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May turned to Joey.
“Okay. You’re cleared. Next time, don’t run from the police. It could open you up to further trouble. If you are so innocent, then stand your ground and admit to it,” she reprimanded him.
“I will, honestly. I promise I will,” he said, looking apologetic.
May turned away. She felt stiff and sore from that chase-down. It had taken every ounce of her strength to catch this man, and he proved to have a solid alibi.
Where were they going to look next? she wondered.
As she climbed tiredly into her car, her phone rang.
“Sheriff Jack?” May answered quickly, thumbing her phone onto speaker so Owen could hear, hoping her boss had some good news.
But it turned out to be the opposite.
“We’ve just had a report that another high school girl has gone missing,” he said. “Her name is Shawna Harding, age eighteen. She was last seen this afternoon, heading out for a run in the forest trails. I’m at the North Forest trailhead now.”
May exchanged a horrified glance with Owen.
If this had been called in earlier in the day, she would have hoped that this girl might have simply gone to a friend’s, or gotten lost or injured. Now, at after nine-thirty p.m., was there still an innocent reason for her non-appearance at home?
Inside, she feared the worst had happened, and the killer had taken another captive.
“We’ll meet you there as soon as we can,” she said to Jack.
CHAPTER EIGHT
May gripped the wheel as she and Owen sped through the night, heading for the North Forest trailhead, which was just a few miles out of Chestnut Hill. It was a place she knew well. Usually, she would have thought of this lonely trail, winding its way through scenic forest, as being safe and peaceful, if a little quiet.
Now, she was filled with worry over what might have happened there.
“Surely this can’t be a similar incident?” Owen asked, sounding appalled.
“I hope it isn’t, and that she is found,” May said, not even daring to voice her fears.
But she felt in her bones that the two incidents were connected.
“If there’s even a chance that it is connected, then we need to be ready to search for any signs,” she said.
They’d been working solidly for more than fourteen hours now, but she didn’t feel at all tired as she turned onto the road leading to the trails.
They pulled up at the parking lot where the trailhead was. Sheriff Jack was already there, waiting for them. May saw that a few other cars were also parked there, both police cars and cars belonging to civilians. People were already on the scene.
“Jack,” May said. She was distressed to see that his face was lined with worry.
“Thanks for getting here so fast. I just hope we aren’t too late,” he said. “We’ve already got search parties combing the two main trails. Do you two want to take the third side path? Mr. Harding is away on business, but Mrs. Harding is coordinating the search and handing out descriptions of her daughter.”
“What about vehicles? Are they briefed to look out for her?” May asked, and Jack nodded.
“We’ve got our patrol vehicles briefed to follow up every lead.”
Knowing that this would be hard, May walked up to the start of the trails, where Mrs. Harding was standing near the trailhead with a young man of about sixteen that May guessed was her son.
She was a tall, stern-looking woman who looked as if she might be a no-nonsense businesswoman herself in better times. Now, she looked consumed by worry.
“I can’t believe this,” she lamented on seeing May. “Shawna said she was going for a run in the afternoon. I asked her where she was headed, just to keep things safe. I never thought anything would happen to her. I realized a couple of hours ago she wasn’t home, because she often goes to friends after her run. I called around all her friends. Nobody has seen her.”
“What about her phone?” May asked.
