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"Thank you, Doc," May said, feeling hopeful that this might be able to happen first thing. This could give them the lead they needed. Because at the moment, she felt as if they had reached a dead end.
She cut the call and checked the time.
"It's after ten," she said to Owen. "I think we should call it a night and go home. We've got an early start, and we need to be fresh for the questioning, if it’s possible. Tonight, I'm not sure we can uncover anything new. I get the feeling we might end up just spinning our wheels."
Owen paused. "You want to grab a burger at Dan's?"
May was about to say yes when she remembered that she needed to check in with Kerry. The software would have been running the whole day, and there could be more information on the APB for the facial composite. Lauren's case could be leading somewhere at last.
"No, I'll pass tonight," she said, seeing his look of disappointment and feeling guilty about it. "Tomorrow, maybe?"
“Why, May? What’s going on?” She could hear the frustration in Owen’s tone.
If only she could tell him. Maybe she should. She needed to spill everything, put it on the table, tell him what she'd been doing and why, and where this was all leading. If only it wasn’t so painful, confusing, and complicated. And right now, she was exhausted, and her mind was all over the place, with the stress of the day.
“Let’s talk about it some other time. I’m so tired now. Okay?” she managed, lamely.
He took a breath, and she thought he was going to say something else, but he didn't. The rest of the drive passed in uneasy silence, and May promised herself that by tomorrow, she was going to bring Owen up to date on everything and explainexactly why this scary, time-consuming side issue had been taking so much of her attention.
But for tonight, she couldn't bring herself to start.
She stopped at the police department, rushed in, and spent a few minutes updating the files and squaring up the final information on the case.
Then she rushed out, got in her car, and headed for home. Owen had left already, and apart from the officer on night duty, May was the last one to leave.
After her break-in a few weeks ago, when someone had left that threatening video on her open laptop, May had not felt totally safe at home. Even though the video itself had led to an important breakthrough in Lauren's cold case, May still felt uneasy that someone had gotten into her house to put it there. She'd upped her security. Now, there were better locks on her doors, more security on her windows, and even a second lock on her bedroom door, but she still didn't feel safe in her home.
She wanted to call Kerry as soon as she got in the car but May decided she'd rather arrive back late at night fully alert and not on the phone.
Parking outside her cottage, she couldn't help feeling jumpier than usual. She knew that it was the case making her feel this way, but she also trusted her instincts, and they were telling her that something was not entirely right.
May took a good look around in the dark, chilly night before hurrying to her front door, unlocking it, and quickly stepping inside. Immediately she snapped on the light and closed the door.
She checked around the small cottage, making sure the windows were secure and that everything looked the way it had been when she'd left early that morning.
Only then, with a sigh, did she put the kettle on, grab a microwave meal from the freezer, and sit down to call Kerry.
Her sister answered after four rings, and she sounded as if she was driving.
"Can you talk?" May asked.
"Yeah, I can talk. I'm heading home. Long day," Kerry said. To May's surprise, she sounded tired. Or perhaps, she sounded, for once, as if she didn't need to pretend that she had superhuman energy.
"I just got home. Long day, too," May agreed. She felt a warmth inside her that actually, for once, she and Kerry were getting along.
"I guess you're calling about the APB?" Kerry asked.
"I am. Is there any more news on it?"
"Nope. Nothing as yet. The software is still running, still busy. It might take a few more hours or a few more days. There might be results, or there might be nothing, and we start again. It's frustrating, I know. I can't believe we got so close and didn't get her."
"I want to know what happened!" May protested. "What was going on in our sleepy little town?"
"We thought life was so boring," Kerry agreed.
"Meanwhile, there was a psychopath out there, lurking, waiting."
"We'll get to the truth of it."
