She got on the radio. "Owen, I'm nearly there. I'm going to try his phone again."
"The police are ten minutes away now. I’ve been in touch with them. They had to leave a crime scene and were delayed," Owen said, his voice tense. They both knew the stakes. “I also called the university in case he was there. They said he left fifteen minutes ago to head home.”
As she drove, with her heart in her mouth, the minutes seemed like hours. And the miles felt as excruciating as if she was walking barefoot over miles of broken glass. She spotted another side street that her map told her might work and sped down that too. Now, she was two miles away. Only two miles, but it felt like a lifetime. It felt like she was already too late.
May hit redial. Again, it rang and went through to voicemail. Her nerves seemed as if they were as taut as steel cables.
"Damn it," she yelled out loud as she braked hard and turned into the main road that led to the suburb where Ron lived. She was within a mile of her destination. And she couldn't get through to him. Had he already been attacked?
May picked up the phone and tried the number again. And, to her utter relief, this time it rang.
He picked up. May was hyperventilating, but she heard the deep, resonant man's voice clearly.
"Shepstone here?"
"It's police! Where are you?"
"I'm just heading into my house," he said, sounding surprised.
"No!" May practically screamed out the word. "Do not get out of your car! You're in danger! Please, leave!" She was now driving wildly to get there, faster. She was speeding, desperately trying to get there before the killer struck. But she didn't know if it would be fast enough.
"What?" he sounded astonished. "What's this about? Is it a hoax? Why must I leave?"
"Because there may be an attacker waiting! Please, do not drive into your garage!"
"You're breaking up. I can't hear you. Can you repeat that? Let me get out of the car. Signal’s terrible in the garage."
“Don’t do that!” May shouted, but he obviously couldn’t hear her.
And then, her worst nightmare. She heard his voice again.
"No!" he cried, his voice taut with fear.
Then the line went dead.
CHAPTER THIRTY
May hurtled down the road, racing to Ron Shepstone’s house. She had a sick, cold feeling in her stomach that had lodged there the moment she'd heard that terrible word, "No".
She dreaded what she would see. This killer didn't waste time. May had to block out gruesome images of Ron, shouting out that word as the killer maced him squarely in the face. She could not bring herself to think about how this scene might have played out and its fatal, bloody conclusion.
Ron’s house was a gracious place that looked like a miniature country home, with a spacious lawn and a well-tended rose garden. Woods lined the back fence, a dark backdrop to the pale, attractive building. The gate was open, and May floored the accelerator and sped up the driveway.
She pulled up in front of the garage and threw herself out of the car, pulling her gun from its holster.
The garage door was also wide open, and she felt her head start to split right open from the stress as she saw that. Inside, parked at an angle, she saw the car.
May didn't want to look as she rushed forward. She knew what she would find. She'd find a dead body, and the acrid, burning tang of pepper spray still hanging in the air.
But she stopped, gasping in a breath of shock. There was no body in the garage. It was empty.
The car door was open. So, he'd fled into the house then.
She rushed through the side door and then hesitated, trying to control her breathing because now, above all, she needed to listen and to hear. Were they struggling? If so, where?
There! There was a loud banging noise coming from the hallway.
May raced down the corridor, heading for the direction of the noise. And there, she saw a sight that chilled her blood.
