She wondered if there was any other viewpoint where he might have been able to look for prey. Craning her neck, she peered in the other direction.
May didn’t see any other likely places where young women might congregate. But she saw something else.
She saw a dark-haired, well-groomed man in chinos and a black jacket.
He was heading down the fire escape on the corner of the building, looking stressed and furtive, his feet making faint clanging noises on the metal stairs.
May simply couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Was she imagining things? Was this somebody else, and she was being overly paranoid? But then he turned to go down the next flight and she saw his face more clearly. She saw the strong jaw and the neatly groomed sideburns.
It was him.
“Owen!” May grabbed his arm. “Look there! That’s Jessop, isn’t it? It surely must be?”
“Where?”
“Come here and see for yourself!”
Owen rushed over to look.
“Yes, it’s him. So what’s he doing out there? Why is he going down the fire escape? He was supposed to be finishing a meeting and then joining us here!”
Very clearly he wasn’t doing that.
“He’s doing a runner,” May concluded, utterly appalled by her own realization.
“He must have been expecting us, and he’s running away because he knows we’re going to question him about Emily’s murder,” Owen said.
This was a sign of guilt, so clear it astounded May.
“We need to get downstairs and stop him getting away. Quick, let’s run.” May didn’t rate their chances if Jessop got behind the wheel of that powerful Mercedes.
May was already in motion as she spoke to Owen, bursting out of the plush office. They sprinted back to the elevator and slid in just as the doors were closing. The ride back down was fast, and when the doors opened, they stormed out.
The receptionist gave an astonished cry as May and Owen sped through the large lobby space. “What’s going on?” she shouted, alarmed.
“Jessop! Jessop!” May shouted, heading full tilt for the parking lot. She hoped to goodness that once she got out, she would be in time to stop him.
There he was! Heading for the Mercedes, just a couple of yards from the car and moving fast.
“Jessop!” she yelled again.
He looked up and saw her. Horror filled his face. He dived for the car door.
May raced to cut him off. She was worried she was too late to stop him, but she knew that if she didn’t, it might be difficult or impossible to catch him again.
But, with a gasp of triumph, Jessop swung himself into the seat. A moment later, the car roared to life.
CHAPTER TWENTY
“No!” May shouted, feeling stressed and frantic as Jessop revved the powerful Mercedes’s engine. “Stop! Police!”
She’d yet to meet a guilty person who actually did stop when she said that. Jessop was no exception. He was clearly going to try and get away, and if he succeeded, she would have lost a strong suspect. It would delay the case. He might even be planning to flee and lie low, hiding from the police for as long as he could. Money always made things easier. Thoughts of private jets to countries without extradition treaties loomed in May’s fevered imagination.
At the same time, her feet were pounding the concrete walkway toward the Merc, and her heart was racing.
She’d never expected him to do this! Had he made an exit plan that he was now actioning because the police had found out?
The thought of Kerry’s face filled her mind. How she would look. Shocked and devastated by May’s inadequacy if she allowed him to escape. Never mind that—the thought of her own disappointment in herself was impossible to imagine.