I know its not too glamorous, but there are a few empty cubicles on the other side of this wall, he said, nodding to the other side of the room where a hallway intersected it all. Ill run by the front and let them know to make sure you have network access right away.

***

Rachel and Jack were set up with two laptopsboth rather old but in perfectly fine working conditionand began tag-teaming with Stanhope and his team. Working together in such a way made Rachel feel that sense of working against a clock bearing down on them with much more force.

You know, Jack said roughly fifteen minutes into the process. I think what I said earlier might turn out to be the case here--about the killer potentially being scared away if the word gets out.

Its a happy thought, sure, she said with a lighthearted smirk. But if we dont know his motive, we cant really assume such a thing.

Well, not only that, Jack went on, undeterred, theres also the possibility that he is one of the people lower on the list. If we call him, thinking hes just one of the people on the list, that could also dissuade him from killing again. It might make him feel like the pressure is on and were breathing down his neck. We could win this whole thing without even realizing it.

That is a good point, Rachel said. My fear there, though, is that it might also convince him to work faster. If hes on a transplant listthat is, if our theory is right and hes killing these people to get closer to the top of the listhe might be so desperate that hes beyond caring about his consequences.

Jesus, Rachel, what is it with you not enjoying a peek at the bright side every now and then?

She knew it was just a one-off joke, but it landed hard. She knew shed missed any sort of bright side these last few weeks, given the enormity of bad news shed been dealt. And day by day, it seemed to be getting worse: her own diagnosis, Grandma Tates diagnosis, the drama with Lynchs dead squirrel, Peter walking out…she was almost afraid to even imagine what might come next.

She kept the question away by focusing on the multiple tasks at hand. She took it upon herself to call around to hospitals and medical care facilities to narrow down their list by removing the names of any current patients from the list. After calling every local place that fit the bill, she was able to strike only three names from the list. She did, however, also take the opportunity to leave a warning with each facility, letting them know the bare bones details of the case; she didnt come right out and tell each place that they would make ideal targets for the killer, but she thought it might be very likely.