But one thing I predict is this: Blumenthal must, of course, have his own agenda for continuing the investigation as quickly as possible.

The usually quiet detective spins around like an athlete and faces the group.

And I’m right.

“I…want…your…attention!” Blumenthal is just a decibel short of shouting. Suddenly he moves to his right and looks fiercely at Katz. “Get off the phone…now!”

Katz looks both startled and scared. I don’t think the CEO is going to try to play the CEO card again. He quickly whispers into the phone, “I’ll call you right back.”

Blumenthal lowers his voice just a bit. But the energy and anger are still there. “Listen. This is a double-barreled investigation. The challenges are…there’s no other word…overwhelming. Okay, our victim lives. Super thanks and congratulations to Dr. Sarkar. That’s number one. That’s great, but it also means that we’ve got a person or persons who need to be brought in for attempted murder, some fucker or fuckers who butchered a pregnant woman. I know everyone is as disgusted and angry as I am. But as you all know, part two of the case is this, and it’s just as bad: there’s another brand-new stolen baby out there. The same pervert who slit open the baby’s mother has that mother’s baby.

“And now I’ve got to tell you just one more thing, one more thing you may already have figured out, and many of you know. Because these are kidnappings, we’re dealing with a federal crime. That means the FBI is already crawling up our butts. A few members of their CARD team, the Child Abduction Response Deployment folks, have already been brought up to speed. They could be a help. They could be a hindrance. But whatever it turns out to be, it is a fact. They’ll join us here. And we’d be idiots not to welcome their help. So there’s no need to speak any further on that subject.