What She Knew

This chapter covers the third day of the investigation. Rachel begins by talking about the press conference. She arrives accompanied by Nicky and is having trouble controlling her roiling emotions. Jim gives her a script to review, but Rachel is so distracted that she can barely focus on the words. In spite of her troubled state, Rachel assures everyone that she can go through with it. Once the cameras are rolling, Rachel suddenly veers off-script. She challenges the abductor and says she will hunt him down and bring her son home. A cut on her head that she received while searching the woods for her son has begun to bleed, and a reporter points out that her hands are covered in blood.

Jim intervenes and returns to the prepared script while Rachel leaves the room to get control of herself. Afterward, Jim is angry because Rachel broke the cardinal rule in abduction cases. She challenged the abductor, and this is exactly what the carefully worded script was meant to avoid. After Rachel is sent home, she watches the coverage on TV. Although she felt euphoric at the time when she issued her challenge, she now realizes how grotesque she appeared onscreen.