As I said, your number popped up on the records of two of your patients within forty-eight hours of their deaths, she said. That would be Dustin Adams and Joseph Staunton. But whats really striking us as odd is why anyone from your office would have called Nicholas Harding or Edwin Newkirk. I know for a fact that Harding wasnt seeing you. He was seeing a man named Wickline. But this blocked number, which the bureau cracked to discover is your office number, called them. You claim calls to Adams and Staunton would have been for appointments. So why would you call men that you werent even doing business with?

And for that matter, Jack asked, how would you even know to call them? How could you have possibly known theyd been having issues that resulted in them visiting therapists?

For the first time since theyd come face-to-face with Deringer, he looked off his game. He eyed them both, trying to gauge the moment, perhaps to see if there was any remaining ammunition coming his way.

Id like to call my lawyer, Deringer said. And in that plea, Rachel heard the first true signs of worry. Mentioning the two men who had not been his patients seemed to have flustered him.

Rachel had been in this position beforemore times than she could count. Deringer was the typical specimen that always presented as tough-willed and in control when they first met. But the moment a piece of evidence was presented that they feared they could not get around, they buckled a bit. The aforementioned evidence alone was not enough to get them to break. That took a little extra nudge, a nudge that was most effective when presented from a sympathetic stance.

Thats fine, Rachel said. Well give you the call. But before we do, I feel I should let you know every aspect of this case.

No, I want my

Four men have died in the last four days. One man each night. They are dying in what look to be suicides by jumping from bridges, but at least two of them seem to have some sort of foul play involved. We know that two of them were your patients and yes, the fact that you called the two others despite them never having worked with you makes things look pretty bad on your end. However…four men in four nights pretty much has us expecting a fifth man tonighton the fifth night. If you know anything, you can help bring the killer to justice. You can help us find him.

She was rather proud of the trap shed set. Based on his response, he could very well inadvertently admit to being the killer. But within seconds, the expression on his face had her worried that was not going to be the case.