He then took out his phone and dialed up his bureau contact. Stepping a bit outside of her normal case boundaries, Rachel walked into the kitchen, found a glass in the second cupboard she checked, and ran some water out of the tap. She drank down a few mouthfuls of cold water as Jack recited the number to the man on the other line. She stared at the door shed kicked in, still not quite sure what had come over her. Deep down, she thought she knew. She was pretty sure she wasnt taking the idea of rules and regulations very seriously anymore. She did not have a very long time left to live, so she was not going to be hampered by trivialities such as waiting for the appropriate amount of evidence to knock a door down.

She almost chuckled at the brazen understanding but managed to keep it on. Laughing in any sort of way right now, having narrowly avoided a major dizzy spell and a panic attack, seemed like an invitation for disaster.

Setting the glass on the edge of Lisas sink, she took out her own phone and called Branson. When he answered, she cringed when she heard the slight bit of hope in his voice. Clearly, he was hoping for good news. And while she supposed they did have some, in a way, it wasnt the breakthrough they were all hoping for.

Were following up with the call operator from Better Days. Her first name is Lisa and Im ashamed to say I dont have a last name. We have a phone number I need you to see if you can find a name for. We have reason to believe it might be a very strong contender for the killers fifth victim.

I cant do anything with it, but Ill pass it along to someone that can.

She gave him the number and then, doing her best not to sound too pushy, she ended the call with: Seriously. This could be huge. The sooner I can get this the better.

When she ended her call, Jack was also done with his. Fifteen minutes, he said. Thirty at the most.

Knowing there was no way in hell shed be able to sit still while they waited, Rachel made her way through Lisas apartment. It wasnt exactly ethical, but shed already kicked a door down. What was a little snooping in the face of that? Jack said nothing about this, but his choice to stay in the living room to look at Lisas macabre little scrapbook told her that he wasnt in agreement with it.