Alyssa heard everything he said, but what had her mind buzzing was that Steven Yarmini was responsible for scouting out acreage. If Rachel, Jersey and, Katelyn – and others, if Lorna Price was correct – were being held somewhere, he might know where. A wave of urgency gave emphasis to her words. ‘I appreciate that, Mr. Rosenfelt’ – her gaze flickered to Cord and back – ‘but if Yarmini is involved, he may be in deeper than rape and murder. He may be involved in a sex trafficking ring.’

All color blanched from Rosenfelt’s face as he set his jaw. ‘Then why are you still standing here, Detective? Why aren’t you out there finding him?’

The forty-minute drive from Double Eagle II Airport to the foothills of Albuquerque took Alyssa just under half the time because she ran her lights and siren, turning them off only as she neared the neighborhood. Still, Joe and Tony had already arrived by the time she finally rolled to a stop in front of a house that was concealed behind two massive boulders and tucked up a long, hidden driveway. But before she and Cord could climb out of the car, her phone rang. A quick glance showed her it was Joe. She hit the speaker on her Bluetooth screen.

‘We just pulled up, Joe. What’s happening?’

A frustrated sigh filled the air before Joe answered. ‘It appears we’re too late. Yarmini’s already cleared out.’

‘What?’

‘When no one answered the door, Tony and I took a peek inside one of the windows. The place is dark, but there was still enough light to see that it was in disarray, like someone left in a hurry.’

Alyssa pounded one fist on her steering wheel as she cursed. ‘Damn it, damn it, damn it! Okay, I’ll see you in a second.’ She didn’t wait for a response before she ended the call and shot a quick glance over to Cord. The tight lines around his mouth told her he was as infuriated as she was with the news. Together, they climbed out of the car, and when she closed her door, it was with more force than was necessary.

If she hadn’t already been convinced that Bartholomew Rosenfelt’s employee was somehow involved, she was now. She yanked her phone from her pocket and dialed Hal. ‘I need another search warrant,’ Alyssa said as soon as he answered. Then after rattling off the address, she and Cord met up with Joe and Tony and then waited until the evidence technicians arrived so they could go through and process the house.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Friday, May 24

The pungent odor of her own vomit assaulted Rachel’s senses as she gripped the sides of the toilet bowl and emptied the contents of her stomach. Just outside the door, Becca and Faye whispered, but what they said escaped her because all she could hear in her mind were the words of the man who’d delivered their food this morning.

He’d come downstairs, whistling, an ear-to-ear smile stretching across his face, his soulless eyes gleaming with his news. ‘Well, girls,’ he’d said, ‘you’d better enjoy the next few hours because tonight or tomorrow, you’ll be back to work in The Toybox. And from what I hear, we’ve had some pretty impatient clients.’ And then he’d laughed, rubbing his fingers against his thumb in the universal sign of ‘money, money, money.’