In an almost comical recreation, they all sat in Chief Crawley's office with a photograph in the middle of his desk. This time, however, Mary and Matthew joined them. With them taking the only other seats on the other side of the office, there was no room for anyone to move. But it still felt as though someone was missing.

Branson was missing. But Branson would never join them again. Instead, the five of them could only sit in silence as the clock ticked down on their deadline.

"Why does this madman keep targeting my family?" Chief Crawley's voice broke through the silence. "What does he have against us?"

"It's more what he's got against me, I think." Anna swallowed, "I've no other family so he can't target them to draw me out so he's using the next lines of association I have."

"Us." Mary's voice almost cut cold through the comment and Anna nodded. The frostiness in Mary's voice only abated slightly, "I guess it says something about your relationship with our family that he'd use us as bait for you."

"If I'd known he-"

"He didn't target just Anna," John cut in. "He killed Vera and used my history with her against me so it's not just about Anna anymore."

"Perfect, the more the merrier for his target practice." Mary's voice only bittered further. "Congratulations to us for knowing either of you."

"That's enough Mary." Chief Crawley cut her off before turning to John and Anna. "You're victims as much as we are."

They returned to their tableau until Chief Crawley spoke again. "What's the plan now? What's his endgame?"

"Me." Anna let out a breath, "It's been me all along and I… I either didn't want to think I was his target or I've missed it."

"This is his idea of a valentine then?" Mary snorted, "I think he needs more help than anyone's got time to give him."

"He needs to be put in the ground." Matthew muttered and no one argued the point with him, no matter their location or respective job descriptions.

"The more pressing issue is whether or not he was lying about saving Marigold." Anna took a breath, "If he's serious then I think she needs to be the priority. At the risk of never putting him in the ground, we need to save her."

"And if she's already dead? Or if getting him is the only way to get her?" John pressed but Anna shook her head.

"If there's a life to be saved then I'd rather that over trying to end his. Much as I hate him, and I've more reason than most, I want to save Marigold more than I want him to burn in Hell… All things considered."

"Anna's right." Chief Crawley drew all attention back to him, "Saving people is why most of us got into this business and that's the prerogative now."

"So we're going to let him go?" The confusion on John's face was only matched by the terrorized panic on Chief Crawley's.

"We'll do whatever we can to make sure this man doesn't kill my granddaughter, Bates, and we'll do it if I have to walk that man onto whatever airplane he's using to leave this island myself." Chief Crawley took a second to calm his voice, although Anna noticed the tremor remained in the man's hands where they set on the desk. "I had to inform five families that they'll not be seeing someone they love today. And I had to…"

He choked a moment, wiping furiously at his eyes as everyone in the cramped office tried to provide the privacy they could not give. When Chief Crawley spoke again the waver stayed in his voice. "And I had to tell my daughter that her husband's never coming home. I told my daughter that almost as soon as she was a wife, she's now a widow. So tell me, Bates, would you have me tell my other daughter that she'll be something there's no name for because it's too painful to comprehend or even quantify because she lost her child?"

Anna bit the inside of her cheek, darting her eyes toward John to catch the shake of his head. "No sir. I wouldn't want that for her and I wouldn't wish it on anyone to do what you've had to do today."

"Then let's find a way to get this bastard on the line and find out how we get Marigold back so she can be safe and sound in her own bed." Chief Crawley stood and they all hurried to follow suit. "Not to put you on the spot, Anna, but do you have a way to contact this nutter?"

"He called from a blocked number but I'd guess the press conference he asked for at the warehouse site would be enough to tell him we're off." Anna shrugged and nodded her head toward the cameras in the other room. "Or we can just hold up a sign to any of those cameras and tell him that we're ready to play his game, since he's probably already watching us."

"Makes me want to flip him the bird." John sighed, "But Anna's got a point. He wants the pageantry of this so let's give him the show he wants."

Chief Crawley only nodded and waved them out of his office. Mary and Matthew immediately separated, Mary returning to the computer terminals that made up the cyber division so she could try and butt Green from the system while Matthew made for the lockers, to leave John and Anna standing outside Chief Crawley's office. It took a moment but John pivoted on his heel and gabbed a box with reams of paper in it from beside the printer. The thud of the paper hitting the desk, one of them tumbling off to hit the floor, drew attention to him but everyone quickly ducked their heads back to work as John took the box to Branson's desk and set to clearing his workspace.

Anna allowed him a moment alone before going to John's side. The lightest touch of her hand on his shoulder had him jumping for a second but, a moment later, John went back to his work. "Yes?"

"Don't you think his wife should do that?"

"I won't put her through it if I don't have to." John opened one drawer after the other, sorting through pens and knick-knacks to find whatever was actually Branson's while leaving the rest of it to scatter on the desk. "And it'll clear my head a bit. At least, that's what I keep telling myself."

"If you don't believe it then…"

"Then why do it?" John set the box on the armrests of the chair so his hands were free to run through his hair. "Because I'm hoping mechanical work will force my brain to function when I'm running on fecking empty and there's no end in sight with a case that's haunted me for six months now."

Anna chewed at the inside of her cheek, nodding. "I know a little about that."

"Then you'll understand why I need to do this now."

"I do." Anna put a hand over John's, forcing him to stop as he reached for a coffee mug. "But I think we need to talk about something first."

John frowned at her but Anna grabbed their coats and jerked her head toward the lift. Riding it in silence, they exited onto the roof where Anna shivered in the cold but took a deep breath of the air to burn her lungs. A snap of John's gloves clapping together, as he tried to keep heat in his hands, had her turning back to him.

"Worried he'd see us over the cameras?"

"I don't want to risk him reading lips." Anna shrugged, "If he's determined he'll get a helicopter or a drone to get a camera read on us but I don't want to risk him hearing us."

"Think he's tapping our phones too?" John took his out, powering it down before Anna could copy the motion. "Because if I were him, and I were watching, I'd think you were plotting something and you don't want the bugger to know about it."

"You're not totally wrong." Anna hunched her shoulders, trying to stop a whip of frigid wind. "But I've no ideas."

"None?"

Anna shook her head, "I want to catch him. Possibly more than you do so please don't mistake what I'm going to say next as me quitting, but I think-"

"You think I should put Marigold first?" John pointed toward the ground. "You said as much in Chief Crawley's office and, despite what I said in there or the impression that gave, I agree with that."

"I don't doubt that." Anna took a breath, the chill searing her throat again. "I think we should end our partnership."

John blinked at her, "Because that crazy son of a bitch made comments about it or because you're scared he might target me?"

"Because I think your focus needs to be on the little girl who's frightened out of her mind and praying someone will rescue her. If you're attached at the hip to me then you can't do your job because you'll focus on catching Green."

"They're not, necessarily, mutually exclusive motives."

"But for right now they're a fork in the road. Your job needs to be returning that girl to her parents and mine…" Anna deflated a little, her breath clouding on the air. "Mine needs to be catching Green. Like it's always been."

"At the risk of offending you, it's not really worked out well for you in the past though, has it?" John pointed to himself and then back to Anna. "But between the two of us… and Talbot, we managed to get on his tail. You're closer than you've ever been and it's not because you're an incredible investigator."

"That's fair." Anna folded her arms over her chest as she shivered with her whole body again. "And I don't disagree. But what if his escalation is directly tied to me joining with you?"

"Are you saying he only did this because of you?" John snorted, "I do hope you're not blaming yourself for anything that's happened here."

"I know where the blame for insanity lies and it's not on me." Anna took a breath, letting it puff from her mouth for a moment before continuing. "But there is debate about how much correlation matches to causation."

John nodded, "Then you think that he's done this because he's upset at you for moving on with your life? Or just because you moved to working with someone else in your attempts to catch him?"

"Either or both." Anna shuffled in place. "Whatever his excuse for this, maybe it would be better to go back to when it was between him and me."

"You think that'll be better?"

"At this point I'm not sure it can get worse."

"And you think he'll 'go back' to being what he was?"

"Part of me hopes so." Anna winced, "It's possible that this 'test' is him offering an olive branch, of sorts to me. A way of saying 'things can be like they were' if I give him this."

John scoffed at it, shaking his head. "Do you believe that?"

"No." Anna shifted her jaw, walking away from John to the edge of the building before walking back. "I don't think he means to give Marigold back but if I said that to her family…"

"They'd lose all hope." Anna nodded as John ran a hand through his hair again. "Then why?"

"Why what?"

"Then why'd he go back to kidnapping?" John shrugged, his arms going wide. "What makes it tempting for him after everything he's done to evolve to the point where he kills without conscience?"

"Possibly because it's a child." Anna swept her hand toward the city beneath them. "He found a new hunting ground and he felt his way about it until he found himself a king in his demented kingdom. Then we came and suddenly his kingdom slipped from under his feet. Now he's going back to what he knows to try and escape. A reset of the clock, as it were."

"Tired of the scenery then?"

"I think he wanted something from this city. More than the escape that Vyner intimated to us." Anna shook her head, "I think this has to do with me."

"He came here to put the knife to the throat of your family." John shook his head as Anna faced him again. "That little girl is a tool for him, nothing more."

"Regardless," Anna shoved her hands into her pockets. "She's our priority. Whatever he hopes to accomplish with her kidnapping, there's no point to debating what those hopes are."

"Those hopes could play a critical role as to why he wanted Marigold." John put up a finger. "It could also tell us where he'd keep her and how to find her."

"So other than the value of Marigold to her mother, father, and the rest of her family," Anna dragged her lower lip through her teeth, "What does she mean to anyone? What does she mean to him?"

John nodded at Anna, "That's your territory, not mine."

"At this point, as I told him earlier, I don't think my opinion of him is in my wheelhouse anymore." Anna deflated again, "But I've a feeling that either Chief Crawley'll have to prostrate himself in a press briefing or we'll have to make some kind of public display to get the next step in this process."

"Begging for his help." John ground his teeth, "Can't say I'm a fan of that."

"No one is."

"Then can I suggest something unpopular?"

"There aren't very many popular opinions left right now." Anna let her shoulders shrug, "What is it?"

"That there's got to be a reason Green targeted Marigold Gregson."

"Besides her obvious connection to everyone involved?"

John nodded, "Just like Jane Moorsum, how'd Green know that Marigold was even related to Chief Crawley? Why go after her at all? She's the ill-legitimate daughter of Chief Crawley's but, as far as I can tell, you're not close to her mother."

"We're not close, no." Anna folded her arms again. "What are you getting at?"

"That if this is about you, which I don't disagree with," John took a breath, "What is he trying to tell you through all this?"

"That we're all in trouble." Anna shivered again, "Because I've been wrong about Green this whole time. No matter how right I've been about parts of his personality, I never thought he'd kidnap a child or destroy a drug cartel to try and hide his connections to it."

She snorted, "I didn't even see him joining with a drug cartel."

"Well," John sighed and Anna's brow furrowed at the vague suggestion of a smile. "Then that puts you and I in the same boat."

"I guess it does." Anna mimicked his smile for a second before it faded. "Doesn't make me feel any less useless."

"You're far from useless."

"I am until we find this little girl." Anna shuffled around the rooftop, trying to get blood back into her fingers. "I think I need to be the one to prostrate myself in that briefing."

"You?"

Anna nodded, "No matter how Green's targeted Chief Crawley, it's all about second-hand embarrassment. It's about making me cringe and writhe and suffer as I watch those that I love and respect suffer on my behalf."

"So you're going to put yourself to the hazard for it?"

"I'll do whatever I need to." Anna studied John, "And you?"

"What about me?"

"What'll you do?"

John took a breath, letting it expand his chest for a long moment, and then released it to nod once. "I'll help rescue Marigold Gregson… And then track Green to the darkest corners of the earth to drag him back by the hair to make sure he's facing what he's done."

"I can get behind that." Anna pointed at the door, "Ready to stop freezing to death out here?"

"Are you ready to kowtow to a madman?"

Anna nodded, "As ready as I'll ever be."

They returned to Chief Crawley's office to see him shuffling through some haphazardly written cards. As he turned up to look at them, Anna swallowed. "I'll do the conference, sir."

"I thought he wanted me to be the one to do it." Chief Crawley frowned. "Did you get another message that we didn't?"

"No but we…" Anna paused, her phone vibrating.

"Is it him?" John leaned closer as Anna slipped her thumb over the message to make it bigger.

"Yeah." Anna sighed and unlocked her phone to show the both of them the message. "He agrees that I should do it."

"I think the 'thumbs up' emoji is a bit much." John grumbled, "But I guess this is what we do now. We bow to the orders of a nutter."

"It also means he's still watching us." Anna let out a sigh, "Because I didn't already think that he had too much of an interest in me."

"He's watching the cameras?" John looked up at one and flipped it the bird. "Hope he enjoyed that."

"I don't care." Anna turned back to Chief Crawley, "Where do you need me?"

"We've got a conference room set up for it and," He checked his watch. "In twenty minutes we'll be ready for you."

"Perfect." Anna checked her phone again, handing it over to Chief Crawley. "It's the first in a set of directions."

"Scavenger hunt?" Chief Crawley huffed, handing the phone back so Anna could forward the message. "He'll waste our time with it."

"I think-" Anna paused, checking another message. "He says you get the location when the press conference goes forward."

"And what about him?" John folded his arms over his chest. "Twenty minutes isn't enough time for him to file a flight plan for a helicopter, much less a plane. And we've not cancelled any of the BOLOs on him. So what's his plan?"

Anna opened her mouth to speak again before holding up her phone for John to read. "He says not to worry about it."

"Of course he does." John turned on his heel, walking back to Branson's desk. "Tell me when we're not living under this idiot's bootheel and I'll be ready."

Watching him go back to working through Branson's desk, Anna almost followed him but Chief Crawley put a hand on her shoulder. "He needs a minute."

"He'll need more than that." Anna rolled her shoulders. "It takes a different kind of stomach to swallow the failure that accompanies trying to follow this man."

"Is he even a man anymore?"

"I'm beyond trying to give a profile on him." Anna nodded at the cards in Chief Crawley's hands. "Were those the notes you were using?"

"They were some thoughts I had about what I might say to…" Chief Crawley shook his head and handed them over to Anna. "It's all a mess. I couldn't find anything coherent to say about this because… What do I even say?"

"I've a bit more experience on this end." Anna flipped through the cards. "So I'll take this and you can go find your granddaughter."

Chief Crawley nodded, "I'll get a team together… Unless he's got issues with me trying to save a little girl."

They both stopped as Chief Crawley's phone buzzed this time. He checked it, his fingers tightening around it so hard his knuckles turned white, and almost shoved it hard enough to break through the stitching on his suit jacket pocket. "Twat. Utter and complete twat."

"If you want to flip off a camera, sir, I'm sure it'll only make him laugh." Anna held up the cards. "I'll handle this."

"Thank you, Anna." Chief Crawley calmed enough to breathe evenly. "For even coming here. I know this hasn't been easy on you from the beginning and it's… It's only gotten worse, hasn't it?"

"Much worse, sir." Anna flexed her jaw. "And I'm sorry."

"For?"

"For everything that's happened since I came. It's…" Anna almost laughed but the macabre nature of it only grated at her bones. "It's only been worse since I arrived, hasn't it?"

"I think we set a ball rolling we didn't know how to stop." Chief Crawley shook his head. "It's all gone to shit, hasn't it?"

"Deep, sir." Anna tapped the cards. "I'll sort these and I'll manage it. If there's one thing I can finally manage well, in this whole… shit show, then this is what I'll do before I get out of your hair."

"It's not…" Chief Crawley bit at his tongue. "It's not your fault, Anna. No matter what Mary might've intimated earlier or what this… what this bastard's said, it's not your fault all this has happened."

"I'm not someone who thinks that, sir." Anna sorted the cards in her hands again. "We'd better get to it."

"Right." Chief Crawley ducked back into his office, bringing a phone to his ear in a second as Anna turned back to the mess on the cards.

Stealing a pen from someone's desk allowed her to make notes and work out a few details on the cards, but Anna continually shifted her stance to try and keep her shoulder or back to any of the cameras. It took her a few minutes, sorting the cards into a coherent order as she scratched her pen through some of the lines before adding others as notes to the side. All her focus went into her words until something tapped her on the shoulder.

Anna jumped slightly, catching the cards before she spilled them all over the floor. "Yes? Sorry."

"Sorry myself." Mary shuffled before jerking her thumb over her shoulder. "Papa asked me to get you since he's coordinating Matthew's team to get to that location for Marigold."

She pulled at her fingers as Anna sorted through the cards. They almost refused to look at one another until Mary spoke again. "Do you think he's serious about giving Marigold back?"

"I don't know." Anna shrugged, "I wish I did but…"

"Because he gave us three days." Mary practically yanked at her fingers now. "And if he's giving her up now then where's the catch? What's got him giving us three days for this?"

"I…" Anna could only gape like a fish until she caught sight of someone peeking out of the relevant conference room. "I don't know and I wish I did."

It was her turn to pause, shuffling around Mary but held back from committing from escaping to the conference room. "And I'm sorry, Mary, for what this has done to your family. For what I might've… For what my being here might've done to your family. I…"

"Ms. Smith?" The peeking head called out to her, "They're waiting for you."

"I…" Anna held up a finger to the woman before facing Mary. "I'm sorry."

"Me too." Mary stepped to the side as Anna slid along the floor to reach the conference room.

A few cameras flashed in time with a few phone cameras blinking at her as Anna shuffled the cards in her hands again. The distance between the door and the temporary lectern took an eternity and a second before Anna stood behind it. It took her a second to judge the height before Anna had to abandon the potential protection of the lectern and face the gathered group. All of them stared back at her, exchanging expressions with each other or allowing the confusion and internal interrogations of her appearance to pass over their faces, until Anna glanced down at her cards to begin.

"Chief Crawley gathered you all here to tell you that a little girl, Marigold Gregson, has been kidnapped." Everyone muttered to one another, fingers tapping quickly or scribbling furiously as Anna took another breath. "And to inform you that the case for the serial killer plaguing the city…"

The various pins that might have dropped in that silence were nothing compared to the concussive noise of everyone's disapproval that followed Anna's next comment. "Has been declared cold and closed."