Alyssa shook her head to clear it, trying to catch up. ‘Asked you to call me about what?’

‘We’ve got a dead body down on Central and Louisiana.’

Her stomach muscles tensed, and she gripped her phone tighter. ‘Female?’ It had to be, otherwise the captain wouldn’t have found it necessary to drag her out of bed at four in the morning. Images of Rachel Otis and Jersey Andrews ran like a reel through her foggy brain.

‘Female. Appears to be fairly young, but it’s hard to say with the condition she’s in. I’ll let you take a look for yourself.’

‘I’ll be there as soon as I can. Thanks for the call.’ She leaned down to kiss Brock, whose eyes were now open and trained on her. ‘Someone found a deceased female near downtown, so I’ve got to go. Try to go back to sleep.’

‘I will.’ He gripped her hand tightly in his, holding her in place when she tried to stand. She turned back to him, eyebrows lifted. ‘Call or text as soon as you know who it is – or isn’t.’

She pulled her hand from his grip and cupped the side of his face. ‘I will. But if it is, we’ll tell her together.’ She sent a silent prayer to anyone listening that it wasn’t either of her missing girls.

Twelve minutes later, she was in her Tahoe and on the road, and thirteen minutes after that, she pulled up behind Cord’s vehicle just as he was climbing out of it. Unlike her, he’d answered his phone on the first ring when she’d called.

She joined him on the sidewalk as together they headed toward the abandoned, half-finished construction of what was supposed to have been a restaurant when it was completed. ‘You know, even if there wasn’t crime scene tape and police lights blazing, I would’ve known where to go. All I’d need to guide me is the large gathering of looky-loos trying to get a glimpse of someone’s corpse.’ She growled at a few individuals who held their phones high above their heads in an effort to snap photos to post on their social media sites. ‘Why are there so many people even out at this hour?’

When a short, balding man wearing a Dunkin Donuts uniform blocked her path in his attempt to get a better shot, Alyssa snapped. ‘Have a little respect, people!’ She pushed the man aside, whipping her head around to bark at it him when he protested. ‘Isn’t it time for you to make the doughnuts?’

As she forced her way through the throng of bodies, she felt her patience fray. ‘Get the hell out of my way!’ Heads turned, but other than that, her words had no effect as the people continued blocking her path. ‘If any of you here without a badge are still in my way in two seconds, I’m slapping cuffs on you!’ Whether it was her threat or the fact that Cord had planted himself in front of her as he elbowed the remaining people out of the way, she didn’t know and didn’t care.