In Chapter 30, Officer Magoginal tells Jack that he and Sergeant Murphy followed him from the Medical Examiners building, which teaches Jack that evading detection is harder than he thought. On the drive over to police headquarters, as Magoginal has told Jack that Detective Soldano wants to talk with him, Jack is worried continually about being a felon--fleeing the scene of more than one crime and withholding evidence in a criminal investigation--in between rounds of wondering who it is who wants him dead.

At headquarters, Jack meets Laurie's friend, Detective Lou Soldano who wants to know what Jack knows. Jack, remembering Warren's warning, still can't bring himself to talk. Lou reverses the conversation and tells Jack everything he already knows, which, it turns out, is just about everything except Jack's connections to Beth, the drugstore shooting and the Central Park deaths (Reginald and the homeless men).

Jack convinces Lou that there is danger to many people if Jack speaks up because of the looming epidemic that he fears and that is at the root of all the trouble. Lou agrees to 24 hours of delay reminding Jack that he could be charged with several criminal counts including obstructing an investigation and accessory after the fact.

"When do you think you might be willing to talk about these murders we've been discussing if you're not inclined at the moment?" [Lou asked.]
    "Give me a day, Jack said. "This epidemic scare is real. Trust me. ... I need twenty-four hours," Jack repeated. "By then I hope to be able to prove what I'm trying to prove. ..."