Cord’s head snapped up, and Alyssa turned to look at him, shocked to see the ticcing in his clenched jaw.

‘That doesn’t tell me why you think she’s missing.’ Alyssa divided her attention between watching the traffic around her and sneaking peeks at her partner. His left hand squeezed the pen so tightly, she was certain it would snap in two. What was going on in his head?

‘Well, while Jersey was telling us what happened, she decided she might’ve overreacted and picked up her phone to text Beau, and Sophie snapped at her. Jersey started going on about us not understanding what she was going through, and that Beau was all she had. One thing led to another, and before I knew it, they were yelling at each other, and by the time we got out of there and reached my car, Jersey decided she wanted to be alone, to get fresh air, she said.’

Holly’s voice wobbled. ‘It was starting to get dark, and I didn’t want her to go off by herself, especially after what happened with Callie McCormick and those other women.’

Callie was Evan Bishop’s final victim, and after she died from the torture he’d inflicted, her husband had taken matters into his own hands by killing Bishop on the courthouse steps.

‘I don’t blame you for being concerned,’ Alyssa said.

‘We offered to go with her… well, I did anyway, but Sophie and Leigh Ann were on board, but Jersey insisted she wanted to be alone to think. I asked her to text or call me when she got home or if she wanted to talk, but she never did, so I assumed she still needed some alone time.’

‘Is it possible she’s with Beau?’ Alyssa’s scalp tingled. The duck pond. The university. Near the same area where Rachel Otis was last seen before mysteriously disappearing. In the passenger seat, Cord scribbled furiously in the notebook. Her eyes flickered down long enough to see he’d scrawled Rachel Otis/Jersey/UNM and surrounded it with several black circles – apparently sharing the same thought that had crossed her mind.

A frustrated grunt echoed through the car. ‘No. I called him before calling you. To be honest, I’m surprised he answered. Anyway, when I asked if he’d seen Jersey, he laughed and said, and I quote here, “If you haven’t heard from her, I wouldn’t worry about it. This is her thing. She disappears for a day or two to make me worry, then waltzes back in. She thinks she’s punishing me, but I really don’t give a shit.” Then he asked if that’s why Jersey’s mom had been trying to reach him that morning.’

‘Sounds like a stand-up character,’ Cord muttered under his breath. ‘What’s this Beau’s last name?’

‘Cambridge. I can text Mom his number and address when I hang up, and Jersey’s mom’s, too,’ Holly offered.

‘That’d be great,’ Alyssa said. ‘Her dad’s, too, if you have that.’

Holly snorted, disgusted. ‘Her dad’s currently somewhere in Europe or Asia or hell, I don’t even know. I just remember Jersey telling us he was gallivanting around somewhere with his new twenty-something girlfriend, so I don’t think anyone’s contacted him yet because it’s not like he could tell us where she is, so…’