Double Take

missed.
    Dix heard Charlotte crying as he leaped at Pallack. He slammed his fist into his jaw, felt it break. Dix hit him again, knocking him down on his back, and straddled him, grabbing his shirt collar. He brought his head up and slammed it down on the rough stone roof. “You murdered my wife! What kind of insane monster are you?”
    He hit him again even though Pallack was nearly unconscious, and moaning, and then Dix lowered his own head, and started to cry.
    He felt a hand on his shoulder. “He’s unconscious, Dix. You can stop now.”
    A woman’s voice. He turned to look up into Ruth’s face. “He killed Christie.”
    “Yes, I know.”
    Dix looked over to see Sherlock cuffing Charlotte Pallack’s hands behind her.
    The roof filled with people. He heard Savich’s voice, heard Cheney speaking to Frank Paulette on his cell. And Julia was there, telling a uniformed police officer that Xavier Makepeace was dead, in the study, and that he was the one who’d been trying to kill her.
    Dix said to Savich, “Pallack had David Caldicott killed. Charlotte didn’t know about that.” He hated to say it because he knew she was an accomplice to everything else Pallack had done, but he added, “Fact is, Charlotte shot Pallack.”
    Charlotte said calmly, “By shooting him I saved your life, Dix. If we can make a deal, I’ll tell you all about what Thomas has done. I’ll tell you where Christie Noble is buried.”
    “You don’t know,” Dix said slowly.
    “Oh yes, I do. My brother told me. David said he followed Thomas several times to her grave. David said Thomas spent hours there, sitting on the ground beside her, ranting and raving at her.” She smiled. “I’ll even testify against him.”
    Ruth said, “You’re a regular Mother Teresa, aren’t you, Charlotte?” She held out her hand to Dix and pulled him to his feet. “Come on, Dix, it’s over.”

EPILOGUE
    SAN FRANCISCO

    Cheney and Julia stood side by side on the Marin Headlands looking down at the Golden Gate Bridge, watching thick gray threads of fog weave through the suspension cables. They both had on their leather jackets and gloves. A sharp wind was whipping Julia’s hair around her face.
    “I’d like for you to stay in San Francisco, Julia,” Cheney said. “With me. I’ll bet we can find a nice house that’ll suit us.”
    She cocked her head to one side, tapped her fingertips to her chin. “Say, is that a proposal?”
    He looked surprised. “You know, I hadn’t started out with that particular objective, but I guess that’s how my brain wanted it to come out of my mouth. Goes to prove I should trust my brain. I’m crazy about you. What do you say, Julia? Will you marry me?”
    He saw a leap of excitement in her eyes, felt his smile ready to split his face, but what she said was, “That’s a huge thing you’re saying, Cheney. You’ve never been married before. I have, two times, and neither had a good result. We haven’t had what you’d call a normal dating relationship, let alone a single date, other than that one wild time in the Sherlocks’ gym—well, I’m thinking maybe we should take our time, let things settle down some more—”
    He laid his hands on her shoulders. “Look at me, Julia. Yes, look at me. You can see what I’m feeling for you right on my face. When something’s right, it’s right. I know it is. Do you?”
    She chewed on her bottom lip a moment, looking away from him. Just when his anxiety level was nearly in the stratosphere, she looked up at him and gave him a big smile. “Yes, oh boy, yes, I’ll marry you. You can forget what I said, that was just depressing maturity and common sense leaking out of my mouth.”
    “Is that a note of sarcasm?”
    “Maybe. Now, Cheney, are you willing to accept my psychic friends without rolling your eyes? Can you restrain yourself?”
    “Even with Bevlin?”
    “Especially with Bevlin. He’s still becoming who he’s supposed to be, trying to fine-tune his gift.”
    Cheney rolled his eyes, then saw the smile she was trying to hide.
    “I saw that,” he said.
    “I can’t help it.”
    The wind kicked up and Julia hugged him closer. She said between kissing his neck and jaw, “You’ll admit, won’t you, that at least Kathryn acts pretty normal, some of the time.”
    “Okay, maybe.”
    “That’s because she thinks you’re hot, and doesn’t want to scare you off. Or maybe it’s Savich she thinks is hot, hard to tell. But me, I’d take you any