A blanket of silence drifted down while they each grappled with what Mack’s possible involvement might mean in terms of their investigation. And even though it took quite a bit of willpower not to forego watching the rest of the video in favor of speeding over to Mack’s house to demand answers, Alyssa managed. ‘Let’s finish watching this. Maybe we’ll see something else that will tell us we’re looking in the right direction.’

Cord reached out and hit resume. At a few minutes after eight, Gabriel pulled out his phone, glanced down, and then typed something before putting it away again. Though Alyssa couldn’t hear what Lydia was saying, the tight, pinched look on her face made it clear that she wasn’t happy. ‘I’m guessing Gabriel just told Lydia about Addis’s request to stay with Emerson,’ she said.

‘The timing fits,’ Cord said as Sandra nodded her agreement.

A few minutes later, Gabriel and Lydia paid their tab and headed out, and Alyssa watched Elizabeth Monroe follow their movements. So, she had noticed Gabriel’s presence after all. If that was the case, why hadn’t she mentioned it last night?

Shortly after the Kensingtons left the restaurant, Elizabeth removed several bills from her clutch and tossed them onto the table before she and her partner headed out. They disappeared from view of the cameras shortly after exiting the building and heading in the opposite direction of the parking lot.

An undercurrent of WTF?, as the kids liked to say, had Alyssa’s nerves zinging almost painfully as an unpleasant thought entered her mind and refused to budge. Could Mack Kensington and Elizabeth Monroe both be involved? It didn’t make sense, but she couldn’t discount the idea altogether.

‘So, naïve question maybe, but can we get a search warrant for Mack’s house and vehicle?’ Sandra’s question distracted Alyssa from her own unvoiced concern.

Cord was already shaking his head. ‘Based on what? That he was at a restaurant the same night his brother was killed? That he fits the general description of someone Gabriel was seen arguing with hours before his murder? No way we’ll secure a search warrant on anything as flimsy as that. The man’s a Class A criminal defense attorney. He’ll have that blocked before we finish uttering the words. Circumstantial “evidence” might be piling up, but it’s not enough for a warrant. We’re going to need a hell of a lot more to go on – not to mention a motive, as I said earlier – before we’ll get any judge to issue even the most minor of warrants.’

Abruptly, Alyssa shoved her chair back and strode to the door. ‘I’m going to grab the manager to see if he recognizes the gentleman with Elizabeth or the man I’m certain is Mack.’