Rakitin stepped forward. He drew his gun from the holster and rested the muzzle at the murderer's heart.

Contact shots left stars of powder congruent with the weapon's rifling.

"Tell me," Polya said softly. "What do you think of while a girl, defenseless, unarmed, is losing her life for the crime of letting you within a meter?"

Sorrow flowed in him like a river.

"Do you even understand what you've done?"