A very excited-looking policeman rushed to the desk Rachel and Jack had been calling home. He was carrying Pauline Vicks purse under one arm, carrying it pretty much the same way Rachel had always seen men carrying a purse. Shed always teased Peter about the way he held hers whenever she had to hand it over to him for some reason or another. Hed always hold it out in front of him, as if his arm might catch on fire if it even accidentally brushed his shoulder.

Thanks, officer, Jack said as he took the purse.

They both looked inside and found her phone. There was little else there to support the theory that she might be the killer, though. The cop that dropped it off watched on, as if he, too, wanted to share in whatever discovery they made. Pity for him, there was nothing.

There was no actual work laptop to take, the officer explained. Because Dr. Vick is rather new to the hospital and shares her station, she also shares a laptop with three other doctors. She does have her own smart tablet, though. It was through that where I was able to find out that the hospital can confirm that she logged out from work at 5:37 on the day Gloria Larsen was killed.

This did provide Rachel and Jack with at least one new tidbit of news. Based on the distance between Regency and the Larsens residence, it would have been very possible for Pauline to travel from work, directly to their residence to kill Gloria. As a matter of fact, based on the estimated time of death, there would have been more than enough time, so long as Pauline worked quickly.

It was a small crumb, but it felt significant. Yet, even as the local PDs techs unlocked Paulines phone and started to study the GPS movements of the past few weeks, Rachel started to feel something nagging at the back of her mindnot anything Pauline Vick had said, but something Alex Lynch had told her.

I would assume, then, that the killer has nothing personal against the women…

If that was true, then Pauline Vick may not be their killer after all. Shed even come out and admitted that she sometimes resented the women that she saw. That, plus helping them along with their treatments gave them a pretty close and personal connection.

So, then whats missing? Rachel wondered. Or was Alex Lynch wrong? Was he feeding me a line of bullshit just to mess with me?

She didnt think this was the case, though. In fact, the more she thought about that one comment, the more sense it made. Based on a few cases from her past, she knew that the majority of the time a murder case where the victim and murderer knew one another, there was usually some sort of significance or personal touch to it. And that was missing here.