Freeman s right there at the head of it.
He blames himself, and drops out of the sleuthing biz for a while. That is, until he gets one of those spooky, cryptic phone calls protagonists often get in suspense films. It s from a wacko who, posing as a teacher at an exclusive private school, has kidnapped the young daughter of a senator strangling a real teacher in the process. He s left something in Cross mailbox, essentially challenging the detective to catch him. Cross immediately joins the investigation.