Owen felt energized by how well they were doing. With any luck, this evidence would provide what was needed to prove the case.
They pulled into the offices, where the Mercedes was parked in the bay closest to the boom. One of the guards had moved it away from the boom and then Owen had taken the keys. Now, he took them out of his pocket and climbed out of the unmarked’s passenger seat.
He pressed the remote to unlock the doors and they snapped open.
Owen opened the trunk and stared inside.
His eyes widened in surprise.
“This is interesting. Very interesting,” he said to Adams.
Adams stared down and Owen heard him draw in a shocked breath.
“Now, that is more than interesting. We need to take this car to the police department,” he decided. “This might just be the last piece of evidence we need. I want Kerry to see it, and confront Jessop with it, while they’re still questioning him.”
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
Stepping outside the interview room, May saw Adams and Owen walking briskly into the department. She hoped their arrival meant they had found something that would add serious proof to this case. Adams looked excited. Owen looked resolute.
She knew that the evidence showed Jessop had a strong motive for silencing both girls. They were causing stress to one of his star players, who was needed to fill a key position on the field, and whose performance was suffering.
May had seen for herself how much money was in this sport at top level. It was no surprise that the desire to succeed might cause a team manager to go as far as murder.
But where May was having doubts was believing that Jessop would go about it that way. He didn’t seem like the kind of person who would create such an elaborate scenario. The whole affair seemed too complex, too theatrical, too contrived.
Why would he have done this? It seemed to have been done by someone for whom this meant something. What had been created in this raft scenario was somehow important to the killer. It was significant to him. In his damaged mind, setting out the victims on the raft was completing—something—that he felt needed to be complete.
That was what she concluded, from what she had seen of the crimes so far. Jessop was a straightforward businessman. Practical, quick, impatient.
If he’d committed murder, May thought he would have done it differently.
For now, May knew she was just going by her instincts. And her instincts were telling her to be careful about jumping to conclusions. Her instincts were telling her the killer’s mind worked differently.
Too many things didn’t quite fit with their theory and so May was still worried that they were building a case around a man who might be innocent. Given that the case was so high profile, with the media following it closely, any mistake would be front-page news.
She could imagine it now: “Police accuse team manager of murder, but fail to prove it.”
May hoped that whatever Owen and Adams had uncovered would be the game-changer they needed.
“We have evidence of woodworking in an outbuilding at his home, with supplies of the same nails used. We found strong sedatives and sleeping tablets in his bathroom,” Adams announced proudly.
May gasped. But there was more, it seemed.
“And we brought in his car,” Adams said. “There’s something in it you need to see, now.”
May exchanged an excited glance with Kerry. Together, they rushed outside.
Owen put on his gloves again before opening the car’s trunk.
May stared down, drawing in a breath.
There were several pairs of shoes in the trunk. The shoe shape and color were familiar.
They were exactly the same type of white shoe that Emily Hobbs had been wearing when her body was laid out on the raft. These shoes were identical to the mismatched shoe that had been forced onto her right foot.
These shoes were bigger, though, May noted. And they were all pairs. There were no single shoes among them.
“Those are lacrosse cleats,” Adams said. “I used to play.”