“The interview with Jessop will have to wait. We got him too late. Shawna’s already dead.” Her voice sounded small and shaky.
May felt tears prickling her eyes. She swiped at them with the back of her hand, overwhelmed by misery and regret. This was an absolute tragedy. While they’d still been chasing down the convoluted trail leading to Jessop, he’d been committing a cold-blooded murder. Now, finally, she realized why he’d run from them so fast.
“We can’t save her, but we can make sure we have all the evidence we need before we interrogate him. Let’s get to the scene,” Kerry said in a hard, level voice.
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
May felt discouraged and filled with sadness as she headed out to the lake shore near the lumber yard. They were too late to prevent a tragedy. Another woman had died.
Would the scene offer any incriminating links to the suspect they had in custody?
May hoped so. It was all she could hope for now.
With her hands clenched on the wheel, and Owen sitting beside her in somber silence, she glanced into her mirror from time to time to make sure Kerry was following. She was, tailgating May in her usual impatient way.
There was the lumber yard ahead, and to the right of it, the road led down to the forested lake shore. She saw the familiar sight of the police cars parked there, the cars gleaming in the early afternoon sunshine.
She parked and climbed out, walking heavy-footed to the scene. Sheriff Jack hurried to meet them.
“Andy Baker is already on the scene and examining the body,” he said. “I’m waiting for backup, and as soon as it arrives, I’m going to go and speak to Shawna’s parents. I called them already to tell them this news. They asked me to call if we found her, but an in-person visit shows respect,” he said.
“Agreed,” Kerry said.
“You go down and ask Andy what you need to. We have to keep people away. We don’t want this causing an uproar in the community. Not when we have a suspect in custody?”
He glanced at May.
Yet again, her stomach twisted. The pressure was now on. She hoped that she could find what she needed to link the arrogant Jessop to this scene. She knew she needed to observe as much as she could while they were here, because it would be very useful when questioning him. If they could get him to reveal a fact he shouldn’t have known, that would be a big victory for them.
May trailed down the pathway to the lake shore. There, dressed in his gloves, mask, and protective gear, Andy Baker was at work.
“Afternoon, May,” he said grimly. “Afternoon, Owen and Agent Kerry.”
“What have you learned so far?” Kerry asked, stepping forward and clearly keen to take charge.
May knew how Kerry felt, because she was feeling the same. Burning with impatience, eager to charge Jessop with murder and put an end to this nightmare.
“As you can see, the modus operandi is identical,” Andy said, indicating the raft.
It was exactly the same rough structure, with candles placed around the body. It was a still afternoon, and May saw to her shock a couple of the bigger ones were still burning low. That gave her a chill.
She stared down at this beautiful young woman, her life tragically cut short. Shawna had the face of an angel, with thick hair cascading down onto the wooden surface.
Her skin was ivory, a natural tan but no more. There was a delicate beauty mark close to her mouth.
She was gutted that they had come here too late. How could anyone be so cruel? Why would anyone want to kill another person like this? It gave May a sick feeling inside to think that both she and her sister were now here, staring down at a victim who was Lauren’s age at the time she disappeared. She felt dizzy as past and present briefly collided. Then she dragged herself back to the current situation and forced her own ghosts aside.
She needed to assess this case, and the immediate impression was that he had sped up his timeline. Emily had been kept for two weeks before her death. But Shawna had only been kept overnight.
Why was that? May wondered. Was it just planning or logistics? Did the weather have anything to do with it? It had been rainy two weeks ago. Had he waited until the ground had dried, to cover his tracks better?
She noticed, to her surprise, that there was also one small flaw in this otherwise immaculate, funereal scene.
Shawna was wearing a top that was too small for her. May saw a button had snapped off, and a seam under the arm had ripped.
That brought back memories of the mismatched shoes. One of the shoes Emily had worn had also been too small.
What did it mean? Why was he placing one badly fitting item on each victim? Did it have significance, a message? Or was it just clever misdirection that meant nothing at all?