A large map of the Upper West Side of Manhattan hung prominently on a long wall. Each of the six murder locations were marked with a large red X. A duplicate copy of that map was also pinned to the bulletin board in the bullpen next to the detectives’ desks.

“There’s a pattern here. We just don’t know what it is yet,” said Daryl looking up at the map for what he figured was the millionth time.

Walking over to the whiteboard Heather grabbed a blue marker and pointed at the map. “Let’s give the crime-scene locations another look,” she said. “December, Lisa Eng on West 95th Street and Tenth Avenue.”

Marking the location on a clean whiteboard, she continued. “Next, Carly Faircloth on 104th and Columbus, then Nicole Barrett on West 96th between Columbus and Amsterdam.”

“We’ve been over this a million times,” chirped one of the younger cops sitting at the table. “Ain’t gonna change.”

“And, we’ll keep going over it until we catch him,” said Heather glaring at the young man. “You want to work on a different team, officer? Because I think they need help on the coronavirus response team bringing bodies to the morgue.”

The young officer shook his head and buried his face in a file.

“Moving along,” said Heather as she continued to write in blue, “On the Ides of March, it was Rosie Florio on 97th and Columbus.”

She drew a red line from one address to the other.

“Then Michelle Rothberg on April 15th,” said Daryl.

“What we’re grappling with here,” said Heather while she worked it out in her own head, “is whether these crimes were murders of chance or were they carefully planned? Did the killer identify his victims in advance? Some of them seem like they could have been a random encounter, like Lisa Eng leaving her Christmas party. Did the killer accidentally bump into her or did he plan it?”

“Eng’s co-workers reported she had a lot to drink that night and the autopsy showed her blood alcohol level to be three times the legal limit,” said Daryl. “It’s possible our perp ran into her on the street and decided to go for it. We still don’t know who the man was who she met on the train.”

“What we do know is that Michelle Rothberg had a bum foot the night she was killed. She and our sixth victim, Katie Tierney, who was found inside her apartment on West 100th near Central Park West, definitely let the killer in.” Heather completed the red lines joining all six murders in a lopsided hexagon. “This is our playground, people,” she said as she pointed to the red geometric shape she had created with her location points. “Whether it was by chance or not, we believe all six women allowed the killer to enter their homes.”