But, of course, Director Anderson was not there. It was just her and Jack and they currently had a woman sitting at an interrogation room tablea woman that had lost a baby she had fought so hard to have. Not only that, but even after her horrors, a woman that continued to work with women with fertility issues on a daily basis.

Rachel knew she had a job to do but she also felt just a little bit like the scum of the earth as she and Jack walked into the interrogation room. Rachel took the single seat on their side of the table and gave Pauline a moment to compose herself. Shed been in the room for about seven minutes now and she did seem a bit more in control of herself than she had been in the car on the way to the precinct. She was still crying, but it was not the screaming of threats and the wailing about her past that shed vented following her arrest.

Pauline started speaking, and Rachel would never have guessed what she said first.

Im sorry I kicked and punched you, Agent Rivers, Pauline said. It was stupid, and I was barely even aware of what I was doing. As Im sure you might understand, I get very defensive whenever someone asks me about what Ive been through. But this…this was a whole new level…

No harm, no foul, Jack said. Ive had worse done to me. But what we need for you to tell us is why you acted the way you did.

In that moment…in every moment when a reminder of what happened to me is somehow thrust into my face, my mind goes dark. Not blank but dark. Theres this rage that comes over me and Im usually able to contain it, thank God. And in the times I know Im going to lose the fight against it, I can usually get out to my car and have a good cry, or Im already at home and can break a few glasses in the kitchen sink. But today I felt trapped, and I was already angry that Id been paged twice to let me know you were there to see me.

So it seems like the rage and darkness are temporarily at bay right now, Rachel said. Is that right?

Yes.

So now, with a mostly rational and clear mind, can you see why we would have to at least question you about these deaths based on the information we have on you?

It sucks, but yes. Yes, I understand. So go ahead and question me.

Rachel had seen people flip emotional switches like this before; the majority of the time, it was an act. She couldnt tell which was the case right now as Pauline Vick looked at them with tear-streaked cheeks and red, puffy eyes.

Its actually pretty simple. The victims names are