After ushering everyone inside, Cord closed the door, and Alyssa turned to Grace. ‘What do you mean you have an idea who may have killed Gabriel and Lydia?’ Already she was wondering if she’d too soon dismissed Cord’s theory about Grace being the motivation behind the murders.

Mack visibly stiffened as his head snapped in Grace’s direction. ‘What? Why the hell didn’t you leave that information on my voicemail? You sure as hell didn’t mind leaving a message telling me Gabriel and Lydia had been slaughtered and that Addis was missing. Don’t you think this bit of news was also noteworthy?’ His bellows seemed to shake the very walls of the room.

Grace barely spared a fleeting glimpse in her brother’s direction before focusing her attention between Alyssa and Cord. ‘I’m afraid I misled you when I came in. At least in the sense that I don’t actually have any specific names.’ Either tired of standing, or the exhaustion of the last several hours finally catching up to her, Grace, with her unsteady hands, grabbed one of the chairs in the room and collapsed into it before she began.

‘This morning, I remembered that Gabriel called me early yesterday because he wanted to discuss a case he’d undertaken.’

Mack, standing with his back against the wall, feet crossed at the ankles, arms across his chest, snorted as he shot daggers at his sister. ‘Gabriel didn’t talk about his private cases.’

‘Just because he didn’t trust you didn’t mean he felt the same way toward me.’ Grace poked her thumb into her chest. ‘I can be discreet. I know how to keep my mouth shut. I get child perverts locked behind bars where they belong, not thrown back out into society where they can continue devastating lives!’

Feeling like she was refereeing Holly and Isaac in their younger days, Alyssa thumped her fist onto the table, successfully gaining everyone’s attention. Seesawing her hands in the air between them, she snapped, her voice growing louder with each word. ‘Do you want to find Addis and Emerson and figure out why your brother and sister-in-law are currently residing in the morgue, or should I just bring you both a pair of boxing gloves and leave you to it instead of allowing you to waste my time? Because if you don’t care, my team sure as hell does!’

Skin flushed with guilt, at least in Grace’s case, the siblings silently shifted their bodies away from each other. ‘I’m sorry. You’re right. Tensions are high, but that’s no excuse.’

Alyssa didn’t have time to soothe ruffled feathers, so she brushed the apology aside and bit out, ‘Just continue.’