“Help how?” Rodney asked quietly beside her.
“He could have called for help among the others biking, walking the bridge. He could have called the police. He could have looked over the side…” And she stopped. “God, I don’t know. What do you do in a situation like that?”
He said, “Well, 9-1-1 would be a great start, and he was on the phone as he left.”
“Right. So he takes off and leaves and maybe calls on his way out but doesn’t stay. Why?”
“Maybe he’s late for work. Maybe he doesn’t want to get involved. And stay for what? She’s gone.”
Kate groaned. “None of the vehicles stopped either. Did you notice that? The traffic just keeps on going.”
“Again, it’s early in the morning, and, as soon as you call something like that in,” he said, “it can just be a huge traffic jam.”
“So everybody’s more concerned about themselves than the poor person who just went off the bridge?”
“And we also know what the stats are for anybody who would have survived. Chances are, she was already dead.”
“But,” she said, looking at him, “there was a chance. Some people have survived.”
“One, two, maybe three,” he said. “The numbers do not add up in favor of the jumper.”
“No, of course not,” she said. “That’s why it’s such a popular spot for people determined to end their lives.” There was no bitterness in her voice; it was just a sad acknowledgment of the facts. As she continued to watch, she said, “So, that cyclist took photos, and it’ll be almost impossible to identify him.”
“Even if we could identify and talk to him, it’s not like we can charge him with anything. He might be a shitty human being, if he didn’t call for help, but we don’t know that. And we also don’t know,” Rodney reminded her, “what he was looking at, you know? From his angle? Maybe he wasn’t even aware that she jumped.”
She nodded slowly. “I know. It’s so easy to judge, isn’t it?”
“Way too easy,” he said.
“Check the other feed,” she said. “I’m going back to this one and watching it from the beginning to the end.” Even adjusting the lighting still didn’t reveal anything she needed it to. “It’s just too dark,” she said in frustration.
“Well, I haven’t had a chance to look at this one,” he said. “Want to take a run through it?”
She nodded and worked on the third jumper cams. “It’d be nice if something would break somewhere.”
“Unfortunately, whatever breaks,” he said, “tends to be when something else happens.”
She looked up, frowned, and said, “Yeah, and that wouldn’t be a good deal for anybody.”
“Or any of these other cases we have,” he said, pointing to the stack beside them. “I know, and I’m spending a lot of time on this one.”
“Do you have any strings to pull on any of the high-priority cases?” Colby asked, as he walked into the room.
“We’re waiting on Forensics for most of it.” Kate grimaced.
“Most of it?” he said. “If that’s onall of it, then you’re clear to do whatever you think is happening with the suicides. But, if you have anything else to pursue on another case that is hot right now, you need to be working on that.”
She nodded. “I’ve covered everything I can right now.”
“Okay. Then keep doing what you’re doing,” Colby said, “and let’s hope something breaks somewhere pretty damn soon.”
“Exactly my problem,” she said, groaning. “It seems like absolutely nothing breaks anywhere, and it’s all going the wrong direction.”
“It will, at least we hope so,” he said, and, with that, he called a meeting, having them all move to an interview room.
Kate sat through the meeting, a typical weekly one, where everybody shared everything happening on the pending cases. Then Colby turned to Kate and said, “Now do you want to give us an update?”
“On what?” she asked in surprise.