As night fell, Rachel and Jack made their first official visit to the precinct to meet with Detective Branson. FBI agents passing through a New York City precinct wasnt much of a big deal and Rachel was fully aware of this. However, when she and Jack piled into one of the stations conference rooms to come up with a game plan for the night, she felt that they were given the undivided attention of the dozen or so cops who had been assigned to assist with trying to prevent a fourth murder and maybe even find the killer.

There was a soft buzz circulating around the room as Rachel waited for Jack to end his conversation with the precinct chief. She saw them nod to one another and then shake hands before the chief rushed off elsewhere. Jack joined her at the front of the conference room and let Rachel have the floor. It was an uncontested fact between them that she was much better addressing a crowd of more than four or five than Jack was. He tended to get nervous and make unnecessary jokes, whereas Rachel was more to the point and direct. And while it had never really bothered Rachel to take the lead in situations like this, it was a bit different to look out and see numerous NYPD officers, all a bit on edge.

Captain Yancy has, Im sure, given you all the details, correct? she asked.

A series of nods greeted her. All eyes were on her, as well as a few scanning the reports that had been placed on the table that sat between the agents and the twelve officers who had been assigned this particular duty.

Three nights in a row, three potential victims, and three different bridges, Rachel said. The only pattern we have is that if there is indeed a killer, they seem to be striking every night. I want to think that the difference in bridges might be relevant, too, but that would be a dangerous assumption to make.

So what weve done is compiled a list of bridges that the most suicide attempts have been made from over the past decade. Well need them monitored as much as possible tonight. Anything out of the ordinaryeven as random as a lone pedestrian on a walk that stops for three secondsneeds to be checked out. Make sense?

Again, she was met with mostly nods. A few of the officers looked irritated being given what was essentially a needle-in-a-haystack hunt.

Yeah, but what if theres not even a murderer out there? said a broad-shouldered officer in the back of the room. You guys have said that its just this third guy that seems like it might have been some sort of staged suicide. Are we really willing to put all of this manpower behind something like this if we dont even know for sure were looking for a killer?