After the five adults shuffled into a conference room down the hall, Alyssa knew she had to begin asking the tough questions, though it was never easy to intrude on a family’s devastating loss.

‘Mr. Jessup, Mrs. Jessup, I understand you and your daughter had an argument over her dating an older boy. Can you tell me about that incident?’

Instantly, Mr. Jessup’s face turned into stone, and it took him several moments before he could speak. When he did, it wasn’t what Alyssa expected him to say. ‘This is his fault. He killed her.’

Alyssa shot a sideways look at Sergeant Boudreaux to gain his reaction, and by the way his posture stiffened, she knew it was the same as her own. ‘Why do you say that?’

‘Because if he hadn’t been trying to convince a fourteen-year-old to have sex with him, then we never would’ve fought. What kind of sick eighteen-year-old kid wants to date someone four years younger than he is? A future pedophile, that’s who.’ Venomous anger punctuated every word.

Alyssa didn’t necessarily agree that it proved the young man would turn into a sexual deviant sometime down the road, but that wasn’t the most important matter at hand. ‘Can you tell us this individual’s name?’

Mrs. Jessup’s shoulders shook as she admitted they didn’t know. ‘She refused to tell us his name because she was frightened we’d press charges if they ever… ever…’ Had sex. ‘I don’t think he even lived in the area. We only found out about him at all because Reed and I were out enjoying Sunday brunch when we saw her with the boy. Neither of us recognized him.’

‘Can you describe him for me?’

Chilly goosebumps peppered her skin at Mr. Jessup’s response. ‘He was quite a bit taller than I am. Big guy, about six-two, six-three, muscular, linebacker build. Short brown hair. I don’t mind saying he looked like a real ass.’

Beau Cambridge. Mr. Jessup had just described Jersey’s boyfriend.

‘Can we take our daughter’s belongings, her clothing with us?’ Mrs. Jessup directed her question to Lynn, her words sounding tortured as she gripped her husband tighter.

Lynn’s eyes swung to Alyssa, passing the question on to her. ‘We’ll need to hold onto them a little longer, see if our technicians can pull any forensic evidence. I’m sure you understand that every bit of information we can obtain gets us one step closer to finding who did this to your daughter.’

As if Alyssa’s words were the final weight her body could handle, Mrs. Jessup’s legs turned liquid as she fell into her husband, allowing his strength to support the both of them. Over her head, Mr. Jessup said, ‘The sweater she was wearing was a gift from her mother, so when will we be able to get it back?’

Careful to keep her expression neutral, Alyssa said, ‘I’m sorry, but Meghan wasn’t wearing a sweater when we found her.’ She gave a slight nod to Lynn, indicating that she should bring the bagged clothing in. Lynn disappeared briefly, and when she returned, she handed the bag of clothing to her. Alyssa held the items up for Mr. and Mrs. Jessup’s inspection. Mr. Jessup’s forehead crinkled, and he frowned. ‘Those don’t belong to Meghan. I’ve never seen those.’ Then tilting his head down, he addressed his wife. ‘Do you recognize them?’