"I have meetings with the mayor and the state governor today. I couldn't call them off," Jack explained. "I wouldn't have canceled those to prioritize any other case, and I can't do it for this. But the one thing I can do is to hand this case over to my best investigators."
May nodded somberly. She knew how much rested on her and Owen's shoulders.
Sheriff Jack's son-in-law? This was unthinkable. And yes, she felt chilled by how easily this killer could have struck the wife, instead of the husband.
"We'll head to the scene right now," May said.
Sheriff Jack handed her the folder that contained the details so far. May could feel how thin that folder was. There was probably nothing in it apart from the very first report calling in the crime. She hoped they would find more information on the scene. This needed solving, and fast.
They rushed out of the station and climbed into May's car. She drove, and meanwhile, Owen opened the folder and read the initial report aloud.
"Mrs. Blair got back home early this morning. She saw the garage door open and was worried that there had been a burglary. She walked in and immediately saw her husband, lying just inside the kitchen. He had been stabbed multiple times in the back. She called police immediately and went around to the neighbor's house, not wanting to stay there alone."
May shivered. The baldness of this factual report didn't give an indication of the horror she knew Molly must have felt. There were so many questions. She hoped that when they arrived at the scene, there would be some answers.
"I can't believe this has happened," Owen said, sounding shaken. “You know, this has to be every police officer’s worst nightmare, when crime hits home and becomes personal.”
“I agree,” May said somberly.
“I often tell myself that some of the crimes we have to cope with in our policing are only possible to cope with because we are a step removed and we aren’t personally involved,” Owen shared. “It was always something that worried me when I switched to policing from the accounting world. Would I be able to handle a crime investigation if it involved someone close to me?”
May felt impressed that Owen had had that insight when he’d taken the leap from a corporate environment and changed careers so that he could make a difference in his community. She knew from bitter experience, thanks to Lauren, how devastating crime could be when it hit close to home.
“I feel like this has punched me in the gut, too, but we have to be strong for Sheriff Jack,” she resolved.
“That, we have to be. He’s like family to me,” Owen emphasized.
May nodded. In this tight knit policing community, it felt like someone had murdered one of her own family, and May was determined to bring them to justice.
She turned off the main road and drove up the hill, into the pretty and peaceful town where Ed and Molly had lived. It was a simple, two-story home, with a wooden garage door that stood open, and a front yard that looked a couple of weeks overdue for a mowing.
She could see a few vehicles parked outside the house. The coroner’s van was among them. Andy Baker, the county coroner, would be doing his work, probing the corpse and the scene for clues, and May felt a flash of relief that this expert was already there.
She parked outside.
May and Owen got out of the car and rushed over to the house. May felt her heart pounding with the need to get there, to find answers, and to do whatever she could to help.
They stopped to greet the police officer who was standing at the door, and who would have the latest information on the scene.
"May, Owen," the burly man said. "Glad you're here. Andy has already picked up something that might be important. He wants to show you what he found."
May exchanged an expectant glance with Owen, pulling on her gloves and foot covers at top speed before heading into the home.
CHAPTER THREE
From the time she stepped inside the house, May felt as if her senses were on full alert. This was where Sheriff Jack's son-in-law had been murdered. This tragedy would scar the family forever, May knew. It was the least she could do to find answers and catch the killer. She had to be quick too. And thorough. She had to do everything possible.
This was the Blair's home. The home that had been violated by a stranger. How could Molly ever live here peacefully again after such a terrible thing had happened? May fought down these over-emotional thoughts, realizing how difficult it was when a case became personal.
She walked in through the open garage door, seeing the side door beyond it that led into the house. This was where Ed would have walked. What did he see? she wondered. What had he sensed as he had walked through? Had he instinctively picked up on anything out of place?
There didn't seem to be anything unusual in the kitchen. It showed no sign of a struggle. The black, granite counters were tidy, and the floor was not scuffed or smeared. The kitchen, May saw, looked out onto Eagle Lake, a view that always made her shiver, because the shores of this lake were where Lauren had gone missing.
The forensic investigation team was already busy. One man was dusting for fingerprints, another was photographing the scene. The body was lying just inside the kitchen door, as the crime scene report had stated.
May nodded to each of them in turn. They were all experienced investigators. May had worked with them before and was fully confident that they would take care of all the details that May and Owen couldn't.
May stepped over to Andy. Now, May hoped, she'd learn what this surprising information was. She hoped it would give them a lead.
