A waiter called Sam. Was he the killer? Had Sam come back to try and get revenge on these atrocities?
May was sure the Reeds must have threatened Sam in every way possible with their powerful team of lawyers. Perhaps he’d been coerced in other ways, too. Who knew how far they would have gone to protect their interests?
They were all quiet again as more footsteps tramped into what May now thought of as the slaves’ quarters.
May knew they were going to run out of time if they stayed here. There was going to be more and more risk of being discovered.
She turned to Owen. He was staring back at her, his eyes full of concern and intensity.
“Thank you,” she said, and squeezed the woman’s hand. She wanted to tell her she wasn’t alone, that they would make sure that she was rescued, but she didn’t dare.
She didn’t want to give this woman or any of the others hope before she was sure they were out of danger here.
Anya did not say anything. Her face was stained with tears, and her eyes were wide with terror. She did not look like she believed anything would ever change.
But May was committed to doing just that.
She was going to find the killer and save the women. She just needed an urgent plan, and to figure out where to start.
“Thank you,” May said. “Thank you so much for talking to us. I know it must have been hard.”
The woman nodded. May and Owen went to the door, and after they stepped out, the woman closed it. May heard a key turn in the lock.
The two of them silently returned to the back corridor and then made their way to the side entrance. Tiptoeing along, all May was thinking of doing was getting out as quickly and quietly as she could. But her mind was running a hundred miles an hour.
“We can’t leave this,” she muttered. “We have to get help for the girls immediately. But at the same time, we have to find this killer.”
Suddenly, the task confronting her seemed enormous, insurmountable. She needed to get Sheriff Jack involved. The entire resources of Tamarack County’s police department would be needed to make sure this operation was a success. There were so many people involved.
But even so, May knew that the personnel manager, Lewis Brooks, was a key witness who knew a lot of information. He held the passports. He had video footage. His knowledge would be important now that Madeline had died. These people seemed to operate in secrecy and silos. If one died, it was a circuit breaker. That was how they thought. Danny had proved it.
And, given how closely he was involved in these misdoings, the killer would undoubtedly be targeting Lewis next. That meant their primary source of evidence was at risk.
If Lewis died, it might even mean the case fell apart.
May knew she had to find him immediately, before the killer did.