Chapter 26

Veronica could not believe that she had actually gone along with Grace when she asked her to get back on a plane with Milly Tillerman. She had an idea as to what Grace was trying to do, but it upset her that she was being sent away yet again from the case. She had so much information that she needed to give to Jason that she was not being given the opportunity to do it.

Grace had made sure to get to the airport before Jason did so she could follow through with her plan. She knew that she had figured out the case, but that she needed to catch the murderer in action. In order to do that she needed to get his next target out of town so he would be unable to hurt her. It had not been easy to convince Milly that she was in immediate danger but she finally agreed to take a flight to Florida to visit a friend that she had not seen in quite a while.

Grace had asked Veronica to go with her so Milly's son would not have to go with her. When she had gotten to the airport both Veronica and William were surprised to see her. She wanted to make sure that William did not hear the plans. They wanted to make sure that no one got in the way of what they were doing. It was necessary to make sure that Milly did not look like herself getting on the plane; instead she needed to look like Grace. With a good wig and some make up it appeared that they had successfully done what they had set out to do.

She had her reasons for doing this and it was imperative that it went as planned. If there was even a small hiccup it could ruin her entire thought process. If anything went wrong then they would not be able to catch the man who was doing this to their town and that could not happen. There were quite a few details that needed to be given to Veronica but Grace did not want to do too much. She had very limited time and so, Grace did not have enough time to fully explain it to Veronica but she figured that the most essential aspects were given to her. She did not want to overload her with all the little details.

If she told her everything, Grace knew that Veronica would be on the phone calling Jason and ruining everything. She had to make sure that Jason did not know anything otherwise it would all be ruined. He would want her to be safe and would not allow her to take care of the case the way that she knew it needed to be taken care of. She knew that she was placing herself in harms way but she could not see any way around it. This is how it had to be. Also if Jason knew what was going on, he would be on the radio asking for police assistance before it was truly needed.

What she needed the most was time. She knew that if she had enough time to get everything in place that there would be no way that "El Diablo" would know that he was being played. That was the most important thing. He needed to think that everything was the way that he planned. If there was even the slightest flaw in the plan, then it would be ruined. She would lose the opportunity to catch him in the act and therefore put him away for all of the transgression that he had committed. That was something that she was unwilling to do. She had to make sure that this person got put behind bars so he could no longer hurt anyone else. If that did not happen, then Grace was going to consider herself a failure.

It was amazing that she had been able to figure out who the murderer was. She knew that everyone was going to be shocked to find out that the person who had been doing this had been under their nose the entire time. It had been right in her face as well, the entire time. However, sometimes when something is so obvious, it will not make itself know until just before it strikes. She knew that Jason would be grateful that she had been able to crack the case but that he would also be upset with himself that he had not seen the obvious. He would feel as if he had put everyone in the way of the killer, but that was not the case. That was not really Grace’s problem at this time. What she needed to focus on was catching this crazed man.

Once Grace realized who was behind all of these murders it became painfully obvious to her how he had been able to get away with everything that he did. With being in the place of power that he was, it was possible for him to get into all the areas and control everything that he was doing. It frustrated her that everything had been happening and yet no one seemed to notice the signs. It is true that the signs all pointed to the person who was doing it but she knew that she needed to have the proof that she would get later on in the day.

With the proof in her hands, she knew that "El Diablo" would not get away with what he had been doing. That had been her greatest fear; that the person who had been doing this would get away with it and continue to rein terror on the town. It was apparent to her that tonight was going to be the last murder because she knew that he would then have taken care of everyone that he felt that he needed to. She was not sure how she was so confident, but she was. It was obvious that she could not allow this person to continue what they were doing and so she was taking matters within her own hands.

By getting the target out of the way, Grace knew that she had saved Milly Tillerman but she knew that she could not let "El Diablo" on to the plan. Since that is what she needed to do, she had met Veronica and William and did not have Jesse bring his mom into the terminal until Grace called him. That way she knew that they were not being watched and that the plan could be put into action. It was essential that she made sure that “El Diablo” was not watching them. Once she knew that it was safe, she was able to call Jesse and he brought his mother into the airport terminal.

Jesse hugged his mother goodbye and told her that she was going to be safe. He let her know that he completely trusted Grace and that he knew that what was happening was for her own good. It might not feel like it right now, but in the end it would all work out. Milly turned and gave her son a huge hug and a kiss and told him to be safe and that she would call him as soon as she got to Florida. He reminded her not to call him, that he would call her because they did not want “El Diablo” to know that it was not Grace that was getting on the plane to Florida. With those parting words, Milly walked up to Veronica and they both started to walk towards the flight attendant to give her their tickets.

As she watched Veronica and Milly, not looking like Milly at all, walk down the jet way she was filled with pride. She was going to be able to catch this guy and he would not know what had hit him. She was amazed how well Milly handled walking to the plane and looked about ten years younger. That was go because if "El Diablo" was watching he would not be wise to the fact that it was Milly who was with Veronica.

Now all Grace needed to do was get to Milly's house before he did and make sure that everything was in place. She hoped that she would be able to get him in the house and call Jason at the same time. She did not like the idea of putting herself in harms way but she knew that it needed to be done. This was going to help them catch the murderer and she was willing to do whatever she needed to do to put him behind bars.

The "cleansings" were going to be over and there was nothing that he could do about it, Grace felt confident that it was going to work out and she was happy that she was the one that had figured it all. This might cement her place in the police department and allow her to do the work that she had always wanted to do. She just hoped that she would get out of the plan alive and be able to what she had always wanted to do. If it all went well, that is what would happen. She started to walk towards to car to put into action the plan of her life.

It was not going to be easy but it was something that needed to happen. If the person was going to be truly stopped, this was the way that it had to go. Her palms were sweaty and she was feeling lightheaded. She was also getting a rush knowing that she was going to be doing the most dangerous thing that she had ever done in her life. How could she have thought that she could do this on her own? She knew that it was going to be okay. If everything did not turn out the way that she wanted it to, then she was just going to have to live with it. She was nervous but she knew that there was no way out since the course of action had already been chosen.

All she had to do was make sure that everything went as according to plan. As soon as she got to Milly’s house she was going to map out everything that she was going to do. That way nothing could go wrong. She was the woman with lists and she knew that if she had it with her and it would calm her nerves. Now what she had to do was get to the house and everything would work out fine. If it was not to be, then things would not go as planned but she knew that this was the way that everything needed to happen and that it would all be okay at the end.

The drive was long, but it was not unbearable. With knowing what she needed to do, she was able to put everything out of her mind. She had made a call to Amalia and had asked her to check in on Big Ben and her house. She knew that it was all safe, but she wanted the peace of mind to know that everything in her life had been in order before the real action began. With a quick call to her mom to tell her that she loved her and she was ready to take on this case, at least as ready as she was going to be for the task at hand.