"He asked us to tell Reuben and Caleb."

"I'll do it."

"They deserved it, you know. From all that Finn told us that happened that night."

"Nothing gives someone the right to murder someone, Annabelle," he said firmly. "That's vigilantism. That's wrong."

"Under any circumstances?"

"One exception destroys that rule for good."

"So you say."

"Burn the letter, Annabelle," Alex said suddenly.

"What?"

"Burn it now, before I change my mind."

"Why?"

"It's not a confession but it's still evidence. And I can't believe I'm saying this. Burn it. Now!"

She grabbed a match, lit the paper and tossed it into the fireplace. They watched the letter curl and blacken.

"Oliver saved my life, more than once," he said. "He was the most decent, reliable person I've ever met."

"I wish he'd stayed to talk to us."

"I'm glad he didn't."

"Why?" Annabelle said brusquely.

"Because I might have had to arrest him."

"You're kidding. You just said he was the most decent person you'd ever met."

"I'm a lawman, Annabelle. I swore an oath, friend or not."

"But you knew he killed people before. And you didn't seem to have a problem with it then."

"Right, but he did that on orders from the U.S. government."

"So that makes it okay in your eyes? Because some politician said it was?"

"Oliver was a soldier. He was trained to follow orders."

"But even he felt guilt for that. Because some of the people he was 'ordered' to kill were innocent. You saw how that crushed him."

"I respect his morals. But that wasn't his call."

Annabelle rose and looked down at him.

"So he kills two people who did deserve it, but because he didn't have 'government authorization' you're suddenly prepared to arrest him?"