Cord’s jaw clenched and he wiped a hand down his face before shoving his fingers through his hair. ‘The thought crossed my mind, too.’ Then he swung around, catching her staring at him. ‘I know what you’re thinking, but I’m fine. I wouldn’t risk jeopardizing a case because of… what happened to Shelley. I can handle it. So, please do me a favor and stop looking at me like I’m going to fly off the handle any second. Allow me the same courtesy I gave you when you found out Evan Bishop was actually Timmy. Now, I think it’ll help if we can figure out where we’ve seen that symbol before.’

Alyssa nodded. He was right; he’d never treated her like she would break when the Bishop case became far too personal, and she owed him that same respect.

Chapter Sixteen

Tuesday, May 21

Tuesday afternoon, a bleary-eyed Alyssa unlocked the conference room and set her items on the long table before moving to the wall so she could flip on the lights. A too-early call-out and lack of sleep were biting at her heels.

Be that as it may, the issue of at least two missing girls, one of whom was her daughter’s friend, and another involving the Jane Doe who was now lying in the morgue awaiting Lynn Sharp to perform the autopsy dictated that sleep deprivation was the least of her concerns.

As she waited for the rest of her team, she thumbed through several of the witness statements Officer Vogler and the others had managed to get. Cord walked in as she was reading one from a guy with no known physical address who claimed the girl was in the line of fire from a gang fight. He swore he’d watched her be gunned down. Since there were no bullet holes in the deceased’s body, they could safely toss this one aside.

Alyssa waved her hand over the statements. ‘From these, it would seem that right now our best lead appears to be Naomi Kenney.’ Randomly, she grabbed one of the papers and read from it. ‘I watched the chick and her dog trying to rob a guy, and so he stabbed her and took off.’ Her eyes lifted to her partner’s. ‘I didn’t see stab wounds. Did you see stab wounds?’

‘None that I saw. Hal’s checking to see if we can locate this Naomi, right? If nothing else, maybe she’s got family who would know where she is. And if that doesn’t pan out, we can always send Tony or Joe out to patrol that area, see if she shows up again. Who knows? Maybe that’s where she regularly lays her head at night.’

Alyssa agreed. ‘Worth checking out.’

Just then Hal rolled in with a stack of folders in his lap and his phone and laptop in the large pocket on the side. ‘Morning Alyssa, Cord. Sure would be nice if Liz was back. We could get her to do a sketch of this mystery male – if we locate Ms. Kenney – and we could even show the composite to the homeless shelters in the area, see if anyone else recognizes him.’