CHAPTER SIXTEEN
At nine p.m. May and Owen pulled up outside the home of the Tamarack News financial editor, Adele Wong.
May hoped Adele might have some answers, because so far they’d come up with nothing. They’d coordinated an intensive search of the wider area. A roadblock was still operational on the route to the highway. Sheriff Jack had put out the APB on Emily’s vehicle, liaising with police in other counties as far as the state border.
Feeling tired and discouraged, May walked up to the front door of the pretty home on the edge of the woods in Misty Hills. She knocked on the door, wondering if by some miracle they would find Emily sheltering here.
A few moments later, Adele opened the door. The dark-haired woman was dressed casually in jeans and a sweater, and looked extremely surprised to see them standing there.
“Good evening. Has anything happened?” she asked curiously.
“We’re looking for Emily Oxman.”
Now Adele looked shocked.
“Why? Is it something to do with that piece we published?”
“No. It’s other reasons,” May said. “We went to her home and found she had already left, leaving it open. She hasn’t been back. It is looking suspicious and we need to find her urgently. Do you have any idea where she could be?”
“I don’t know. I know she has quite a few friends in Tamarack County. Journalists are always well connected. But unfortunately I wouldn’t know who her closest friends are. Her family is in New York State, that I do know.”
“Did she leave the office much today? You mentioned she was out earlier?” May asked, wanting to confirm if the timeline of Emily’s movements would have allowed for her to visit the Rushway River Lodge.”
Adele sighed. “She wasn’t in the office at all today,” she said.
“Not at all?” May’s eyes widened.
“No. She often takes days out, or half days out, if she’s researching a story. It was not unusual that she didn’t come in. However, I also didn’t ask her where she was, as I had meetings throughout the day. And nor did she tell me, I’m afraid.”
Her absence from the office meant she could have had the chance to kill Madeline. May felt highly suspicious that she’d been out and about all day.
“If she messages you, please try to find out where she is,” May said. “And please don’t tell her we were here. That needs to remain confidential, as this is a murder investigation.”
“I won’t say a word to her,” Adele promised, looking serious and stressed as they turned away.
Climbing back in the car, May felt tired and frustrated.
“How can there be no sign of her?” she asked Owen as he headed back to the police department. “How can she just have disappeared?”
“She’s probably hidden herself away in a remote location, or holed up with one of her friends,” Owen suggested. “If she was driving out on the road, we would have found her by now. With the APB and the roadblocks and our own search, we did everything we could.”
“I’m worried that she’s left the state,” May said. “If she’s done a runner, she could be anywhere by now. That’s very bad news.”
With tiredness and discouragement warring inside her, May was forced to face her limitations as a small-town cop again.
The FBI would have more resources at their disposal, she knew. They would be able to pour far more into the hunt, access more personnel and equipment, and even track Emily’s phone.
May tried to console herself by thinking that if Emily was in hiding, and had turned off her phone, then not even the FBI would be able to find her. But even so, she couldn’t help feeling a sense of helplessness. They had pinned down their prime suspect and she was out of reach.
Owen gave her a sympathetic glance.
“We did our best,” he said. “You can’t beat yourself up. There’s nothing more we could have done.”
“I know. I know you’re right.” But she felt defeated as they pulled up outside the Fairshore police department.
“Come on, we’ll tell Jack the latest,” Owen said. “Maybe he’ll have some good news.”
“I’m sure he would have called us if there was any news,” May said, not wanting to get her hopes up.
She headed into the police department wondering what else they could possibly do to track Emily down.
Inside the back office, Sheriff Jack was busy on the radio. Her boss gave them a warm, if tired, smile.
“Evening, May and Owen. I’ve just been in touch with everyone again and there’s still no sign of her or her vehicle anywhere.”
He rubbed a hand across the back of his neck.
“If only we could find her,” May said, feeling weary. She slumped into a chair.
“I can’t see how she could have driven across the state line without anyone picking her up,” Jack said reassuringly.
May nodded, but couldn’t help feeling a sense of frustration. She was tired and worried. They had a murderer on the loose, and it was her job to catch her.
“It’s still good work on your part, May,” Jack said. “This is a very solid lead. You’ve done a great job getting this far in such a short time.”
He looked at her and she sensed that he was trying to reassure her. She appreciated it, but it didn’t make her feel much better.
The stress and activity of the evening was reminding her of that awful day ten years ago when Lauren had disappeared. There had been the same searches, the same activity, the same peaks of hope as leads were followed, which had ended in crashes of disappointment as they didn’t pan out.