Matt wasn’t holding out hope that this killer made that big of a mistake, but he’d take the smallest lead they could get. “All good. I need you back here before the press briefing. But first, we have a conference call with Catherine, then we’re going to SPD early. I want you to make the Public Information Officer your best friend while I make sure Maddox took care of the leak.”

“Wish I could watch that.”

Matt wasn’t in the mood. “Anything else?”

“No. I’ll hop a ride back with Torino—I made her my best friend, too, considering you pissed her off yesterday.”

“Maybe you can be the fucking team diplomat,” Matt mumbled and hung up.

Matt went back to the operations room in the hotel, which was only ten minutes from the hospital. Ryder was juggling two calls and typing. The kid was solid, and not for the first time Matt was glad he’d brought him on board. He might not have FBI experience, but Matt suspected that someone with more experience and a set way of doing things wouldn’t be able to adapt well to a fast-paced environment that required multitasking, from mundane chores—like running background checks and setting up the war room—to high-tech processing and information analysis. Ryder had been required to jump from task to task without a break, and learning to prioritize was difficult for the best of agents. Ryder seemed to have an intuitive grasp of what was most important and work from there. Matt barely had to tell him how to do his job. They’d worked together for a month at national headquarters, and already Matt found him indispensable.

Matt sent Tony an updated report, sent Catherine the information on the knife and clothing, then reiterated that he wanted her to brief his team before the press conference. She responded that she would be available at two-thirty Pacific time. Less than an hour from now. He sent Jim a message and asked if he could be here at two-thirty, or be somewhere where Ryder could loop him in—he wanted Jim’s impression as well as Michael’s.

As soon as Ryder got off his call, Matt said, “We need to set up a Skype call with Catherine at two-thirty, then Michael and I are going to SPD to talk to the chief. Press conference is at four. I’m not happy about it, but there’s not a damn thing I can do at this point except mitigate the damage.” And maybe—just maybe—save someone. He looked at his watch. Damn, damn, damn! He didn’t have enough time. He didn’t want another victim dead, and he didn’t want to think about what would come next.

Ryder made a note, then said, “Lawsuits with the hospital that went to trial are public—I’m running a program to pull out all lawsuits during those seven years plus the year after Anne Banks left where either Banks or the emergency room was named.”

“You can do that?”

“I had a guy in the cybercrime unit at headquarters help me write the algorithm,” he said.