plywood. He rested it against the railing of the bridge, making a ramp. Rick saw what was happening and started to squirm away. Troy stood still and watched him. The man was pathetic. He could scoot about four inches at a time with his ankles and wrists tied. Did he believe he could escape? He was tied to the railing. He’d choke himself on the ground if he went much farther.

Troy bent over and dragged Rick to the foot of the plywood. He shoved and pulled, rolling the man a few feet up the ramp. He paused to catch his breath, bracing Rick’s body with his own, and cursing himself for changing his plans, for allowing Colleen to influence him. He glanced back at Colleen and jumped as he met her gaze.

She was standing directly behind him.

She kicked at the back of his knee, and Rick slid on the ramp. Troy lunged at her while attempting to keep Rick in place with one hand. She leaped backward out of his reach, but went no farther, seeing his struggle to keep Rick in place.

“Put him down,” she begged. “I’ve changed my mind.”

“No!” Troy shifted and pulled Rick halfway back up the ramp. “He has to pay for what he did to you!”

“I forgave him,” Colleen pleaded. “Now untie both of us.”

“No.”

Colleen darted to the rail of the bridge, and Troy’s hands went cold. She awkwardly stepped on the first bar of the three-barred rail. She looked down at the water and took a deep breath. “I’ll jump if you don’t let him go.”

Troy stared. He couldn’t move. Colleen couldn’t die; she’d finally returned. “No,” he ordered. “You don’t want to do that for a piece of shit like this. He’s not worth it. Remember how he hurt you?”

“Yes, he hurt me, but killing him doesn’t fix it.”

Anger rushed through him. “This was all about fixing it! You told me we would both be at peace if I did this! I’ve been in agony for years over what I watched happen to you. I did nothing to stop it!”

“Now you can stop it. You can stop me from dying again. Here’s your chance.” She lifted a foot to the second railing, balancing her hips against the top rail. The slightest shift of her weight would send her over the edge.

Troy looked down at the water. The bridge wasn’t as high as the other ones he’d used. She’d easily survive the fall, but how would she swim with her hands tied? What if the fall knocked her unconscious? He let Rick slide a few inches back down the plywood. “Don’t jump,” he begged. “I can’t help you if you jump.”

Headlights shone on the three of them.

Mason saw her. Headlights lit up the three people through the drizzling rain. Ava stood on one of the railings of the Sauvie Island bridge with her hands tied behind her back, and looked like she was about to jump over the edge.

She was alive.

She wavered on the railing, looking their way, and moved a foot down to a lower bar.

“Thank you, God,” Mason muttered as he stepped out of the car into the light rain.

“Amen,” said Ray.

Ahead of them, Special Agent Parek spoke on the phone as he stood behind the protection of his car door. The FBI’s SWAT team had followed them to the bridge and had huddled up behind Mason’s vehicle to form a plan. Their three cars and an assault vehicle had stopped just before the truss of the bridge, fifty feet away from Troy Beadle and his victims. Mason spotted Derrick Snyder thrashing on a ramp and breathed a sigh of relief that Troy hadn’t killed his victims before hanging them like he’d done before. Derrick was moments away from going over the edge. Mason could see the rope around his neck that was tied to the railing. Ava stepped off the rail and faced the vehicles. She collapsed to her knees on the bridge and hung her head, her shoulders shaking.

What had she gone through?

Ray and Mason joined Parek.

“I’ve got more support coming,” said Parek. “The team that was headed to Troy Johnson’s house is coming this way. We canceled them before they got there.”

“Good thing,” said Ray.

Parek glanced over their shoulders at the SWAT team. “Let’s find out how they want to handle this. There’s no law enforcement on the island, so no one can come from the other side of the bridge to help.”

“I hope the island residents stay away. We’ve got nothing to keep one of them from driving into the middle of this,” said Mason.

Parek nodded. “We need to handle this as quickly as possible. Multnomah County’s river patrol is headed our way via boat. They can land on the island and keep people back.” He paused. “They’re sending their dive team, too.”

“Good idea,” Ray said as Mason silently shuddered. He wasn’t fond of rivers and lakes. Give him a nice chlorinated pool. He looked downriver. The water was black, and he couldn’t see the outlines of the banks. Visibility in the river would be impossible at this time of night.

“Let’s start talking to him,” said Mason. “Let’s not mention Ava is FBI until we find out if he already knows that fact. Does your SWAT team have a negotiator?”

Parek shook his head. “I asked for one. He’s on his way, too. Either of you done it?”