"I decided — well, that's it then. I got mad. I deleted all our history. All our pictures. I decided to make a fresh start."
"And how did you know she'd died?"
"A friend called me and told me. This is a small town, word travels fast. I was devastated, but at the same time, I also felt very guilty. Guilty that if we'd been dating, maybe I would have been out walking with her and this would never have happened."
May was beginning to understand that the moment of rage might have been triggered more by guilt and despair over what had happened, than by the fact that he was a killer who had been found out.
"Did you know Jenna Brand at all?" May asked, again watching him closely as she mentioned the most recent victim.
He nodded. "Yes, of course I know Jenna. The Brands have a fruit farm, but they also keep chickens, and we slaughter some for them every so often."
Surprised, May realized that Tim didn’t seem to know that Jenna had died. She didn’t think he was a good enough actor to have pretended everything was alright. It was time to see what his reaction was to the news.
"Are you aware that she was murdered yesterday, probably in the early evening?"
"What?" he said, seemingly aghast. He paled, staring at her incredulously. "Are you serious?"
"I'm afraid so," May said.
He shook his head. "I didn't know that." His voice was shaking. "That's, like, terrible. And impossible. I mean, what's going on here? Who's killing people this way?"
He seemed genuinely shocked, May surmised. But the deciding factor would be the alibi.
"Where were you yesterday afternoon?"
"I was at work. I worked until five p.m. here. Then when I clocked out, I did a delivery to a few different stores. I went to the general store in Chestnut Hill, and to two local home businesses in Fairshore. Then I delivered to three restaurants in Pine Hills, Woodside, and Lakeview. I had to do all that by seven p.m. and then brought the refrigerated truck back to the premises, and went to join my friends at the bar in town. I think I got there about quarter past seven."
"And on Tuesday? Your movements during the day?" May wanted to account for his time during the windows of opportunity for both murders.
"On Tuesday, I was at work all day. I clocked in at seven-thirty a.m. and clocked out at four. It was an early day for me," he said.
“Can you provide any further proof to confirm your movements?”
“The delivery vehicle has a tracking system and a dashcam, if that will help you? And I messaged my boss along the way a few times.”
May nodded. She decided she would ask one of her team to double check this information, but for now, she felt satisfied that this man was not their killer. But even so, he had been a common thread between the two victims, and there might be others, especially in such a tight-knit community.
She decided her next step was to pursue that angle. What, or who, did these women have in common? She needed to find out, by looking into Jenna's background more closely.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Jenna Brand had lived in a small cottage on the outskirts of town, and it was here that May drove next, with Owen beside her.
From the quick research that Owen had done as May navigated along the route, it seemed that Jenna had no immediate family in town, and didn't seem to have many close relatives at all. Owen could only find an uncle in Pennsylvania.
May hoped that the neighbors in this small town might know more.
She reached the cottage at lunch time. A small kindergarten school down the road was just closing for the day, with parents arriving — a few by car, and a few more on foot — to fetch the kids.
Jenna's cottage was three doors down from the school. The home was neat and pretty, with a white picket fence outside and colorful summer flowers in small pots on either side of the steps that led up to the front door.
There were similar cottages to the left and right. Looking around to see who was home, May saw a woman, who looked to be retired, weeding her flower bed in the home to the right.
"I'll speak to her," May said.
"I'll go and see if anyone's in on the other side," Owen said.
May walked over to the gray-haired woman. "Good afternoon," she said.