Where was he?

  Phil lifted the oar again, scanning the lapping waters around the boat's stern, staring from side to side as he no doubt asked himself the same question.

  "Owen!" May whispered.

  He must have gotten hit. He could drown in seconds. May knew how to do CPR, but she'd have to get him to shore first, and did she even have enough time for that? Plus, she'd have to deal with the threat of Phil fighting her off, too - if he hadn't already made his escape. And if he had, she would not only have a badly hurt deputy, but they would have lost their chances at capturing a suspect.

  May hesitated, adrenaline surging as she finalized her plan of action.

  And then, just as she took a deep breath, preparing to dive into the waters to save her deputy, Owen surfaced.

  But he didn't come up at the boat's stern, where he'd gone under. He erupted from the water on the far side of the boat, at its prow. Phil now had his back to him, glaring down at the lapping waters as he clutched his oar.

  Owen grabbed hold of the side of the boat and bore down on it with all his weight. The boat rocked violently, and with a yell, Phil pinwheeled his arms, letting go of the oar as he fought for balance.

  But it was a losing fight, and Owen had the critical element of surprise on his side. A moment later, the botanist toppled into the lake, landing with a massive splash that sent water fountaining into the air.

  "Owen! You did it!" May yelled. She felt a sense of triumph and awe at the flawless way that her deputy had executed this clever strategy.

  Phil was flailing in the water, clearly a stronger rower than swimmer. Ducking under again, Owen surfaced, with a firm hold on one of the man's ankles. Now yelling and spluttering, Phil had no choice but to fight to keep his head above water, thrashing his arms and coughing as Owen towed him back to shore.

  May ran to meet them, reaching Owen as he dragged Phil back to the island. He was coughing and cussing, and his face was red with effort. And then, with a heave and a mighty splash, Owen hauled him out of the water.

  Phil sat there for a moment, shivering and coughing, clearly unimpressed with the pair of them.

  "On your feet!" May commanded. "Put your hands on your head, and get on your feet."

  Glowering at her, he scrambled to his feet, slipping on one of the water ferns before regaining his balance.

  "What is this all about? Why were you chasing me?" he complained aggressively.

  "Why did you run?" May countered.

  Seeing that his teeth were now chattering in the brisk breeze that was fluttering the grasses, and knowing that Owen must also be freezing after his dunking in the glassy lake, May decided that they needed to regroup before the questioning.

  "Come with us. We're going to take you inside where it's dry. And then, we need you to answer our questions."

  "I don't know what you mean. I haven't done anything wrong."

  "I think you do," May said.

  "Wha - What is this all about?" he repeated.

  "We'll tell you - but not until we're inside."

  The botanist now looked worried, rather than aggressive.

  May didn't trust him, and thought he would still try to make another break for freedom if he got the chance.

  Grasping an arm each, firmly, they led him across the bridge and back to the nursery, where May hoped they would learn the truth about why this man had acted so guiltily when he saw the police arrive.

  CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

  Fifteen minutes later, May had set up a room to the side of the nursery's main offices. The manageress on duty had been able to procure one of the nursery's staff jackets. Phil was wrapped in it, while Owen was wearing his own jacket, which he’d left in the back of May’s car as the day had warmed.

  A heater was glowing in the middle of the room. Steaming gently as they stood close to it, May saw that Phil and Owen were still glaring at each other suspiciously. Clearly, her deputy didn't trust Phil an inch - and why should he, May thought, after the botanist had attempted to do him serious harm with that oar?

  "Now, Mr. Jones, we need to ask you some questions," May said.

  "I don't have to answer you," Phil shot back.

  "You are under no obligation to do so. But before you decide whether or not to answer, I must inform you that you have already committed a serious felony. You assaulted an officer of the law, and it is only thanks to his quick thinking and reactions that he wasn't seriously hurt, or even killed." May stared inexorably at the shivering Phil, hoping that she was getting the message across to him. She needed him to understand that he was already in trouble.

  "If you cooperate with us, it will reflect better on you now," May said in stern tones.

  "I - look, I didn't know you were police!" he said. "I was just - just going for a row while I was on my tea break."

  May folded her arms. She wasn't going to accept this evasive answer.

  "You abandoned your duties on the island and leaped into the boat when we called you by your name. I also announced that we were police," May pressed on.

  "I didn't hear you. I'm hard of hearing, especially when I'm out on the water."

  May decided to stop arguing semantics. It was more important to cut straight to the point of why they were here, and find out what Phil's association with the victims was.

  "You had charges laid against you a few years ago for assaulting a woman who was later found murdered," May said. "I'm talking about Tansy Toomey."

  Phil pressed his lips together. May noted he now seemed unsure.

  "That's nonsense. I never killed anyone. I didn't kill Tansy."

  "You assaulted her and said you found her perfume offensive. Then, just a couple of months later, she disappeared. We recently found her body in one of the mass graves we are unearthing," May explained.

  "I don't know anything about that," Phil insisted.

  "We believe you might know a lot more than you're telling us," May said.

  "I know nothing! I never even assaulted her. Those charges were trumped up. The jury was biased."

  He was now tense and trembling, despite standing close to the heater. The man was clearly lying, but she needed to pin him down, and find out what he was hiding.

  "We think you do know more. And since several other women were buried in the same place, we need you to answer our questions."

  Phil was shaking his head in disbelief. "That's not true. You have to be able to prove that. You can't just accuse me of things like this," he blustered.

  "Our investigation is still ongoing. And the more you try to lie to us, the worse it will look for you," May said. "You probably think that we are going to accuse you of all of these murders. However, I assure you, there is a way out of this for you if you simply answer our questions truthfully and honestly."

  Phil shrugged defiantly.

  May decided that they weren’t going to get any more answers here. Now that he was dry enough, they needed to move to a more formal setting, and question him in one of the interview rooms at the police department. This would mean that Kerry would also be involved, and May felt happy about that. Her sister was a very effective questioner, and right now, she would be pissed and aggressive, more than a match for Phil.

  The fact he was being so evasive and obstructive was speaking volumes for his guilt, May thought. And since they were now here on the premises, she decided that it would be a good idea to take a look in his car.

  She wanted to see if there was anything in it that he could have used as a murder weapon.

  “Please can you hand me your car keys,” she asked him.

  "My car keys? Why?"

  Now he didn’t just look defiant. He looked anxious, too, as if he was worried about showing them what was in his car. And that made May even more eager to know what it was that he wanted to hide.

  She was not going to relent. She wanted to explore every angle.

  "Yes. You have to. Please take us to your vehicle and unlock it, to show us the interior. Once we’ve had a look, we’ll take you to the police department for questioning."

  “I’m an innocent man,” he muttered, the aggression back in his voice.

  “If you are, all you have to do is prove it to us,” May countered reasonably.

  Phil looked deeply reluctant as he trailed out of the small side room and over to one of the staff lockers that were situated near the nursery's entrance.

  May and Owen followed him, Owen's feet still squelching in his shoes.

  Phil unlocked the locker and took out his car keys. Then, also squelching, he walked out of the nursery. Owen walked closely beside him and May followed behind. They were both alert and ready in case this man tried to make a break for it again.

  Phil led them to a Suzuki SUV parked in the shade of a tree. May regarded the car with interest, deciding that he could very easily have fitted the victims inside this vehicle, which was spacious enough to accommodate a body either in the back seat or else the trunk.

  Phil unlocked the car and opened the driver's door.

  May took a quick look inside. She blinked in surprise at what she saw. Then she felt her heart speed up.

  Scattered on the front seat of the car were about five perfume samples. May could smell their intermingled scent emanating from the fabric seat cover.

  The samples sported the logo of the department store where Rosemary had done the promotions. Things were adding up. She was starting to see how the trail of evidence was pointing back in this suspect’s direction.

  She glanced into the back seat, and there, she saw something else that added to the compelling story.

  There was a long, heavy looking walking stick on the back seat. Its base looked to be dark with mud and soil – or perhaps it was not just soil, but something else as well.

  May turned to Owen.

  "Take a look in there," she said in a low voice, keeping a firm hold on Phil's arm.

  Based on the contents of his car which she'd seen at a glance, May knew this suspect had gotten even stronger. In fact, she felt certain that they were now onto something important.

  It was time to bring him, and get the FBI, and particularly Kerry, to question this man further.

  If he was the killer, they needed to get the full story from him, and Kerry was the woman best able to do that.

  May was willing to hand over that important step at this point. The entire county was in a state of panic, and if the evidence pointed to a suspect, May knew that she had to put her own ego aside, and do whatever it took to get the truth from him.

  CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

  May paced away from the botanist's car, quickly making the call she needed to Sheriff Jack, who she knew was at the Fairshore police department. She hoped that this would be the best way to get the FBI's full resources on board with the search and interrogation.

  Excitement filled her that they might be bringing in the killer at last.

  Sheriff Jack answered. "May, I saw you head out earlier after looking at the cases. I'm guessing you went after a lead?"

  She felt pleased that Sheriff Jack had guessed so accurately.

  "Yes, I did. We have a strong lead, Phil Jones. He’s a botanist who works at the Chestnut Hill nursery, with a record of violence. He had charges laid against him a few years back, after abusing one of the earlier victims, Tansy Toomey.”

  “That’s significant,” Jack said.

  “He fled when he saw us arrive to question him. He’s refusing to cooperate with the questioning, but there’s some important evidence in his car, including perfume samples from the department store where Rosemary worked, as well as a heavy stick,” May said quietly. "I think we need to get the FBI's forensic examiners involved here, and bring him in for further questioning."

  “Perfume samples? That would link up with what we've discovered so far," Jack said thoughtfully. "And any potential weapon should be analyzed if it aligns with the M.O. I'm going to send the FBI forensics crew there as soon as possible. Your sister Kerry arrived at the police department about an hour ago. She brought in a possible suspect who lived in the neighborhood near the gravesite, but he’s just been cleared. So she’s waiting here."

  “I’d like Kerry to question him,” May said firmly.

  “I’ll tell her you’re on your way, and that she must stand by. And I’ll brief her on the case so far. Well done, May. That was some good work there. We have a strong suspect. Let’s hope that between the evidence and the questioning, he’s proven to be the killer,” Jack said.

  *

  Twenty minutes later, May pulled up outside the Fairshore police department. All the parking spots were full, and cars were parked the whole way down the road. She stopped outside the police department and let Owen and Phil out of the car. From inside, she saw Sheriff Jack rush out to meet them.

  Then May drove back down the road to find a place to park. It seemed that everyone had converged here. She spotted a TV van, several police cars from other departments, two vehicles that, from their sleek and dark appearance she imagined must belong to the FBI, and a host of other cars belonging to ordinary people in the town.

  Right at the end of the road, May was able to squeeze into a spot on the sidewalk. Climbing out, she quickly jogged back to the police department. At the door, she saw that her sister, Kerry, was waiting.

  Kerry, with her arms folded, was staring around the area with an authoritarian gaze. May immediately noticed the lack of a ring on her engagement finger.

  "Hi, sis," Kerry said. “Good work for bringing in this suspect. They’re getting him ready for me now, and will call me when the room’s set up.”

  "Hey, Kerry. I’m sorry about what’s happened." May felt it was better to mention the broken engagement immediately. She felt a surprising rush of sympathy for her sister. The break-up must have been traumatic for her, and now she was having to return to a town where every different street probably reminded her of one or another of her wedding plans.

  Kerry saw the direction of May's gaze immediately.

  "He never got the ring back when I threw it out," she said.

  "Oh!" May's eyes widened.

  "Brandon seemed quite angry about that. He was shouting that it had been expensive. I said I didn't care, and he should have thought of that before he did what he did. He almost threw himself out after it," Kerry remembered. "Pity he didn't."

  "I agree," May said loyally.

  "Last I saw, it was picked up by a homeless man. Hopefully he sold it and got himself a few good meals. Brandon didn’t get downstairs in time to save it. I don’t even think he got much of his underwear back, but at least people were laughing at him for that," she remembered in a bitter voice.

  "I hope so. I'm so sorry it didn’t work out," May said.

  Kerry shrugged irritably. May remembered she was never at her best when something went wrong in her life. She could see she was seething, and ready to take her anger out on the closest person. Everyone walked on eggshells when Kerry was mad, May remembered.

  "Well, perhaps we should stop discussing my personal life,” she snapped. “That’s not why I’m here. I'm sorry that we appear to have a killer like this who's terrorizing the area.”

  “I know. I can't believe these mass graves,” May said sadly.

  “They’ve discovered more bodies in that third site you pinpointed. There are about four more buried there.”

  “That’s horrific.” May felt shocked to her core. This monster was one of the worst serial killers she’d ever heard of. She simply could not comprehend the magnitude of his crimes, the loss of so many innocent lives. Chills prickled her spine almost painfully.

  Kerry clearly felt the same, shaking her head angrily.

  “To think that one of the most murderous criminals in history has been active in our own county! When we were teenagers, this guy was taking women and killing them. And he's still doing it. Do you think he got Lauren?" Kerry sounded worried. “That’s been on my mind ever since I heard how long he’s been active for.”

  “I thought of that immediately, too. I feel sick every time I think of those bodies getting dug up. But the one thing we do know is that so far, every one of his victims has a flower name.”

  “True.”

  “And Lauren doesn’t.”

  “So what?”

  “So I don’t know if he would have targeted her.”

  “What if he made a mistake?” Kerry glowered at her. “That could have happened. It would be stupid not to think that.”

  Now Kerry was calling her stupid. May felt her hackles rise, and subdued her irritation with an effort. Kerry was very upset. She was in a terrible mood. And they could not afford to do anything but cooperate with such an important case to solve.

  “He hasn’t made any mistakes yet. He’s been very, very careful. You don’t get to remain active for over ten years in a small community by making mistakes. But perhaps when you question him, you’ll find out more. I just hope you can get him to tell us more, or even confess.”

  May found herself hoping with all her heart that Kerry's bad mood might break through the shell of resistance that Phil was presenting her with.

  Even though she felt utterly riled by her sister's nasty behavior, May had to admit that if anyone could get the truth from her suspect, it was her sister in this current mood. May was not sure that she would have been successful in a similar situation.

  At that moment, there were footsteps from behind, and May saw Kerry’s investigation partner, the tall, preppy-looking Adams, hurry out.

  “Morning, Adams,” she greeted him politely.

  “Morning, May,” he said absently, as if she wasn’t important enough for a fully enthusiastic greeting. “Kerry, the room’s ready. The suspect is set up. We had a short struggle with him, so we’ve handcuffed him. Shall we question him together?”

  Kerry nodded at Adams, looking satisfied. “Let’s do just that,” she said.

  May decided she was going to go and watch from the observation room.

 

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