Sandra chuckled as she handed Joe a Styrofoam cup along with a paper plate and napkin. ‘I’ve always wanted to be someone’s hero.’

When everyone was finally settled, Alyssa and Cord brought Joe, Hal, and Sandra up to speed regarding their visit with Alexander Greene.

‘So,’ Sandra said, ‘what you’re saying, or at least what I’m hearing, is that you don’t just believe this Alexandra fits into the bigger picture, you believe she is the bigger picture?’

Before Alyssa could answer, an exhausted Lynn Sharp poked her head in. ‘Thought I might find you all in here. The DNA results from the blood found in Addis Kensington’s phone came back as a match for an Adam Campbell.’

Helen Ross’s second ex-husband’s surname was Campbell. But that wasn’t what caused the electric jolt. That name sounded familiar. She turned to Cord, but both he and Hal wore almost identical comical expressions. ‘What?’ she demanded.

Hal pulled at his earlobe. ‘There’s a football player by that name over at UNM who’s got all sorts of NFL scouts salivating at the mouth for their shot at him.’

Cord nodded. ‘Guy might only be a sophomore, but his arm’s a damn torpedo on the field.’

The way Joe shifted in his chair and wrinkled his forehead was enough to tell Alyssa that whatever he was about to share, she wasn’t going to like. ‘His arm’s not the only reason you might remember his name.’ His gaze shifted from Cord to Alyssa. ‘Two years ago, he was one of six individuals whose DNA was collected when police were investigating a date rape case on campus. For the record, Campbell was cleared in that incident.’

While she noticed the disgust that skated across Sandra’s face, what Alyssa heard was rape, UNM, and football, and not only because she remembered now why the name was familiar to her. Isaac idolized the Lobos football star. Thinking back, she could clearly recall how devastated he’d been when the news of Campbell’s possible involvement broke in that rape case, and the utter relief he’d shown when Adam was cleared.

But it was the image of Holly’s face superimposed over Jersey’s that froze in her memory. Beau Cambridge was Jersey’s ass of an ex-boyfriend and also played football at the university. Her neck twisted to the left as she stared at the whiteboard where she’d written Campbell (?). Her hand hit something, and she heard a crash and a murmur of voices, but it was all white noise as her entire skeletal system turned into jelly.