Somewhere in the cemetery a bird began to chirp. It was insanely loud, the sound of an enraged hawk. Rachel stared at the casket and watched a small crack start to form down the side. She caught just a glimpse of herself inside, her body withered and her hair falling out.

The bird continued to wail and wail and

It was her cellphone.

Rachel sprang out of sleep, clutching at her rampaging heart. For a sickening moment, she could still see the casket in her darkened hotel room. The final words of the dream echoed through her head in Peters voice, making her dizzy as she straddled the line between dreaming and wakefulness.

Your mother was nothing but a coward.

Her phone continued to ring, insisting she join the world of the waking. She reached out blindly for it and answered it without looking to the caller display. It was in the very last moment, as she brought it to her ear, that her still-trembling heart warned her that it could very well be Alex Lynch.

This is Agent Gift.

Agent Gift, its Deputy Stanhope. Sorry for the late call, but weve got another body.

Was it late? She glanced to the bedside clock, the numbers blaring an angry shade of red that told her it was 12:02 at night. Shed only gotten two hours of sleep, but it had been more than enough to usher in the nightmare. In front of her, the TV was still on, which was rare for her. She usually hated any sort of noise when she was trying to sleep. God, had she simply drifted off again with no clear intention of sleeping? What was wrong with her?

You mean aside from the cancerous tumor in your head?

She did not like that it was Jacks voice saying this in her mind.

Is the victim on the list? she asked, quickly coming awake. For a moment, she felt like she was plummeting downhill on a rollercoaster as her heart surged with fear and adrenaline.

Yeah, Christina Ragland.

Were there cops outside of her house?

Yes, Stanhope said, clearly perplexed. And her husband was also in the house when it happened. But the killer was never seen and

Whats the address? she interrupted.

Stanhope gave it to her and ended the call sounding as if he might slowly be losing his patience with the case. Rachel certainly understood the feeling. How could a woman be murdered in her own home when her husband was there with her and with cops parked outside the house? The mystery of it all woke her up even faster. She called Jack, placed it on speaker phone and spoke with him as she splashed water in her face and got dressed.

I was sleeping, Jack said.

So was I. But Stanhope called.

We get a break?

Sort of. We have another body. Christina Ragland. And shes on the list.

Give me five minutes.