Except that when she climbed out of the truck and up the steps to the dilapidated old cabin, she found Adam standing inside the open door. It took only a second to understand the implications of the pile of ropes mocking them both with their emptiness.

‘Why couldn’t you just let me handle it?’ Alex hissed.

Clearly unaware of her presence until she spoke, Adam whirled around. ‘What the hell are you doing here, Alex?’

‘What do you think?’ She made a grand show of tossing her arms out to the side and rotating in a full circle. ‘I’m here to save us – again – to do what needs to be done – again.’ She closed in on him, backing him against a wall. ‘You know what this means, right? If they make it to safety, they’ll turn you in. You. And you can kiss your precious NFL career goodbye. You should’ve let me take care of them like I did the Kensingtons.’

Alex spoke through gritted teeth as she moved back to the door. ‘It’s late, it’s dark, and I can’t be out here all night searching. So, either find them, or I’ll kill you where you stand. And Adam? Don’t even think about running because I’ll hunt you down like a wild boar and slaughter you like the stupid pig you are.’

There was no emotion behind her words, just a cold truth. And they both knew it.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Sunday, October 6

The overpowering stench of rotten meat, potatoes, and God knows what else burned into Alyssa’s eyes as she maneuvered her way between the menagerie of flashing lights already on scene at a dumpster located outside a derelict apartment complex that she wasn’t entirely sure was still legally habitable.

A group of tenants had already amassed, openly gawking as the officers on scene busied themselves keeping the onlookers from destroying or contaminating evidence. Those who weren’t gathered stood in their doorways or at the railing of the second story. Every screech of the metal as the tenants leaned against it sent a jolt of fear through her that someone would lean too far, and the entire structure would crumble.

One of the responding officers – Lee Montague – walked up. ‘Detective.’ Eyebrows kneaded together, he peered around her, obviously searching for Cord. Being sports fanatics of opposing teams, the two liked to razz each other whenever they found themselves on the same case.

Alyssa didn’t make him ask. ‘He’s with his wife, so I’m on my own for now.’ The look of disappointment was almost comical. ‘Walk me through what you know,’ she said as she moved toward the dumpster where a woman had been found tossed inside, piles of black garbage bags thrown in on top of her.