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Back Alone in the Woods Save as PDF
Chapters (63)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Chapter One
  4. Chapter Two
  5. Chapter Three
  6. Chapter Four
  7. Chapter Five
  8. Chapter Six
  9. Chapter Seven
  10. Chapter Eight
  11. Chapter Nine
  12. Chapter Ten
  13. Chapter Eleven
  14. Chapter Twelve
  15. Chapter Thirteen
  16. Chapter Fourteen
  17. Chapter Fifteen
  18. Chapter Sixteen
  19. Chapter Seventeen
  20. Chapter Eighteen
  21. Chapter Nineteen
  22. Chapter Twenty
  23. Chapter Twenty-One
  24. Chapter Twenty-Two
  25. Chapter Twenty-Three
  26. Chapter Twenty-Four
  27. Chapter Twenty-Five
  28. Chapter Twenty-Six
  29. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  30. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  31. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  32. Chapter Thirty
  33. Chapter Thirty-One
  34. Chapter Thirty-Two
  35. Chapter Thirty-Three
  36. Chapter Thirty-Four
  37. Chapter Thirty-Five
  38. Chapter Thirty-Six
  39. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  40. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  41. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  42. Chapter Forty
  43. Chapter Forty-One
  44. Chapter Forty-Two
  45. Chapter Forty-Three
  46. Chapter Forty-Four
  47. Chapter Forty-Five
  48. Chapter Forty-Six
  49. Chapter Forty-Seven
  50. Chapter Forty-Eight
  51. Chapter Forty-Nine
  52. Chapter Fifty
  53. Chapter Fifty-One
  54. Chapter Fifty-Two
  55. Chapter Fifty-Three
  56. Chapter Fifty-Four
  57. Chapter Fifty-Five
  58. Chapter Fifty-Six
  59. Chapter Fifty-Seven
  60. A letter from Charly
  61. Acknowledgements
  62. About the Author
  63. Also by Charly Cox

‘I’m confused. So, instead of playing this little game, why don’t you just spit out what you obviously think I need to be seeing?’

‘The handwriting’s different.’ He nodded between the grocery list on the floor and the photographs on the bed. ‘I’m no expert, but even I can see these were written by two different people. The f’s on those’ – he pointed to the picture – ‘have a tail. Compared to the f there’ – he shifted to the grocery list – ‘which is almost chopped off.’

Joe leaned over Alyssa’s shoulder, zooming in slowly to make note of the handwriting samples. ‘I see what you mean. The notes on the photographs were written by a left-handed person. As a leftie myself, I recognize that lean. Whoever wrote the grocery list is right-handed.’

Now that Cord and Joe pointed it out, it was plain as day. So why weren’t there two sets of fingerprints on the photographs? Unless whoever wrote the threatening notes was smart enough to wear gloves. She forced herself to think it: Tony would know to do that.

‘Tony’s not left-handed,’ Joe said as if he could read Alyssa’s mind.

‘So, who gave these pictures to Adam to deliver to Holly?’ Her gaze lifted to the bedroom window. Somewhere out there, someone was watching; she could feel it.

More than an hour later, the team had bagged up the grocery list, the photographs, Adam’s laptop, a pair of worn Converse sneakers, a pair of jeans with muddy hems found in an overflowing trash can between the washer and dryer – in an almost staged display, Alyssa had thought when she’d first seen them – and a hairbrush containing long strands of hair.

As they waited for Duke’s to secure the residence, Joe broached the subject none of them wanted to discuss. ‘I want to go on record that I don’t believe for a second Tony’s caught up in this. He’s my best friend, and hell, he’s watched Holly grow up just like most of us, and he just wouldn’t do that to you, Lys. There’s a logical explanation. That being said, we can’t keep this from Hammond; we’re going to have to tell him.’

Alyssa knew he was right, but she didn’t relish having that conversation because she’d never wanted to be more wrong about something than she did about the evidence pointing to Tony’s involvement. She’d learned long ago that just because she willed something not to be true, she couldn’t ignore what was in front of her.

‘I’ll tell him,’ she said, her voice low and full of sadness.

‘We’ll tell him,’ Cord and Joe said together.

Chapter Forty-Two

Wednesday, October 9