Joe’s eyebrows scrunched together, and he held his hand up for Alyssa to stop. ‘False advertising? What the hell does that mean?’

Cord answered, speaking through clenched teeth. ‘It means she was wearing something that McDougal took as an invitation and an automatic yes to sex and didn’t appreciate being told no. Allegedly.’ His eyes were full of anger as he tacked on the word, sneering as he did.

Alyssa wondered if anyone else heard the mental ledge Cord teetered on.

‘Anyway, no one could tell us when he left the party, and no one admitted to knowing his whereabouts yesterday, so Cord and I will try again today.’

Hal picked up from there. ‘I contacted Dawson Construction like you asked. Darnell Williams’s alibi checked out. He was at work, and when I contacted the bar where he said they headed afterward, the bartender was able to verify everything he said.’

The team spent a few more minutes discussing Rachel’s case before moving onto Jersey’s. Pushing her personal feelings aside, Alyssa focused on what they knew while Hal typed it into his computer under Jersey’s name. The most glaring similarity between the two cases, aside from their youthful ages, was the location of each of their disappearances. The duck pond was within a quarter mile of the frat house where Rachel had last been seen less than twenty-four hours before Jersey had gone missing.

‘Hal, what did you find on Hugh or Beau Cambridge?’ The only indication of the rage Alyssa knew Cord felt regarding the Cambridge men was the way his fingers clenched on his pen. Again, she wondered if anyone else noticed.

‘Hugh Cambridge is the chief financial officer of Harrison Motor Company and has been for the past thirty years. Married for twenty-six. One kid – Beau – football player, piss-poor grades that should’ve had him kicked off the team at least half a dozen times. According to his social media accounts, he and Jersey met at a party about six months ago and “hooked up.” I cross-referenced her accounts, and they said basically the same thing. It didn’t take much scrolling through either of their accounts to recognize they liked to air their fights or disagreements or whatever online, and from their feeds, they’ve had a pretty tumultuous, on-again, off-again relationship. I’ll keep digging.’

Alyssa exchanged glances with Cord. ‘What do you mean by tumultuous? How so?’

The corners of Hal’s mouth tipped down, and he snorted as he tapped a few keys on his keyboard. ‘Allow me to show you this example from two months ago.’ He cleared his throat and began reading.

When you walk in and find your boyfriend’s tongue shoved down some skank’s throat…

If you don’t want me to shove my tongue down someone else’s throat, don’t be such a prude. BTW, don’t you ever embarrass me like that again.

Or you’ll do what?

You don’t want to find out…

Alyssa cut her eyes toward Cord. The tendons in his neck bulged, his nose flared, and his fingers gripped the edges of the table. ‘Print that out for me, Hal, and any others that seem to implicitly threaten violence. And see if you can find a way to verify Beau’s whereabouts for Sunday night, specifically between the hours of seven-thirty to let’s say, six the next morning. Those posts don’t paint him in the most favorable light.’