“Help me!” Lewis began yelling again. “Where have you gone?”
May looked around, feeling frantic. If her plan wouldn’t work, then the only other solution would be to call for help and get someone in here to force the truck open. She really didn’t want to do that as it would waste a lot of time and there was a killer on the loose, but there seemed to be no choice.
Then a last-minute idea occurred to her. Perhaps in this warehouse, which was locked overnight, it could be that the keys were in an obvious place.
She went back to the truck. It was the only place she hadn’t looked.
May tried the driver’s door. It opened smoothly.
Her first glance was at the ignition. That was where she’d hoped the keys would be but they weren’t there. The ignition slot was empty.
The truck’s cab was clean and neat. The leather seat looked pristine. There was a clipboard on the driver’s seat which was presumably for deliveries.
May picked the keyboard up. And as she did so, she heard a jingle of metal and her heart leaped.
There were the keys. Neatly stowed in a clear plastic bag under the clipboard.
She had the keys. Now all she needed to do was open the truck, arrest her suspect, and get him back to the police department.
This was going to work out perfectly and May felt a surge of hope. She picked up the keys and started to turn. And then, her adrenaline spiked, as behind her, she sensed a figure looming.
May had the barest glimpse of a Joker’s mask, its mouth set in a horrible, blood-red grin.
“No!” But she never had time to utter the word that flared in her mind.
Metal flashed as the figure lifted something high in the air. And then it crashed down on May’s head, and the world sputtered into darkness.