Alyssa remained quiet in the hopes that she’d given him enough rope to hang himself.

‘And yeah, I talked to that girl, Rachel, but I had nothing to do with her going missing. Nothing! Lots of guys were there that night, and a hot girl like her could’ve hooked up with any of them. And just because I spent a few minutes passing conversation with her doesn’t mean I did something to her.’

‘If you’d heard she went missing, why didn’t you contact us? Maybe you could’ve cleared up a few questions and saved yourself the trouble of having to come down here. Surely you knew we’d eventually figure out that you not only had a connection with two, but three missing girls. One of whom is now dead.’

‘Wait a minute, I never said I knew that other girl!’ A cross between anger and disbelief etched across the features of Beau’s face. ‘Wait! Am I suspect in murder now? And if I am, why aren’t you arresting me, and why did you say I didn’t need a lawyer?’

‘I didn’t say you didn’t need a lawyer, Beau,’ Alyssa corrected. ‘I asked if you thought you needed one.’ She hoped the reminder wouldn’t encourage him to use what limited brain cells he had and require that attorney, but she had a feeling this interrogation was about to come to a screeching halt before they got any real answers.

And she was right. Beau swallowed, nodded once, and then lawyered up. ‘I’m not saying anything else until I talk to my lawyer. I didn’t do anything, and if you guys really want to know what happened to these girls, you need to stop wasting your time harassing me.’ He stood. ‘Am I free to go or am I under arrest?’

Alyssa really wanted to say he was under arrest, but unfortunately, they didn’t have enough to hold him. She, too, rose to her feet. ‘You’re free to go. But don’t stray from Albuquerque, Beau, in case we need to ask you more questions.’ At the door, she paused before opening it. ‘And if you happen to think of anything you might’ve forgotten to tell us, you might want to make sure you give us a call before someone else tells us. Otherwise, we might consider that obstruction to justice.’ She opened the door, just in time to see Mr. Cambridge storming their way.

‘What the hell is going on here?’ he roared, his words coming out with a mouthful of spray.

‘Our job is what’s going on. We had some questions for your son, so he agreed to come down to the precinct so we could formally ask those questions.’

‘He already told you where he was when that slut went missing!’

‘Which “slut” would that be, Mr. Cambridge? Jersey Andrews? Or Rachel Otis? In case you’re keeping count, that’s at least two girls.’ Alyssa held up two fingers, watching his reaction to the news. ‘At least two girls your son has “coincidentally” been in contact with shortly before they disappeared.’