He stared at her in a panic, looking cornered.
“I—I didn’t do it,” he muttered.
“Then why were you trying to flee? Why were you trying to get away from us?”
He looked down and didn’t answer. Instead, he swallowed hard. May realized that her words were making the truth sink in. His attempt at escape was not the action of an innocent man.
“We’re going to take you in for questioning.” Remembering the need for evidence, May added, “But first, we’re going to search your tent.”
She didn’t miss the look of utter dismay that crossed his face as she spoke those words.
CHAPTER SEVEN
May and Owen each held one of Joey’s arms as they half-carried him back across the sandy soil. May was very interested to know what they would find inside the tent. Something that Joey didn’t want the police knowing about, that was sure.
She hoped that whatever it was, it would get them further with the case. Emily’s parents deserved closure, and as soon as possible.
Joey was complaining every step of the way, limping along.
“My legs are aching,” he mumbled. “And you’re hurting my shoulder.”
“It’ll hurt more if you keep struggling to get away,” May retorted, although she did actually ease her grip on his arm slightly.
“I didn’t do anything,” he protested, as they reached his tent.
“Then why were you trying to run?”
“I panicked,” he said.
“Why were you panicking?” Owen asked.
Joey opened his mouth, but didn’t say anything.
May shook her head and wondered what had happened to this man to make him so determined to run.
By the light of her flashlight, she could see that they were almost at the tent.
And then she was startled to see that the beam of the flashlight picked up a figure crouched inside.
May hissed in a breath, stopping in her tracks as she gazed at the clear outline of the shadow.
“Who’s that?” she asked.
“Nothing. Nobody,” Joey stammered.
Owen kept a tight hold on Joey’s arm while May stepped forward.
“This is the police. Come out immediately. If you have a weapon, put it down. Hands in the air.”
May waited. Her heart was hammering. What was happening in that tent? Was it a criminal, one of Joey’s partners in crime? Did Joey have a victim hidden away in there?
She could hear scuffing sounds from inside the tent. And then the door was hesitantly unzipped.
And out scrambled a schoolgirl.
May heard Owen gasp audibly. Her own heart pounded. A schoolgirl? Captured, held hostage, in the tent?
Even as May’s mind leaped to make the connection, she realized there were too many flaws for this theory to pan out. For a start, why would any captured girl have deliberately hidden from sight in the tent, when freedom was just the tug of a zipper away?