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"Look, it's probably nothing, but it has been worrying me," she said. "It's nothing to do with the botany, by the way. My daughter really wasn't growing weed. She really was trying to formulate herbal supplements for slimming."
"Okay?" May said in a soft, encouraging voice.
Mrs. Terry paused. And then, in a lower voice, she added, "I don't want my husband knowing what I’m about to say. He will be furious. And if . . . if the worst happens and she's not found alive, he'll probably end up blaming me, and I can't handle that!"
"For now, we'll do our best to keep things confidential," May promised.
Mrs. Terry took a deep, shaky breath.
"Okay," she said. "It's an ex-boyfriend of Chloe’s, but I think they might have gotten back together recently or be closer now than they have been."
"An ex? And you didn't mention this when you saw she was taken? Did you not think it was a possibility?" May asked.
"No. I didn't think so at all. Jacob Hargreaves is an old ex of hers. They bust up a long time ago. Many months back. And I thought they'd fallen out of touch. But last week, when I was going through her things after she disappeared, I saw a couple of signs—a book she'd borrowed recently with his name inside, a note to her that looked to be in his writing—just small clues that made me wonder. I thought maybe they were still close ortrying again. And that made me worry." She gave another long sigh, biting her lip. May thought she looked highly worried and stressed. She was stressed about the entire situation and about spilling out these facts.
Now, May needed to find out who Jacob was, and why associating with him was a bad idea.
She was sure they still had some time. Outside, she could hear that Mr. Terry was still in the full throes of his rant. Owen was encouraging him to be calm and sit down, which was making him even angrier.
May had a feeling that her perceptive deputy had seen her pursuing Mrs. Terry down the corridor and was trying to buy them some time without Mr. Terry realizing that his wife was no longer around.
"Tell me about Jacob," she said.
"He is—I guess as a parent, my impression is that he’s an unsuitable character. Very anti-everything you can imagine. Anti-establishment, anti-government, anti-rules. And as one might expect, he lived off the grid. But the one thing he wasn't was anti-social media. He actually makes his living filming his off the grid life. He does how-to videos on various subjects. He's a minor celebrity online and has a big following on a few channels. He gets income from various sources, I think, and a lot of stuff for free."
May thought she could understand his type. But she couldn’t yet understand why Mrs. Terry was so worried. Perhaps there was something more.
"Was there any specific reason you thought he was unsuitable?" she asked, needing more detail. "Anything in particular that worried you?"
"Look, I . . . I heard from one of my friends that he'd been in trouble in the past. With the law. That he had a criminal record. I don't know more than that. I never found out more, becauseit was just after that when Chloe broke up with him. So, I never bothered to find out more."
"Where does he stay? Do you know?" May asked.
Mrs. Terry shrugged reluctantly. "I don't know at all. But I can send you links to a few of his videos. And I know he has family who live locally, but I’m not sure who they are, it’s something I just remember hearing via the grapevine. That’s all I can do, and I hope it helps."
"I think it will help us a lot," May said. "Shall we go back now? I'll try to keep this confidential if I possibly can. And I'll keep you updated."
"Yes," Mrs. Terry said. "We'd better go back."
May pushed the door open, and they walked quietly back down the corridor. She was glad to see things were calmer now. Mr. Terry was pacing up and down, smoking a cigarette. He turned, looking surprised when he saw his wife appear.
"Where'd you go, honey?" he asked.
"I felt emotional. I needed to sit down for a while," she said smoothly, impressing May by her ability to lie. She hoped that she'd been told the truth. At any rate, she'd gotten a lead it would be important to follow.
"I know, it's been a crazy time. But I won’t have my daughter being unfairly accused. I don’t want her reputation besmirched."
"Please, do everything you can to find her," Mrs. Terry said, giving May a pleading glance.
"We'll be in touch," May said. "Thank you for your time. I hope that we are able to bring you more news soon."
She was scared to say more. She didn't want to give the parents false hope. Because there was no guarantee that Chloe was still alive.
As she turned and walked out with Owen, he muttered to her, "Did you manage to get anything more? I saw you following Mrs. Terry."
"I did," May said, feeling pleased. “We're now on the trail of an off the grid ex-boyfriend, with a history of violence, who was recently close to Chloe again. His name's Jacob Hargreaves, he's a minor online celebrity, and we need to track him down urgently."
CHAPTER SEVEN
