Jack also got in, closing his door and looking over to her as she cranked the car. Well, that was fun, he said with a nervous grin. Rachel, what the hell is going on?

Nothing, she said, trying not to bark at him. I guess Im just more irritable than usual.

He nodded and said, And thats saying something.

But she knew he wasnt buying it; she knew he was worried about her, trying to determine how much pressure he should apply before backing off. Rachel gave the protestors one final glance in the rearview mirror as she pulled back out onto the street and headed in the direction of the local precinct.

***

The case felt pretty big to Rachel, so it confused her when the local PD only provided three additional officers for them to work with. Rachel and Jack stood at the front of a small conference room with three officers sitting at the table in front of them. She had elected to take the back seat for this meeting, not trusting the tumultuous wave of her emotions that had, so far, proven not to be very trustworthy today.

Heres what were dealing with, Jack said, placing the list of women from the clinic on the table. We have a list of five women that look like they might be potential targets for this killer. Our job right now is to locate them. Id prefer physical, face-to-face meetings, but if it has to be on the phone, we can deal with it. We need to make sure these women are not left alone until we find this killer. And even if they arent alone, we need to keep eyes on them. The latest victim was at home, her husband upstairs and the killer got her anyway.

Whats the potential link between them all? one of the men asked.

Jack quickly ran through the fertility treatments discovery and all three men seemed to grasp it and get on the same page right away. Ill be coming out with you guys, Jack said. Agent Gift, whats your preference?

Ill be on standby, she said. Ill be looking into the clinic staff, but Im also only a phone call away. This killer is striking quickly and without much hesitation. We have to assume hes planning another murder tonight.

Jack clapped his hands together and gave a knowing look of approval to the three officers. Sometimes Rachel was awed by how well he could connect with people; strangers tended to warm to him right away.

Agent Gift and I tend to make meetings as fast as possible, he said. So lets run these names, get addresses and phone numbers, and head out.

The officers did as asked, and Rachel could feel the dedication pretty much coming off of them, spurred by nothing more than a few words from Jack and a simple set of instructions. Jack made his way to the door, looking back at Rachel.