‘We may never find out the truth behind his death, but based on Darren Pease’s experience, coupled with her father’s claim that Alex’s metamorphosis came after a new girl moved into town and stole some of her adulation, I’m guessing she became enraged when Hayden told her he didn’t return her feelings, and consumed by delusional fantasies of the two of them together, she snapped.’

‘What about his phone, his car? No one ever found them, right?’ Grace asked.

‘Lots of places to toss a phone, and if our hunch is correct, and Hayden Benson’s remains are somewhere near the cabin, we’ll look into dredging the Pecos River. Lots of cars have gone there to die after being stripped of their parts,’ Cord said.

Alyssa sighed. ‘There’s one more thing. I know you don’t blame her, but Elizabeth asked if we’d please tell you she’s so sorry. I tried to explain that, unfortunately, there was nothing to link the cases together until after the tragedies, but she still feels responsible for Gabriel and Lydia’s deaths, as well as what happened with the girls.’

Grace’s eyes suddenly widened as if she were caught in the middle of doing something wrong. Alyssa swung around and spotted Addis leaning against the wall. None of them had heard her come in.

‘You know,’ Addis’s voice was just a wisp of a whisper, and Alyssa had to strain to hear her, ‘in the last week, I’ve learned monsters are not ogres who hide beneath our beds or in our closets. They live in plain sight all around us. And two of them stole my life when they murdered my parents. So, you tell that lady that the guilt doesn’t belong on her shoulders.’ She did nothing to stem the flow of tears, but she did allow Grace to envelop her in her arms as she collapsed into wrenching sobs that ate at Alyssa’s very soul. A few minutes later, Addis’s cries slowed, and she pulled back from her aunt.

Feeling the need to give them space and having done what they’d come to do, Alyssa nodded to Cord, and together they stood. But she still had one more thing she needed to share. Because Addis was still standing there, Alyssa hesitated but then decided the teenager had been through worse and would hear about it anyway. She turned to Grace. ‘Do you remember how Mack had wanted to go through Gabriel’s office?’

‘Yes.’ Grace spoke in a monotone.

‘Hal found some suspicious financial activity in one of Gabriel’s charities – the one in which Mack was on the board. Since that was the only one he was involved with, and none of the other charities showed any discrepancies, I can say with relative confidence that Gabriel wasn’t aware of any wrongdoing. Professional courtesy: there’s going to be an embezzlement investigation.’