‘Tell us something, Mr. Yarmini. What made you decide to cooperate today? Aside from hoping to cop a plea deal?’

His breath hitched. ‘I know you won’t believe this, but… maybe I can’t make it right, what I did, but I can try to help stop it from happening again.’

Even though something in the way he said it made Alyssa believe him, she felt zero sympathy for the man in front of her.

‘Who picked you up after you tumbled your car over the cliff?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘You don’t know?’

‘No, some guy saw me walking and asked if I wanted a ride. I said yes, gave him twenty bucks, and had him drop me off about a mile from my house.’

‘We need names of all the individuals involved,’ Cord said. ‘Aside from the men we arrested at the house, you, and this Tatiana. Who else are we looking for?’

Yarmini’s eyes flickered to the door. ‘Tatiana hired a recruiter to get the girls. She targets the mark, incapacitates her, then transports her to Hotel Camino – where Tatiana sends in her men to pick up “the package.” Sometimes it’s a few hours; sometimes it’s overnight.’

‘She?’ Cord leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest again. ‘She had to be pretty strong to get these girls into her vehicle by herself and then into the hotel.’ His tone implied his skepticism.

‘If she had help with that, I don’t know anything about it.’

‘What’s this girl’s name?’ That same itch she’d been having was back, and Alyssa’s pulse fluttered as she waited for Yarmini’s answer.

‘I only knew her first name. Anna.’

It was Alyssa’s turn to pale as the connections all flashed before her, finally linking together. ‘Can you describe this Anna?’

‘I only saw her once, and it was dark. But she was about five-feet-four with a weird scar on her right cheek near her ear. She had what I guess you’d call strawberry-blonde hair…’

Doing the best to control the trembling in her hands, Alyssa tapped on her phone and scrolled until she found what she was looking for, then flipped it around. ‘Is this the girl you recognize as Anna?’

‘Yeah, that’s her.’

In a move that startled everyone in the room, Alyssa shoved back from the table and rushed to the door. ‘This interview is over. Have Joe escort Mr. Yarmini back to his cell.’

Chapter Fifty-Two

Monday, May 27

With a hand on her forearm, Cord halted Alyssa before she barged through the double doors heading into the patient wing of the hospital. ‘Stop. Let’s make sure the rest of the team is in place before you go barreling in there half-cocked. We don’t want to mess up this chance.’

A clap of thunder from the random, freak rainstorm distracted Alyssa long enough to bring her back to her senses and heed Cord’s warning. Despite the urgency of the situation, it wasn’t lost on her that he was the one reminding her she needed to be in control when it should’ve been her calming him after he’d sat through that painful interview, knowing he was probably reliving the nightmare his family had gone through with Shelley.