Mrs. Meakin looked up, sighing sadly. "So after that, she made sure to always tell us when she was going farther than the immediate neighborhood. And she would have told us if she'd experienced anything strange. After that incident, she didn't want us to have a moment's worry about her."
May nodded. "I can understand," she said.
"That's why she started doing the pottery," Janet explained. "She felt as if she'd been given a second chance, and she decided she wanted to make a career out of making hand-crafted items."
"We gave Hayley the cottage as a rent-free gift when she began pottery," Mrs. Meakin said. "That way, she could put everything into building her business and still live on the farm, so it was an ideal solution."
May nodded. Without a doubt, Hayley had not had any trouble on previous walks.
“Did Hayley know a local woman called Jenna Brand?” she asked, wondering if the two victims had any connection. “Did she mention Jenna at all?”
Janet shook her head. “I think I’ve heard of the name, but don’t recall Hayley mentioning that person at all.”
So there was no obvious connection between the two victims. May realized that Janet had most likely not yet heard about themost recent murder and decided not to traumatize her with the details.
"Did Hayley have a boyfriend?" she then asked. "Anyone close to her in her life?"
She hadn't noticed any mention of a boyfriend being interviewed in the case file on her death, although the local police had taken statements from her mother and sister.
But to her surprise, Janet nodded.
"Yes. Hayley has a boyfriend. Had a boyfriend," she amended sadly.
"Tim Walters is his name," her mother added. "He lives nearby. Two towns over."
"Has she been seeing him for a while?" May asked.
"For a couple of months, I think," Janet said. “She met him soon after her hiking disaster.”
"And has he been in touch with you at all since her death?" May asked, wanting to probe into this because it seemed strange that a grieving boyfriend would not have been more prominently mentioned by the family, and the police report.
"No. No, actually, he hasn't," Mrs. Meakin said, as if only realizing the fact now.
Janet was frowning too. "It's been a couple of weeks since I saw his car here. So maybe there was an issue between them, but Hayley didn't mention it. Come to think of it, she didn't mention him either, the last time we spoke." Janet looked at Mrs. Meakin, confused.
May looked at Owen, feeling as if they now had a direction to go in this case.
A boyfriend who'd suddenly fallen out of contact, and not rallied round when his girlfriend had been murdered, was a definite red flag.
It was time to go and speak to Tim Walters, and find out exactly why he had disappeared from Hayley's life, so soon before her death.
CHAPTER SIX
May hurried out to the car after saying polite and sympathetic goodbyes to the bereaved family. There were things she needed to discuss with Owen that were better left unsaid in front of Hayley's mother and sister.
From the way Owen hurried purposefully to the car, she knew he felt the same.
"May, this boyfriend," Owen said, as soon as the door had closed. "That's just strange. Why isn't he around? Why isn't he devastated?"
"I don't know, but we need to find that out from him," May said firmly.
"I'll look up his address. Two towns over — that would be in Forest Hill. Tim Walters, Forest Hill. Okay, I've got his address." Owen scrolled through his iPad. "But seeing it's now ten a.m. on a Wednesday, I'm also going to have a look for a recorded place of work. If he has a job, he’s unlikely to be at home."
"That's a good idea," May said.
She started the car and drove along the rutted, winding driveway that led out of the scenic small farm.
"I can't find an up to date place of work on his record," Owen said. "I guess we have to go to his place, and take it from there."