Theres a voicemail message to Pete Deringer from Edwin Newkirk, Holmes said. It was received five days ago. Hold on one second and Ill play it for you. Ive got it hooked up so you should all be able to hear it pretty clearly.

As they waited, Rachel was reminded of the moment back at Better Days Hotline offices, siting with Lisa and Shelby and listening to the call recordings. It only intensified when Edwin Newkirks voice came through Deringers laptop speakers.

Dr. Deringer, this is Edwin Newkirk and Im going to tell you just this one time. If you ever call me again, Im going to report you. I dont know how you got my number or how you know Ive been in therapy, but the idea of finding a new patient on the phone seems very impersonal and Im insulted, quite frankly. So consider this your first and last warning. Dont even think about calling me again.

The click to end the call was quite audible, even through the laptops small speakers.

Is that it? Rachel asked.

Yeah, thats all Ive got on my end so far, Holmes said.

When was that message left?

Its logged as coming in five days ago at two-oh-five in the afternoon.

Without the records in front of her, Rachel did her best to recall the dates the unblocked numbers had come to the phones of the victims. She was quite sure the number that had eventually turned out to belong to Deringer had been made to Edwin Newkirk six days ago. So the call from Edwin would have come after the incoming call from the blocked number. In other words, the timeline made sense. But then again, the timeline also supported Jacks thin theory that Deringer could have gotten upset about being rejected and then acted out.

Thanks, Holmes, the technician said. Ping me if theres anything else. With that, he ended the conference call and looked awkwardly at the laptop. As for the laptop, he said, looking at Rachel and Jack, its all records and notes from client sessions. And Im sure I dont have to tell you about the pile of mess wed get into if we went looking through all of that unless we were one hundred percent, absolutely certain Deringer was our guy.

Hell, I dont know that Id do it even then, Jack commented.

So where does that leave us? the technician asked. Should I keep looking anyway? If Deringer is involved in this, we need to know for sure by nightfall.

Rachel nodded, feeling oddly reassured that even the NYPD were part of the unspoken understanding that it was all but expected for a fifth body to show up tonight if they didnt have the actual killer in custody.

His alibis are paper thin, Jack said. And I know this message from Newkirk backs up Deringers story about the headhunting-clients thing, but I think it also points pretty hard to him being a very likely suspect.