She’d come back with more concrete proof to break through this shield of denial. They really couldn't afford to mess this up.
May hurried outside to speak to Owen, hoping that his work would bring the final elements they needed to seal this case.
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
When May rushed out of the interview room, she almost collided with Owen.
Hastily, she stepped back, feeling suddenly flustered, noticing he was doing the same.
"Sorry," he muttered.
"No problem," she said.
They stood for a moment, staring at each other. May mentally shook herself. She'd been strangely distracted there for a beat or two.
"He's denying any knowledge of the photos,” she seethed to him.
"But they were in his car!" Owen said.
"He's saying the police planted them there."
Now, May saw Owen was looking worried, although she had no idea why.
"But why would we plant them there? How would we even have taken them? We weren’t on the scene before the victims were killed," Owen protested.
"It's what he's saying. What he's claiming. But hopefully, it won't be an issue if there's enough evidence on his phone and hopefully, also in his messages."
Now, May's heart sank as she saw Owen was looking decidedly uneasy. He was looking down, shifting from foot to foot.
"You know, it's weird, but there were no images of the girls in his media," Owen confessed.
"What? How can that be?" May was horrified.
"I don't know. I checked all his media for evidence. Every single app I could access. And the laptop. There were no images of those girls anywhere. There were other photos, group shots, social pics, some training shots. Lots of photos. Just not those."
"But there have to be! Those shots were clearly recent. I mean, it was spring, and sunny, in them!"
"I'm telling you, there's nothing on here!" Owen said.
May stared at him. She felt boxed in. Walls were closing in on her.
"But what about his texts?" she said.
"There wasn't really anything incriminating on his phone. I mean, I didn't find anything." Owen looked up to meet her eyes. "There was hardly anything that I could show you at all. A few flirty messages. Definitely inappropriate, but not direct solicitation and not only to those two girls. That was it."
May stared at him.
"This can't be right!"
"I'm telling you, there's nothing."
May felt completely at a loss. "That's not possible. I know you’ve looked, but is there any way he could be hiding them? Maybe in an app that we don't have access to?"
"I guess so. Maybe a secret or hidden app. But in that case, we'd need to get the phone forensically analyzed."
May's heart sank. She knew what that meant.
Time.