“Help me!” she pleaded. “He’s coming back. Please, help me!”
Paige wanted to rush forward to free her, but she could also remember her training. That training said to make sure that the area was safe before moving to help victims, because otherwise, there was a risk of being turned into just one more person who needed to be saved.
It meant that Paige had to advance on the stage slowly, weapon raised, looking out for any sign of the killer. Had he just abandoned his victim? No, Paige couldn’t believe that. This was the victim who meant the most to him, the one for whom the others had been just copies or practice runs for this moment.
No, Antoinette was right: the killer would be coming back. Paige needed to see him coming. She needed to be ready, because she had no doubt now that he was planning to ambush her, and then finish the murder. She advanced on the stage, pace by pace, trying to cover all of the angles.
There was a flash and a burst of smoke on the stage, and Paige ran towards it, ready to fire. A figure stepped from that smoke, dressed in a dress suit, top hat, and mask. He was carrying a saw, its wickedly sharp teeth glinting under the lights of the stage.
“Stephen Booth, freeze!” Paige called out. She wanted him to know that she knew who he was. She wanted him to know that even if he escaped they would catch him.
He took off his mask then, tossing it aside to reveal a remarkably handsome face beneath. Was he giving in?
“I guess if you know who I am, I don’t need the mask,” he said. “Who are you?”
“I’m Agent King, with the FBI,” Paige said. “Put the saw down, put your hands behind your head, and get down on your knees.”
“With the FBI?” Stephen said. “Ah, my audience. I hope you appreciated my efforts with my other effects. Putting a new spin on such classic tricks took some work.”
He was moving towards the helpless form of Antoinette as he talked. Slowly, but he was moving.
“Is that what you call murdering three women?” Paige demanded. “Stand still, or I will shoot you.”
“What, before my big finale?” Stephen said. “Did you like my effort with the shark tank, Agent King? I got the idea from your work.”
He kept moving towards Antoinette, and that meant that Paige had a decision to make. She knew that she ought to shoot him. A serial killer was advancing on a woman he wanted to kill, with a weapon in his hand. Her trainers would have told her not to hesitate.
But Paige knew what it was like to shoot someone. She’d done it with Adam Riker. She wanted to give Stephen Booth every chance to surrender before she pulled the trigger.
Paige fired a warning shot instead, aimed at one of the lights on the stage. Paige had been good with her weapon on the range, and the light blew out with a pop.
“This is your last warning,” Paige said as she kept advancing on the stage. “Put the weapon down!”
Stephen started to raise his hands. “You don’t know what this woman did. You don’t know the way she tormented me, and helped my father to torment me.”
“Give yourself up, and we can talk about it,” Paige said. She climbed the steps to the stage, closing in on him.
“No,” Stephen said. “I don’t think I will.”
He flung his hands in Paige’s direction, and doves burst from his sleeves. They flew at Paige’s face, which meant that as she fired on Stephen, she missed. He ran for the box, and Paige knew that if she let him get there, Antoinette Couchon was going to die.