She ended the call and pulled Cord to the side. After she filled him in, his first question was, ‘What do you want to do about our interview with Addis and Emerson?’

Alyssa chewed her bottom lip and then huffed out a frustrated breath. ‘Listen, I watched the girls’ reactions when Tony came in, and they’re clearly not frightened of him. We could theoretically ask him and Sandra to take over. Or, we’ve got enough for now, so we could always return in a little bit. If we go that route, we’d also be able to check on them again.’

‘I vote for the second option.’ What neither Alyssa nor Cord said aloud was that, while it may no longer be a matter of trust, they still needed some answers from Tony.

Before heading to the parking garage, they returned to Emerson’s room. Ignoring Grace’s, Tony’s, and Sandra’s scrutinizing stares, Alyssa thanked the girls and assured them that she and Cord would pop back in tomorrow to see how they were holding up.

‘It’s too bad Elizabeth’s not housed here in the same hospital as Addis and Emerson. That would’ve been convenient,’ Cord said a few minutes later as he climbed into the Tahoe.

‘But when does the universe ever cooperate that way for us?’

‘It doesn’t, of course.’

‘Of course.’ Alyssa waited for a trailer stacked high with wrecked cars to pass before pulling out into traffic. ‘But at least now, more pieces of the puzzle are starting to shift into place. Hopefully, Elizabeth will be able to shed enough light to expose the remaining pieces we’re still missing.’

Cord flipped open his notebook. ‘Okay, let’s talk this out while you drive. So far, we’ve been able to piece together that Adam Campbell and Alexandra Greene are half-siblings. Adam’s fingerprints on the photographs delivered to Holly’ – there was a slight tightening in Cord’s tone – ‘and his DNA at the Kensington crime scene, prove his involvement in both cases.’

‘Both girls instantly and positively identified him as their kidnapper when Joe showed them the photographic lineup of UNM’s football team last night,’ Alyssa threw in.

Cord nodded, continuing, ‘The girls heard Adam refer to his visitor as “Alex,” a female, who then admitted to killing Gabriel and Lydia.’

‘According to Adam’s neighbor,’ Alyssa said, ‘he often had a female visitor who drove a truck. The person who attacked Elizabeth drove a truck – the same one which was present when the latest photographs were delivered to Holly – and, though we couldn’t see a face, the driver was much shorter than Adam, which coincides with Dr. Sharp’s theory that whoever killed Gabriel was female or a shorter male.’