"There was that one incident, when a suspect he arrested hated him so much that he threatened to take revenge. But that was a long time ago," her mother said.
"Who was the suspect?"
"His name was Barry Leyton, but as far as I remember, he moved away after he'd served his suspended sentence. He moved right out of Minnesota and went to Arizona to work with his uncle. So, it can't be him."
"Anyone else?" May asked Molly.
"I don't know," Molly said slowly, biting her lip. "It was mostly just the odd nasty comment thrown my way. I tried to ignore it, but it was hurtful. I guess there was one boy who was particularly nasty. Jeremiah Danver. But I never thought of him as someone who would want to kill my boyfriends."
"Why did Jeremiah Danver have a problem with the police?" May asked.
"His dad had a drinking problem and ended up spending a while in prison because he was caught driving drunk. I think eventually his dad had his license taken away as a result, and Jeremiah always blamed my dad for that. Jeremiah is still in town. And he's still a nasty character."
Jeremiah Danver was undoubtedly a strong suspect. They needed to get face to face with him, and fast.
But while she was here, May also wanted to investigate another angle. One that she'd just thought of and which made sense in a different way.
"What about anyone who tried to date you? You must have had a lot of boys asking you out, but you had very few boyfriends. Was there anyone who got upset with you after you said no to a date?" May asked.
Molly sighed. "Yes, there were a few boys who wanted to date me. Most of them were polite about being told no, I remember."
Her mother frowned. "Wait, there was that one. I remember him clearly because he was so angry. He was so upset that Molly had turned him down. He stood on the front doorstep and said something about Molly having to give him a chance, or else he'd make sure she paid for it. Then he stormed out of the house," she said thoughtfully. "I never saw him again. But I'm pretty sure I would remember him if I ever saw him again."
"I remember him," Molly said. "He was always watching me, and he wouldn't take his eyes off me. He dropped out of school in the tenth grade, though, and I think he was homeschooled after that. His parents were very controlling, that I remember."
"What was his name?" Rachel stared at the wall, her eyes narrowed in thought.
"Lucas Zane," Molly said.
Her mother nodded. "Yes, I remember now. Lucas Zane. Of course."
"Thank you for being so helpful," May said, standing up.
They now had two strong suspects, both with different backgrounds and reasons for having committed these crimes.
Now, she and Owen needed to get face to face with Jeremiah Danver and Lucas Zane. If this theory was correct, then one of them was the killer.
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
The killer smiled. He was not finished yet. They probably thought he was. They most likely thought he'd done what he had to do and that there was nothing more for him to gain from this mission.
If only they knew he was just getting started.
He needed to prepare carefully for his next step, and he was going to begin by sharpening the knife.
The use over the past few days had blunted it. Since he was not personally the strongest man, he needed all the help he could get from his weapon.
He had a steel knife sharpener in his kitchen. The blade was now squeaky clean and shiny, scrubbed to a sparkling state after his last kill.
He grinned to himself as he felt the rasp of the steel against the blade and then the smoothness as he drew it across the sharpening steel. He liked the feeling of caring for his blade, alone in his small house.
He liked the fact that he was still able to kill in anonymity. Nobody yet knew who he was. Wasn't that a laugh?
And of course, he had been listening out, he thought, as he drew the knife over the steel again. He felt it carefully with his fingertip. It was almost sharp enough now to draw blood, just from this light touch. How wonderful. What a magnificently sharp blade he had, and how good it would feel to use it again.
He had the radio on, because the background noise provided interest, and also because he was listening to what they knew so far.
And the crimes—his crimes—were already causing a sensation in the town, just as he had dreamed they would.
