CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
May felt the pressure bearing down on her as they headed to the back office to do the last minute research. She knew they were in a race against time, a deadly race. If this killer was not William Sime, and he was somebody else, then who was he?
As she and Owen sat in the crowded back office of the Dennisville police department, May felt at a loss to know which way to go.
The police department clearly needed more space. The back office was cramped, and from the piles of paper that were stacked on every available space, May could see that the filing was not up to date, and also that the case solve rate was lagging behind.
As county deputy, this fell within her jurisdiction, but right now it felt hypocritical to think of coming back with Sheriff Jack, and having a stern meeting with the department commander to try and improve things.
How could she think of doing that, when she herself had a huge unsolved case right in front of her, one that had the potential to do a serious amount of damage if she and Owen couldn't catch up with the killer and find answers?
They began scrolling through the information they had, sitting squashed up at a corner of one of the shared desks. Owen was next to a head-high pile of case files. May was next to a large, bulky officer who was slurping his coffee while filling in forms.
"Maybe it is William," Owen said. "Maybe both you and Kerry are doubting yourselves, because this case is so serious, when what you need to do is just go in there again and question him one more time."
"We can do that, for sure," May said.
Owen leaned forward, his eyes alight. "Maybe you need to appeal to his ego. To praise him and say how clever and intelligent he is. Maybe if you do that, you'll get him to confess that he did it, and how. So far, Kerry's been very dismissive of him, and maybe as a psychopath, he doesn't like that."
The cop next to May stopped slurping his coffee and glanced at Owen admiringly.
"Hey, you got an intelligent approach there, man. A lot of these criminals, they have big egos."
May also nodded in agreement. "When we go back in, I think that will be the right approach, Owen."
If only she had the same confidence that all they needed to do was to push different buttons. But Owen hadn't been there, in that room. He hadn't even been observing, thanks to the lack of facilities at Dennisville. He'd just been waiting outside, and because of that, he hadn't seen the way that William had responded.
If both she and Kerry were doubtful, it meant something. She and her sister hardly ever agreed! On principle, Kerry would usually take an opposing view, and argue it all the way down to the wire.
The fact that she and her sister were on the same page was an uncanny thing. If both of them were questioning and doubtful, that was surely a sign that there was more to this case than met the eye.
But what was it that was missing, and how could they find it?
"We just need to look at the evidence," she insisted. "If we're not seeing something, we need to try and work out what it is."
"Okay," Owen agreed cheerfully. "I wasn't in there. I guess I didn't see what you two did."
May felt extremely grateful for Owen's perceptiveness. She was so lucky to have such a clever, capable, and caring deputy.
As she thought that, her heart gave a little flutter which May could not interpret as gratitude. It felt like something else.
Which was unacceptable, because she'd told Owen that she was more comfortable keeping their relationship strictly professional.
May did her best to subdue the flutter by turning to the case. She was sure that focusing on the enormity of their problem would help settle her emotions. This was not the time to be worrying about whether she'd made a wrong decision in not dating her deputy. Not when a killer might be on the loose, and looking to strike again.
Who could it be? Where were they looking wrong, or where were they not looking at all?
"The family connection made sense to me," May muttered. "And the problems with authority, hence, the need to target authority figures. I mean, it all made sense, and we had the perfect suspect. Cold minded, and intelligent, too. But what if there is someone else?"
Suddenly, a thought occurred to May.
"Owen, what if the family connection that he’s used means that this killer is doing his bomb blasts to try and get revenge for a family member? Not for himself?"
It felt so sudden, so right, that she felt goosebumps prickle her skin as she made the connection. It felt like a logical progression. They’d been on the right track earlier, but had just needed to widen the parameters.
Owen narrowed his eyes. "I guess that's a possibility. Where would we start to look for that?"
"I don't know, but maybe we must piece together the timeline," May suggested. "Because the property manager, as you told me, wasn't a manager for seven years. She retired seven years ago."