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Rachel gave chase without even thinking. And when she heard Sullivan’s footfalls chasing behind her own, she turned her head slightly and said: “I’ve got her. You double back to the parking lot and make sure she doesn’t somehow make it to her car.”
The woman Calloway had been speaking with looked furious for a moment. As Rachel dashed by her, the woman said, “Hey, just what in the hell is this ab—”
But Rachel didn’t hear the rest. Her eyes were on Calloway just up ahead, taking a right at the end of the hall and venturing deeper into the building. “Dr. Calloway, we just need to speak with you!” Rachel called out as she ran. “We need you to explain the message you left on Molly Stevens’ phone!” She nearly added in the fact that Stevens was now dead, but it didn’t seem the sort of thing to reveal to someone in a high-stakes chase.
Besides…why was Calloway running? Out of fear, sure. But fear of what? Did she believe herself to be guilty of something? If she wasn't the killer (which Rachel doubted based on the timing of the voice message), perhaps she knew something about a link between the victims. Maye, she even had a good idea of who the killer was.
All Rachel knew was that innocent people didn’t tend to run when the police showed up.
Rachel came to the end of the hall and followed in Calloway’s footsteps. Just as she came around the corner, she saw a door to her right slowly closing and heard footsteps fading further away. She dashed to the door and opened it up, revealing a dimly lit stairwell. The footsteps continued to recede further below. Rachel could also hear thin, whisper-like whines coming from the woman—an indication that she was not accustomed to making a run for it
Rachel took the stairs with hurried ease, taking two or three at a time. She was rushing, yes, but there was a practice restraint to it. And by the time she reached the final flight of concrete stairs that led to a door at the bottom of the stairwell, she knew she’d catch Calloway before she even made it out of the door.
This turned out to be exactly the case. Rachel came to the bottom of the last stairwell at the same moment Calloway was throwing herself into the door. It pushed open, revealing morning light, but she wasn’t able to make it through before Rachel was able to reach out and grab her by the shoulder.
Rachel did her best to stay as gentle as possible as she pulled Sherry Calloway backward and spun her. It was almost like performing a dance move as she spun Calloway around while also making their way through the door. She pinned Calloway against the side of the wall, taking a quick moment to take in their surroundings. They’d come out on the backside of the building, off of a sublevel that looked as if it was used for loading and unloading shipments and equipment.
“Please, no, I’m sorry,” Calloway said. “I just…I saw you and freaked out.”
“And why is that?” Rachel asked, her hand still pinning Calloway’s right shoulder to the side of the building. The wan wasn’t fighting to get away, but Rachel still didn’t trust her.
“Because they said the FBI was here and…and I feared the worst. The worst about Molly…and not even sure you were really the FBI and—”
“Slow down,” Rachel said. “Try to calm down, okay? You’re Sherry Calloway, yes?”
“Yes.”
“Mrs. Calloway, I’m going to take my hand off of your shoulder, but if you run again, I’m going to lose my patience. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
Rachel slowly took her hand away, and Sherry remained still. “This morning, my partner returned a call you’d placed to Molly Stevens and—”
“Oh, thank God.” Calloway seemed to understand that he’d actually said this out loud rather than simply thought it to herself. Her eyes went wide for a moment, but then the same look of frozen terror Rachel had seen on her face inside came back.
“Did you think it was someone else?” Rachel asked.
“I did.”
“From whoever you were referencing in that voice message?”
“Yes. I thought it was the person who was…wait. Hold on. Your partner called on Molly’s phone. Does that mean…my God, is Molly…is she okay?”
“I’m afraid she’s not. She was—”
“He got to her, too?”
“Yes. But Dr. Calloway…we need you to tell us who.”
Calloway blinked her eyes rapidly, as if she’d just awoken from a terrible dream. Tears filled the bottoms, and a few spilled out as she did her best to keep control.
“I can, of course, give you time to process this,” Rachel said. “But so far, you seem to be the only real source of information we’ve come across. So as soon as you can tell us anything you know, we can—”
“No,” Calloway said defiantly, angrily wiping away her tears. “No, if I can do anything to help stop this bastard, I want to do it.”
"So then, why did you not come to the cops with information sooner?"
“Because I wasn’t sure. I thought I was losing my mind, maybe just jumping to assumptions.”
