By the end of this year’s run, Fiesta officials predicted that close to nine hundred thousand people would hit the field as they oohed and aahed over the hundreds of hot air balloons gracing the city’s skyline. Alyssa’s gaze shifted outside where a few of the colorful balloons already dotted the morning sky, casting shadows over the ground. Immediately, her mind jumped to Addis and Emerson. Instead of sipping on steaming cups of hot chocolate with melted marshmallows and scarfing down one of Golden Pride’s famous breakfast burritos while enjoying the show, the girls were out there somewhere with a sadistic killer, terrified and probably confused. And that was if they were still alive.

Just as she opened her mouth to rally the team to get down to business, Tony wandered in, the dull, faraway look in his eyes indicating he might be present physically, but mentally, he was anywhere else. Not usually the most exuberant – that often fell to Hal – he still enjoyed sharing stories about his hunting adventures when he returned from one of his trips. But this morning, instead of launching into an exciting narrative, he simply nodded a greeting and took a seat.

A feeling of helplessness washed over Alyssa. Ever since the team had busted up the deviant sex trafficking ring – dubbed The Toybox by the media – back in May, Tony had been in a dark, unreachable place. Even though Captain Hammond had insisted on each of them attending personal counseling sessions, they hadn’t helped Tony as much as they had everyone else. She’d been harboring hope that his annual hunting trip, something he always looked forward to with childlike glee, would bring him back, but it seemed that wasn’t to be the case.

Joe stopped bragging about his daughter Hailee issuing her first words last night – Dada – to cast a concerned gaze his best friend’s way. In the last several months, even he hadn’t been able to get his best friend to divulge what it was about that particular case that had burrowed in to affect him so deeply, and it certainly wasn’t from a lack of trying. They had all tried.

The touch of Cord’s hand on her arm took Alyssa’s attention away from Tony’s state of mind and put it back on their current case, where it needed to be. She cleared her throat, waiting until everyone trained their eyes on her before cutting straight to the heart of the matter. ‘I think it’s probably safe to assume that the key to locating Addis Kensington and Emerson Childress will be in finding out why Gabriel and Lydia were murdered. If we can get the why, we’ll be closer to revealing the who. And the who will hopefully lead us to the where.’