BooksBarbecue
Back Alone in the Woods
Chapters (63)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Chapter One
  4. Chapter Two
  5. Chapter Three
  6. Chapter Four
  7. Chapter Five
  8. Chapter Six
  9. Chapter Seven
  10. Chapter Eight
  11. Chapter Nine
  12. Chapter Ten
  13. Chapter Eleven
  14. Chapter Twelve
  15. Chapter Thirteen
  16. Chapter Fourteen
  17. Chapter Fifteen
  18. Chapter Sixteen
  19. Chapter Seventeen
  20. Chapter Eighteen
  21. Chapter Nineteen
  22. Chapter Twenty
  23. Chapter Twenty-One
  24. Chapter Twenty-Two
  25. Chapter Twenty-Three
  26. Chapter Twenty-Four
  27. Chapter Twenty-Five
  28. Chapter Twenty-Six
  29. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  30. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  31. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  32. Chapter Thirty
  33. Chapter Thirty-One
  34. Chapter Thirty-Two
  35. Chapter Thirty-Three
  36. Chapter Thirty-Four
  37. Chapter Thirty-Five
  38. Chapter Thirty-Six
  39. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  40. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  41. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  42. Chapter Forty
  43. Chapter Forty-One
  44. Chapter Forty-Two
  45. Chapter Forty-Three
  46. Chapter Forty-Four
  47. Chapter Forty-Five
  48. Chapter Forty-Six
  49. Chapter Forty-Seven
  50. Chapter Forty-Eight
  51. Chapter Forty-Nine
  52. Chapter Fifty
  53. Chapter Fifty-One
  54. Chapter Fifty-Two
  55. Chapter Fifty-Three
  56. Chapter Fifty-Four
  57. Chapter Fifty-Five
  58. Chapter Fifty-Six
  59. Chapter Fifty-Seven
  60. A letter from Charly
  61. Acknowledgements
  62. About the Author
  63. Also by Charly Cox

It was time to steer this conversation away from her and back to the case. ‘We need to meet with the team and find out what, if anything, the pictures Gabriel Kensington mentioned have to do with his murder and Addis and Emerson’s kidnapping.’ She flipped a quick sideways glance in Sandra’s direction as she added, ‘But more than anything, we need to keep Addis and Emerson in the forefront of our minds. While we can find Gabriel and Lydia’s murderer and bring that person to justice, we can’t bring the two of them back to life. But hopefully, it’s still possible to save the girls.’

Sandra stared at the Sandia Mountains as she asked her next question. ‘Do you really believe after what we saw at the Kensingtons’ that they’re still alive?’

It was a good question and one she’d asked herself more than a dozen times, giving Alyssa a good feeling about Sandra’s potential as a detective. ‘I have to believe that. It’s the best way for me to stay focused. If I allow myself to think the worst, I’m not as effective because the way I see it, my subconscious has already decided there’s not quite as much urgency.’

Alyssa had never tried to explain this before because she and Cord – and the rest of her team, too – had always just been in sync that way. ‘It might sound silly or even superstitious, but it’s the urgency that sometimes illuminates the path we need to take in any investigation. And what we must never lose sight of is that every moment counts.’

From the corner of her eye, she noticed Sandra’s tight grip on the ‘Oh shit’ handle, and Alyssa realized that while she’d been explaining why she refused to think Addis and Emerson were lying dead somewhere, her voice had risen, her hands had tightened on the wheel, and her foot had pressed down on the accelerator, hurtling them even faster down the road.

Chapter Fourteen

Friday, October 4

At home later that night, Alyssa ignored the vegetables waiting to be chopped for the salad as she scoured the Kensington notes. With her team ascending the ladder of the twenty-four-hour mark concerning the murders and Addis and Emerson’s kidnapping, and knowing the chances of locating them alive dropped dramatically with every passing hour, it just wasn’t possible for her to think about food right now.