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May wondered if he was quoting some kind of radical play. Or a poem. Or was it just a dramatic piece of improvisation?
"You need to cooperate with us, or you’re going to be in even more trouble than you are already," she said, trying to pressure him to comply. But he didn't seem to hear her. He was singing some kind of a song now. It was a strident song, full of rage and hints of violence.
Owen cast her a look in the rearview mirror that May knew sent the message: How do we get this guy to shut up?
But after a few lines, he lost focus on the song and went back to criticizing the police.
“You're not protecting the public, you're oppressing me. Torturing me," he growled, then pretended to yawn. Or maybe it was a real yawn, May worried. What would they do if he fell asleep on them? But as long as he was talking, that wasn’t going to happen.
"The question is, what's the charge this time? Where are you taking me? What are you accusing me of?" he asked her. "I am law abiding! I am a good person. I have rights."
"You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to have a lawyer present," May said.
"Oh, because the police are always telling you your rights, you think it makes you guys special? That's the big trick. That's all a trick," Maurice told her. "I am a fine man. I stand up for what I believe in. I do, you know. I am an upstanding person."
With relief, May realized they'd reached the police department's parking lot. She'd had just about enough of him in the drive and didn't think he'd be any better under questioning. But they had to try.
She climbed out of the car and hurried around to take Maurice's other arm. They hustled him into the police department, heading straight for the interrogation room at the back.
There, Maurice half sat and half sprawled on the chair. He was breathing heavily. His eyes looked severely bloodshot.
May didn't know if this was just weed, or if there was a cocktail of substances currently circulating in this suspect's bloodstream. She suspected the cocktail. It wasn't going to make their job easy.
"Do you know Chloe Terry and Giselle Sandler?" she asked.
"Who?" he said blearily. "Are they in here? Hey, girls! Hey, are you there?"
He looked around, his eyes focusing strangely on the walls as if he was in fact seeing people who weren't here at all.
"No, I don't see them. But how are you, bro?" he said to the wall. “He’s here.”
"Chloe and Giselle!" May snapped, trying to force him back to reality. "Did you know them?"
"I know so many people. I can't say I know any single ones, though."
May sighed. This was getting nowhere. She didn't think it was going to improve, and she also didn't think that Maurice was faking it. He was genuinely stoned out of his mind. Reality and he were not anywhere close to nodding distance right now.
She walked out of the interview room, needing to get her head straight before deciding what the next step should be.
Was there any circumstantial evidence as yet to link him to these crimes? She knew that they would not have completed the search but hoping they had gotten part of the way through it, May called Sheriff Jack.
"We're in the suspect's RV at this moment, May," Jack replied. "We're searching methodically and itemizing everything as we go."
"Is there anything linked to the case?" May asked, crossing her fingers inwardly that this would be good news.
But it wasn't.
"Nope. Haven't found a thing yet. There's a lot of weed paraphernalia. A few other drugs. Most definitely, this suspect was using drugs, and from the quantities, probably selling too. But I do have forensics with me and so far, there are no signs of the women. No locks of hair, no personal possessions that might be theirs, and no traces of any blood. Also, we haven’t found any weapon that could have been used to knock them out. We've identified his vehicle, and we've looked in there too. Again, noobvious signs of blood or trace evidence from either Chloe or Giselle."
May sighed, feeling highly frustrated. This was not going the way she wanted it to go. She'd hoped for something. Some sign, some evidence. They had nothing now, and she was beginning to wonder if Maurice was in fact their suspect. His behavior had been so suspicious but that could be, she acknowledged, because he'd had a large stash of drugs on his home premises. Given that he was high as a kite at the time, fleeing the scene while the cops were watching might have seemed like a reasonable thing to do.
The problem was that Chloe and Giselle must have been transported in a vehicle. They’d been grabbed from farming areas and ended up in the woods. So, the vehicle used would surely contain blood or other trace. The fact that his car didn’t was not a good sign.
There were many other charges Maurice could go down for but right now, May was starting to second guess herself in terms of this case.
"This is disappointing," she confided to her boss.
"We're going to keep looking for another hour or so. We're going to search every inch of that RV and the car. There may still be something to uncover here, and if not, we'll head out to the pin drop and see what we can find there. We’ll search along the track, call, and shout. I'll call you as soon as we know anything," Jack reassured her.
