‘She was rushed to the hospital and kept in a medical coma for two days. When she woke, she told us what had happened.’ A harsh sound came from deep inside Cord’s chest as he bent forward slightly, almost as if he was reliving his own physical pain from what had happened to his sister.

‘Of course, Morrison and his buddy denied it all, said that she’d begged to go with them, and that she’d been the one to initiate… everything.’ His palm tapped against the dash. ‘He said she’d confessed it was her secret desire to be taken forcefully like that.’ A choked sound fell flat as he said, ‘As if that’s every young girl’s dream. To be raped and brutalized.

‘And his parents weren’t any better, brushing off their son’s involvement entirely, insisting Shelley was the only one to blame because she kept throwing herself at Bradley, was practically stalking him.’ He removed the hand that had been on the dash and wiped it down his face. ‘A few days after she was released from the hospital… Mom found her in the bathroom. She’d hanged herself.’

His voice cracked, and he swallowed several times, and while Alyssa wanted to tell him ‘no more,’ she knew he needed to finish.

‘She left a note saying she was sorry but that she couldn’t deal with the stares and whispers, people wondering if any part of what Morrison and his parents said was true. Couldn’t handle people she thought were her friends turning their backs on her in support of him.’

The fracture in Alyssa’s heart spread. Slowly, she reached out her hand and covered Cord’s arm. ‘I’m so sorry. I should never have asked.’

‘In exchange for a lighter sentence, his buddy gave a different version of events and turned state’s evidence, but of course, by then, at least for Shelley and my family, it was too late. That was twelve years ago this week.’

When he turned his head toward her, the impact of his haunted past slammed into her with the force of a tropical storm.

‘That’s when I changed my degree. At first I thought I wanted to be a prosecutor, to put scum like them away for good. But it didn’t take long for me to realize what I really wanted was to capture them myself.’ His attention was drawn to two little children fighting over an action figure while their mothers tried to diffuse the situation before it turned into a full-blown tantrum. ‘So, I became a police officer and worked my way up the ranks to detective. When my folks died, Sara and I decided to pack up and start fresh here in New Mexico.’

Alyssa had known he’d moved to Albuquerque from Seattle, but she didn’t know if that was where he was raised. ‘Was Seattle where Shelley…?’ Even though she investigated these types of crimes all the time, she still couldn’t bring herself to finish the question. For some reason, in this setting, with her partner’s soul exposed, it seemed too invasive.