Alyssa pulled to a stop in front of a cute little blue house surrounded by the quintessential white picket fence. In a nearby corral were a pony and a horse, and running around in the yard were two young children. The little girl was maybe three years old and dressed up like a pirate complete with eye-patch while the boy, perhaps four or five, romped around the yard with a too-large cowboy hat threatening to topple from his head as he used a broken broomstick handle as his makeshift horse.

A twenty-something man stood when he saw the two of them approaching. He turned and said something to the kids who groaned but obeyed whatever he’d told them to do, which apparently was to go inside.

‘Darren Pease?’ Alyssa said as she neared the white gate.

‘Yes, ma’am. Who’s asking?’

‘I’m Detective Wyatt with the Albuquerque Police Department. This is Detective Roberts. We have a few questions we’d like to ask you about Alexandra Greene.’

Darren twisted around when he heard the front door close behind his children, and when he turned back to face them again, Alyssa thought a marble statue in the middle of a frozen tundra would be less cold.

A tic in his jaw contorted the dimple in his cheek. ‘Haven’t heard her name for a while. I don’t suppose you’ve come to tell me she’s dead?’

‘No, afraid not.’

Darren shrugged. ‘That’s too bad. I’d’ve enjoyed the opportunity to dance on her grave.’

Damn. That was harsh, Alyssa thought.

‘No, she’s very much alive and well.’ She opened one of the links Hal had sent, clicked on an image, and passed her phone over. ‘Look familiar?’

Darren’s eyebrows stretched for his hairline. ‘That’s not Alex.’ He handed her phone back.

‘Are you sure?’

‘It’s not the Alexandra Greene I knew.’

Alyssa used her thumb and index finger to enlarge the photo and passed it back to him. ‘Why don’t you look a little closer.’

The way Darren pursed his lips before taking the phone again told Alyssa he was humoring her more than anything else. But a moment later, his spine stiffened, and he cocked his head to the side before drawing the image closer to his face. Then he tapped on a mole located just below Alexandra’s ear on her neck. ‘I’ll be damned. It is her.’ His shocked expression bounced between Alyssa and Cord. ‘You said you’re here to talk to me about her, but clearly, I haven’t seen her in some time, not since the accident anyway. I didn’t even recognize her.’

‘Can you tell us a little bit about that accident?’ Cord asked.