"That's exactly what I meant yesterday! Just look at this tiled table!" Elizabeth blasphemed after she and Nikki had entered Kai Sawyer's apartment.

They had to move carefully, as the forensics team had just started securing evidence in the small apartment.

"Poor guy," Nikki ignored the remark and looked around the sparse apartment. "He probably hasn't had much of a life."

"Well, this certainly isn't organized crime central," the lieutenant agreed, looking for any hint of a possible motivation for Sawyer's murder.

She looked at the pictures that the deceased had hung neatly side by side on the wall above his couch. "Only pictures of his daughters, none of his ex-wife. And judging by the clothes, the pictures aren't the most recent either. He probably hasn't seen the girls for a long time. What did he drive, coaches or public transport?"

"Coaches in the past, but recently city buses."

"Those bus drivers give you a dirty look when you pay with a five-dollar bill."

Before Nikki could respond, a man in uniform appeared at the front door and addressed the lieutenant. "Here's the woman who found the victim. Shall I let her in?"

Elizabeth looked around the small apartment, where the forensics officers were still working. "Of course," she replied. "And tell her to bring some friends with her." When the unsettled officer didn't respond, she added: "We're coming out!"

Together with Nikki, she stepped into the hallway of the apartment building, which had only been renovated a few years ago. Their eyes immediately fell on a small woman in worn-out slippers, who was wearing a blue bathrobe over her tracksuit and whose complexion suggested years of tobacco consumption, and not just to Elizabeth.

"I'm to blame for his death," the woman began abruptly, even before the lieutenant had introduced herself.

Elizabeth involuntarily checked the woman for battle wounds and traces of smoke on her hands. Without a doubt, she realized the woman could not be Kai Sawyer's murderer. "I'm Lieutenant Elizabeth Rizzoli, and this is my colleague, Detective Veronica O'Laighin," she now introduced herself.

"Lyudmila Badalyan. I am ... well ... I was Kai's neighbor. I live back there, the last flat in the corridor. We sometimes sat together in the evenings. The area here is very anonymous, so getting to know someone in the building was nice. Almost only single people live here."

"And why do you feel responsible for his death?"

The woman seemed absent. It wasn't just that she had found the body that night - Sawyer's death seemed to have affected her deeply for personal reasons. Her lackluster gaze went blank as she answered. "I saw him come home. My window faces the street. I called him on his cell phone and asked if he had any cigarettes left. He didn't have any more either, so I asked him to bring some. There's a petrol station near the park. If I hadn't called, Kai would have gone inside and lived."

Nikki exhaled with relief. "Ms. Badalyan, we have every reason to believe that Mr. Sawyer's murder was premeditated and planned. The killer was probably lying in wait for him. You couldn't have prevented it."

"On the contrary," Elizabeth joined in. "Your phone call got the murderer into trouble, which was very helpful for our investigation. Did you know Mr. Sawyer well?"

"I did."

"We assume he's done something in the past that was of public interest. Some involvement was reported in the media. Do you have any ideas?"

Badalyan looked suspiciously around the hallway. The officers were all over the building looking for witnesses, and the forensics team was in and out. As paradoxical as it seemed, Sawyer's death had brought life into the otherwise quiet house. "Come into my apartment," she asked. "I'm sure everyone here is standing at their peepholes listening."

Without further ado, the three of them went to the end of the corridor and entered the witness's apartment. A cat was sleeping comfortably on the living room armchair, and it was much friendlier and more lovingly furnished than Sawyer's.

"I can't imagine that's why he's --" Badalyan affirmed, shaking her head as she invited her guests to sit.

Elizabeth, however, preferred to remain standing. She wanted to protect her cashmere coat from the pet's hair, which it had obviously left behind on all the seats.

After at least Nikki had sat down, Badalyan continued in a brittle voice: "There were four dead then, a whole family." The two investigators listened. "That was a terrible accident three years ago. A coach driver overtook a small car on the highway on the right and cut so that the car hit the crash barrier. It rolled over and ended up in the oncoming lane."

"Was Mr. Sawyer --," Nikki started, but Badalyan immediately waved her off.

"No, he was just a witness. Kai was driving behind his colleague and was the only one who saw everything clearly."

"And then he testified in court on behalf of the bus driver and saved him from being punished," Elizabeth interjected. "In the eyes of the public, the testimony was a deliberate lie."

"You remember the trial?" Badalyan wondered.

"Hardly, now that you mention it," the lieutenant lied so as not to have to explain that she had recognized the victim's severed tongue as a clear symbol of the lie. "Was Mr. Sawyer threatened because of his testimony?"

"Not directly, no. The family was dead, and his name never made it into the media. He was just a witness."

"Besides, nobody knew whether the driver in the accident was really innocent. I mean, what if Sawyer was the only witness?" Nikki asked.

Badalyan shook his head. "No one actually believed in the driver's innocence," she recalled. Sawyer had often told her about the trial back then. "The experts, the prosecutor - not even the court. But Kai's testimony couldn't be refuted."

"Did he ever admit to you that he lied?"

Badalyan shrugged her shoulders. Then she stood up and looked out through her window onto the street. It was still dark, and only the light from the headlights illuminated the park, where more journalists and onlookers were arriving. A small tear trickled down her cheek as she answered, "Is it still important now?"

xxx

Elizabeth sat down at a table in Munden's Bar, where all sorts of cops liked to meet at lunchtime to eat. She got straight to the investigation. "So, our most obvious question is: why did Jack murder the witness and not the man who killed the family? That would have been more logical."

Immediately after the conversation with Sawyer's neighbor, the accident driver was located and temporarily placed under police protection.

"Because misdemeanor number two on Jack's list is lying. But the driver was silent throughout the trial. No statement - no lie," Nikki replied with a frown and sat down.

"Very good. Nevertheless, the question remains, which is less obvious but much more pressing: The name Kai Sawyer has yet to go through the media. He was only referred to as Kai S. in all reports."

Nikki also mentioned this detail when talking to Sawyer's neighbor: "You're interested in how Jack even knew who he had to murder?"

"Also. But it still doesn't go deep enough for me. I'm interested in why Jack gets increasingly careless with each of his murders. He must realize that we can now search for him in a much more targeted way."

On the drive from the crime scene to the BPD, Elizabeth had instructed her team to locate all the trial reports from that time and ask who had access to the witness's identity or who had tried to find it out in the past.

A waiter approached the table and placed two glasses of water on it.

Elizabeth was just about to say something when she noticed from the sudden change in her daughter's expression that someone was approaching her from behind. Nikki's expression was enough for the lieutenant to recognize who it was. "Glad you found us, Katherine," she said without turning around.

"Your clairvoyant abilities are legendary," Katherine replied, joining the two investigators without asking. "And to come straight to the point: I can imagine you find my presence disturbing. After all, you could see it as a disparagement in the eyes of Captain Castella. However, such vanity should not hinder our cooperation. I really do believe that I can help you."

Elizabeth gritted her teeth and suppressed a growl. "All right, then. Give us a hand then."

Katherine pretended not to recognize any hidden challenge in Elizabeth's statement and replied matter-of-factly. "He doesn't have much time left. The great legendary serial killers were often able to stay active for a very long time, mainly because they got better and more professional with every crime they committed. They developed strategies to keep the police at a distance. Our man - I think he's called Jack - doesn't do that. Jack devotes himself to a new victim almost every day, sometimes two in one day. He uses different weapons, and in the case of the current victim, he has even taken to improvising. There can only be two reasons for this: Either he's stupid, which we can rule out given the circumstances. Or he's rushing through his series of murders because time is slipping through his fingers."

Elizabeth blinked a few times. "What's making him rush?" she asked.

"Something that's even more important to him than his fantasies. The methods he uses to kill his victims are very carefully planned. He repeatedly played it out in his mind and got carried away with his scenarios. He has been looking forward to finally being able to implement his plans, possibly for a very long time. Since his youth, I wouldn't be surprised. Anticipation plays a huge role in such acts. Finally, turning his fantasies into reality is incredibly appealing to Jack. It says a lot about him if he's still prepared to change his plans on the spur of the moment."

While Nikki finally ate her cheeseburger, Elizabeth hadn't touched her plate.

Katherine looked at her sister closely and licked her lips. "But you know the most important takeaway from all of this? I'm not getting you anywhere with my observations!"

Elizabeth snapped to attention. The self-confident Katherine had again aroused the lieutenant's interest with her open manner. "Not bad," she remarked matter-of-factly.

Katherine smiled briefly. "I promised you I could help you. Where did he grow up? Who are his parents? What is his profession? What is his disorder? What complex is he fighting with his murders? And most importantly, who is he going to hit next? Would I help you with answers to these questions?"

There was absolute silence for a moment. It was Nikki who finally found the words first. "We should have a chat after all."

Katherine nodded with a smile and looked at her sister. "And what do you think, Lieutenant?"

Elizabeth took a deep breath. "My pants are vibrating," she replied dryly. Then, under the astonished gaze of the other two women, she reached for her iPhone and read a text. "Very good! Godeau from ballistics can tell us something about Jack's weapon," she stated and pocketed her cell phone again. "So, Doctor, let's get some facts first, then I'll look forward to your speculations, all right?"

Everyone agreed to the suggestion.