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"Why did you run away when we came along? Be truthful with me. I don’t buy the fitness story."
"Man, I just hate the cops. I didn't know why you were here. I didn’t want to talk to you. I was hoping you were just looking for my folks. My stepdad was in a fender bender last week, and he’s trying to get the other guy’s insurance to pay."
He looked slightly guilty, which made May wonder if he had a few stashes of weed growing in secret locations in the woods. That might account for why he'd run if he genuinely hadn’t taken Chloe. But she had to keep to the issue of the missing girl and not be sidetracked now.
"Why isn't that video on your site? You said you made a video tutorial with Chloe?" Owen asked, his voice suspicious. May saw he'd been on his iPad and clearly keeping Jacob honest.
"I took it down after what Chloe's mom said about her dad. I didn't want to cause trouble with the upcoming pageant and everything else going on. I mean, I really think she’s great. I respect her, enough to put her needs ahead of my own." He shrugged.
"You have a history of assault." May frowned at him.
Jacob sighed. "That's because I was bullied when I was a kid. I learned to stand up against the bullies, and ever since then, I've climbed in with my fists if I see any unfairness. Yes, it's gotten me into trouble, that I know. But it's the way I choose to live my life. I had years of misery. I used to be the shortest guy in the class before I had a growth spurt. I know what it's like to be picked on and now, I don't allow it. Not for me, not for others," he stated passionately. “When I see it now, I take action.”
"Can you send us the video footage for proof?" May asked, wanting to keep him honest.
"I can. I’ll send you the link to it. I hid it so you can only access it with a link. But tell me, she's disappeared? Is she indanger? Is there anything I can do? I guess I could put the word out on my videos, but then her dad might get mad."
"She was seen last night, on camera footage in the woods, running for her life. There's evidence to suggest that whoever was chasing her caught up and got her, because her tracks petered out and there's no sign of her."
As she delivered the bombshell, May watched Jacob closely. Very, very closely.
He looked absolutely aghast.
"She—no! That's impossible. My Chloe? Caught last night?" Now Jacob was breathing hard and looking traumatized.
"What's your alibi for late last night? At around midnight?"
Jacob was still looking sick with horror at what May had said.
"I . . . I was working last night. Responding to comments on the videos. I do that late at night. I was up answering my fans until at least one a.m. I'll send you the link to the videos that I was interacting on. You'll be able to see what times the comments were made. But that's not what's important now. What's important is my Chloe! What are you doing to find her?" His tone was genuinely anguished.
May couldn't help feeling a surprising flare of sympathy for him.
"We're doing as much as we can. We're working nonstop on this case and taking it very seriously," she told him.
Already, Owen was checking the footage, and from his nods, May knew that he was confirming Jacob's late-night interactions. At the time when Chloe had run, he'd been answering fans and not chasing down his fleeing ‘good friend.’
“And I placed a food delivery order, also,” Jacob added, as if remembering in a rush. “Two burgers and a milkshake. I actually still have the wrappers in the trash can, and you can see the order on my phone.”
A minute later, May was convinced that this evidence checked out. This suspect was cleared.
But as May stood up, her phone rang. Checking the screen, she saw it was the pathology lab calling. In fact, it was Andy Baker on the line. He did a lot of the postmortems and had access to the case database.
She grabbed the call up and went outside the yurt to take it.
“May Moore?” Andy asked. “Can you talk? We have a clear DNA match confirmed.”
CHAPTER TEN
May felt a jolt of excitement. This DNA match could lead to a big break.
“Yes, I can talk, Andy,” she said, pacing away from the yurt. “Tell me about the match?”
Owen joined her a moment later, and they began walking back to the car while May listened intently.
The pathologist who worked with her on most of their serious cases sounded confident in his findings. “The blond hair is Chloe’s. It’s a DNA match with the hair from the heated rollers.”
“And the dark hair?”
