The woman’s left eye was swollen while the right was slit open in a grotesque wink. And in case that wasn’t enough for Alyssa’s stomach to threaten an embarrassing revolt, she watched as flies and other insects invaded what appeared to be stab wounds to the chest and neck area. Still, despite all the damage and the ragged chunk of ponytail that had been lobbed off, it was immediately obvious that the woman tossed in with the trash was none other than Elizabeth Monroe.

One of the paramedics who had climbed inside the dumpster shouted above the chaos of the onlookers. ‘We’ve got a faint pulse.’ Alyssa was jostled aside as a team of rescue workers struggled to lift Elizabeth out while still continuing frantic efforts to keep her breathing.

‘Holy shit,’ Alyssa breathed when Elizabeth’s body was lowered onto a stretcher, the violent destruction to her torso on display. How in the hell had she survived with that much damage, especially if she’d really been inside this bacteria-infested environment since Friday night? She turned to Montague. ‘How is it possible no one noticed a body inside a dumpster until this morning?’

‘Wish I had an answer for you,’ he said.

Alyssa studied each gawker’s expression, instinctively searching for someone matching the description of the friend hiding in the background of the photograph Rosalyn Benson had shown them.

Instead of helping put the pieces of the puzzle in place, this case grew more convoluted with each new development, but what tied Alyssa’s intestines into knots was the unfettered violence evident on Elizabeth’s body. Combined with the savagery of the Kensington murders, she was afraid of what they’d find when they finally located Addis and Emerson.

Because despite the seemingly unconnected puzzle pieces, she was no longer uncertain as to whether or not Hayden Benson’s disappearance seven years ago was tied into Gabriel and Lydia’s murders.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Sunday, October 6

Alyssa found herself on automatic pilot as she headed to Elizabeth Monroe’s neighborhood for the third time since Friday evening. Though she’d been relieved to learn last night that Elizabeth’s neighbor had Brandon Monroe, she wasn’t looking forward to conducting this interview, knowing it was all too real a possibility that the young boy could lose his mother.

Thankfully, the captain had already dispatched Joe to pace the hospital corridors in her place, along with strict instructions to contact Alyssa immediately with any updates. For the dozenth time, she wished Cord could’ve been with her this morning, but Sara and the babies had to come first. With Tony still out, she could’ve called Joe or even Sandra to meet her at the apartment complex where Elizabeth had been found, but she’d been too impatient to take the few seconds it would’ve taken to call either one.