Cord shoved back from the table and began pacing. ‘What if we’re looking at this the wrong way? What if it has nothing at all to do with Gabriel and Lydia and everything to do with Grace and her career? Convicting people to a lifetime behind bars tends to piss off some people. And it might explain why Gabriel and Lydia were murdered while the girls were kidnapped. It might even explain why Gabriel’s death was more brutal since he’s her brother.’

‘I can see that argument, but if the purpose was to get to Grace, to really hurt her, wouldn’t our perpetrator have killed Addis, too, to really twist the knife, so to speak?’

Cord was already shaking his head. ‘Not if he wanted to drive her insane with worry.’

‘Okay, well, here’s where your theory gets murky for me. If this was about Grace, and the girls were taken for the purpose of driving her “insane with worry,” then wouldn’t the guy have found a way to taunt her already, to show her he had control? And something tells me if Grace had received any threatening or concerning messages lately, she would’ve brought it up immediately last night.’

Cord’s fist banged against the table. ‘Where are they?’

Alyssa wanted that question answered as much as the next person. An idea occurred to her. ‘I know Tony already interviewed Mr. and Mrs. Childress, but I think I’d like us to speak to them ourselves. Maybe we’ll learn something new that will help.’

‘It certainly can’t hurt,’ Cord agreed, grabbing his phone off the table and heading toward the door, but before he had taken two steps, they were interrupted by a loud knock a split second before Ruby, the department’s brusque and surly secretary, thrust it open hard enough that it banged against the wall. Poking her head in, she pointed at Alyssa. ‘For as often as you’re in this space, Hammond ought to just slap a plaque with your name on it and call it done.’

Alyssa agreed.

‘Grace Burgess is here to speak to you.’ Ruby delivered her message and then turned on her thick-wedged heels and stalked back to her desk without waiting for a response.

Alyssa darted a questioning glance toward Cord whose expression, aside from the scowl still lining his lips, mirrored her own. ‘Let’s go see what’s she’s got,’ she said, following Ruby out to the main room of the precinct.

Around the corner and standing near the front was Bernalillo County’s district attorney, her face devoid of make-up, her hair dragged back into a messy ponytail, her eyes glassy, haunted, and just plain lost, looking as out of place as Alyssa had ever seen her.

‘Grace?’

‘I think I have an idea who might’ve killed Gabriel and Lydia.’

Chapter Six

Friday, October 4