Now she didn't have to worry, the link was forever gone.

The door opened and Cherie Dei looked in.

"Rachel, do you want a bottle of water?"

"Sure, that would be nice. Thank you."

"Tissues?"

"No, that's all right, I'm not crying."

"Be right back."

Dei closed the door.

"I don't cry," Rachel said to no one.

She put her elbows on the table and held her hands over her face. In the darkness she saw a memory. She and Terry on a case. They weren't partners but Backus had put them together on this one. It was a crime scene analysis. A bad one. A mother and daughter tied up and thrown into the water, the girl squeezing so hard on a crucifix it left its full impression on her hand. The mark was still there when the bodies were found. Terry was working with the photos and Rachel went to the cafeteria to get coffee. When she came back she could tell he had been crying. That was when she knew he was an empath, that he was her kind.

Dei came back into the room and put a bottle of spring water and a plastic cup down in front her.

"You okay?"

"Yes, fine. Thanks for the water."

"It was quite a shock. I didn't really know him and it bowled me over when the word spread."

Rachel just nodded. She didn't want to talk about it. The speakerphone rang and Rachel reached for it ahead of Dei. She picked up the handset rather than push the teleconference button. This way she could speak privately at first to Doran-at least, Doran's side of it would not be overheard.

"Brass?"

"Rachel, hi, I am so sorry I didn't-" "It's all right. It isn't your job to keep me informed of everything."

"I know but this I should have told you about."

"It was probably in one of the bulletins and I just missed it. It's just strange finding out about it this way."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"So you went to the funeral?"

"The service, yes. It was out on the island where he lived. Catalina. It was really beautiful there and really sad."

"Were there many agents?"

"No, not too many. It was kind of hard to get to. You have to take a ferry. But there were a few and there were some cops and family and friends. Clint Eastwood was there. I think he took his own helicopter out."

The door opened and Alpert came in. He seemed renewed, as if he had been sucking on pure oxygen during the break. The other two agents, Zigo and Gunning, followed him in and sat down.

"We're ready to start," Rachel said to Doran. "I've got to put you on the screen now."

"Okay, Rachel. We'll talk later."

Rachel handed the phone to Alpert, who set up the teleconference. Doran appeared on the screen, looking more tired than before.

"Okay," Alpert said. "We ready to continue?"

After no one said a word he continued.

"All right then, what do these prints on the boat mean?"

"It means we've got to find out when and why McCaleb was out in the desert before he died," Dei said.

"And it means we've got to go over to L.A. and take a look at his death," Gunning said. "Just to be sure a heart attack was a heart attack."

"I agree with that but there is a problem," Doran said. "He was cremated."

"That sucks," said Gunning.

"Was there an autopsy?" Alpert asked. "Blood and tissue taken?"

"I don't know about that," Doran said. "All I know is that he was cremated. I flew out for the service. The family let his ashes go over the side of his boat."

Alpert looked at the faces around the room and stopped at Gunning's.

"Ed, you're on it. Go over there and see what you can come up with. Do it quick. I'll call the FO over there and tell them to give you the people you need. And for God's sake keep it out of the press. McCaleb was a minor celebrity because of the movie thing. If the press gets a whiff of this they'll be on us like the jacket on a book."

"Got it."

"Other ideas? Suggestions?"

Nobody said anything at first. Then Rachel cleared her throat and spoke quietly.

"You know, Backus was Terry's mentor, too."

There was a pause of silence and then Doran said, "That's right."

"When they started the mentoring program Terry was the first one Backus picked. I was next after that."

"And what is the significance of that to us now?" Alpert asked.

Rachel shrugged. "Who knows? But Backus called me out with the GPS. Maybe he called Terry out before me."

Everybody paused for a moment to think about that.

"I mean, why am I here? Why did he send the package to me when he knows I'm not in Behavioral anymore? There's a reason. Backus has some kind of plan. Maybe Terry was the first part of it."

Alpert slowly nodded his head.

"I think it is an angle we need to be aware of."

"He could be watching Rachel," Doran said.

"Well, let's not jump ahead of ourselves here," Alpert said. "Let's stay with the facts. Agent Walling, I want you to exercise all caution of course. But let's check out the McCaleb situation and see what we've got before we start jumping. Meantime, Brass, what else have you got?"

They waited as Doran looked down and off camera at some paperwork and apparently shifted gears from McCaleb back to the rest of the evidence.

"We've got something that might tie in with McCaleb. But let me go down my list and get this other stuff out of the way first. Uh, first, we're just starting now with the tape and the bags recovered with the bodies. Give us another day on that and I'll have a report. Let's see, on the clothes, they're probably going to be in the drying room another week before they're ready for analysis. So nothing there. The gum we already talked about. We'll put the dental profile into the bite mark database by the end of the day. Which leaves the GPS."

Rachel noticed that everyone in the room was staring intently at the television screen. It was as if Doran was in the room with them.

"We're making some good progress here. We traced the serial number to a Big Five Sporting Goods store in Long Beach, California. Agents from the Los Angeles FO went to the store yesterday and obtained a store sales record showing the purchase of this Gulliver one hundred model by a man named Aubrey Snow. Turns out Mr. Snow is a fishing guide and was out on the water yesterday. Last night, when he finally returned to dock he was questioned at length about his Gulliver. He told us that he lost the device about eleven months ago in a poker game with several other guides. It was valuable because at the time it had several waypoints corresponding to his favorite or most productive fishing spots along the coast of Southern California and Mexico."

"Did he give us the guy who won it?" Alpert asked quickly.

"Unfortunately, no. It was an impromptu game. There was bad weather at the time and business was slow. A lot of guides were stuck in dock and they were getting together to play poker almost every night. Different nights, different players. A lot of drinking. Mr. Snow could not remember a name or much else about the man who won the GPS. He didn't think he was from the marina where Mr. Snow keeps his boat because he hasn't seen the man since. The FO was supposed to get together with Snow and an artist today so they can try to come up with a picture of this guy. But even if they get a good drawing, that area has marinas and fishing charters all over the place. I was already told that the FO has only two agents to spare on this."

"I'll make a call and change that," Alpert said. "When I call to get Ed set up on the McCaleb thing, I'll get more bodies on this. I'll go right to Rusty Havershaw."

Rachel knew the name. Havershaw was the special agent in charge of the Los Angeles field office.

"That'll be a help," Doran said.

"You said this connects to McCaleb. How so?"

"Well, did you see the movie?"

"Actually, no, I didn't get around to it."