"I think we should speak to him first," she said to Owen in a low voice. He looked at her gravely, before nodding.
Feeling purposeful now that the shock of seeing the body had subsided, May turned away from the crime scene and headed over to where the paramedics were at work.
CHAPTER THREE
As May walked over to where the dark-haired and good-looking young man was being attended to by the paramedics, she saw that he was sitting up on a waterproof sheet, staring ahead, with a lost, bewildered expression on his face.
He was holding a Kleenex to his nose, and his face was streaked with tears.
Sheriff Jack walked quickly up to greet her and Owen.
"I haven't been able to speak to this young man yet as the paramedics have been treating him. But we need to interview him urgently. Will you two handle this, and I will go and help manage the scene at the parking lot?"
"Yes, Jack," May replied, and he strode off.
May walked up to the paramedics.
"Is the witness ready for us to speak to him?" she asked.
"I think so, ma'am," the young woman replied in a low voice to May. "He says he’s Dylan McDowell, boyfriend of the victim. He was in a very emotional state when we arrived, and had also gotten sick a few times. He told us he had already had several alcoholic drinks so we were monitoring him for signs of alcohol poisoning. Anyway, we have controlled his vomiting, given him some water and electrolytes, and treated minor scrapes on his hands and knees, so I don’t think he's in any danger now, and can speak to you."
May approached the young man.
His hair was tousled and his eyes were traumatized. Turning, he looked at them unhappily.
"I’m Deputy Moore," she said, introducing herself. "And this is Deputy Lovell. We are going to ask you some questions, alright?"
"Alright," he said softly.
"You called this crime in? You found the body?"
"That's correct," Dylan said.
"What happened?"
May knelt down on the blanket herself, so she could be at eye level with him.
"I - I - it's so confusing." He was still sobbing softly. "We were in the woods, together, you know - making out? And Alyssa said she wanted a blanket, that she wasn't comfortable."
"Go on," May said.
"I remembered I had this camping sheet in my car. So I told her I would go get it. I - I didn't think I would be long. I went back to the parking lot to get it. I got it out of my car and I came back. And when I came back, I found her - I found her dead. That's it."
He shrugged miserably.
May frowned at him.
There seemed to be a multitude of holes in this sketchy story. The timeframe in particular seemed problematic. She was convinced that this was not the full truth and might not even be the partial truth.
Glancing at Owen, she saw his gaze was fixated on the blood on Dylan's shirt. He was clearly wondering how this witness had managed to get liberally streaked with blood on a simple trip to the car and back.
May decided it was no longer appropriate to question him here. This needed to be done more formally.
"Deputy Lovell and I are going to escort you to the car," she told him. "We're going to take you into the police department and you can give us a full statement there."
May stood up and helped the young man to his feet. He stumbled. He was clearly very drunk and she guessed his pallor was not just from shock.
She reached out her arm to steady him.