Suddenly, Faye was back and moving. She eased between the mattresses where she knelt next to the new arrival, gently tugging the girl’s t-shirt back into place before stretching out next to her and wrapping an arm around the girl’s waist, as if by doing so, she could shield her from what she would encounter when she woke.

When Faye’s shattered, broken cry rippled through the cell, Rachel’s gaze rose to the small two by three-foot window, wishing for all the world that she could follow her soul through the lightly frosted glass.

Chapter Eighteen

Tuesday, May 21

The light from the window shifted, trailing up the table, and Alyssa glanced up before checking the time on her phone. Six-thirty. Her team had gone non-stop for nearly fifteen hours after receiving the call this morning, so she’d sent everyone home because she needed them to be rested – at least as much as they could be – and focused, so they could find the missing girls, as well as dig into what had happened to the murdered girl found in the abandoned restaurant.

Cord had offered to stay and wade through the mountains of pages of interviews with her, but she insisted he leave with the others. With all that was on his mind already with the anniversary of Shelley’s suicide and his unexpected, out-of-character reaction to Beau Cambridge, she had to admit she was afraid that adding exhaustion to the mix may be the final straw before he snapped. It had taken some convincing, but he’d finally, reluctantly agreed.

She tapped the yellow highlighter against her teeth as she read over Calvin McDougal’s statement. They’d caught him just as he’d been about to leave. Alyssa recalled how he’d arrogantly swaggered out onto the front porch of the frat house, fingers tucked into his front pocket, a smirk playing around his lips throughout the entire interview as he clearly showcased his feeling of superiority over authority figures.

Cord had opened the questioning by showing McDougal a picture of Rachel. ‘Did you see this girl at the party?’

Calvin shrugged. ‘Sure.’

‘Did you talk to her?’

‘Sure.’

College sure wasn’t teaching him a fine repertoire of vocabulary.

‘And…?’

‘And what? She made it clear she wasn’t interested, so I turned my attention elsewhere. Plenty of chicks there. No need to waste anybody’s time with one who was offering nothing but false advertising.’

Beside her, Cord stiffened, and for a second, Alyssa was afraid of a repeat of the Cambridge scenario, but to his credit and her relief, he maintained his composure.

‘That’s not what we heard,’ Cord said. ‘Lots of people told us you didn’t take it too well when Rachel turned you down, said you got pretty riled up about it.’

Calvin snorted, but both his posture and eyes shifted. ‘Whatever. Those people are wrong. Like I said, she said no, and I moved on. Last I saw her, she was still sitting on the couch where I left her.’