CHAPTER FOUR
May couldn't help feeling relieved as she and Owen left the building and headed for her car. Being in the FBI meeting, and around a high-powered top management executive of the FBI, had kept her on the edge of her nerves, convinced she would say or do the wrong thing.
And this was no small matter. This was a massive disaster, something that had now attracted the attention of the FBI across the country.
And she, May, was playing a small part in solving it. Well, hopefully.
"I hope we can get results," Owen said as they drove out. May felt glad he was thinking along the same lines as her. As they so often did.
Things between them felt more relaxed now than they had a few weeks ago.
When Owen had asked her if they could date - and in his nervousness, hadn't gotten the message out in a way she could properly understand - it had been one of the most mortifying experiences of May's life.
For a while she had considered the possibility of accepting his offer and going on a date. And there were many advantages to it. Owen was cute, he was smart, he was great company.
But they were work colleagues. Doing that would change the landscape between them, and it would complicate things in a way she wasn't sure would be good. And it was a small town. In a small town, there was nowhere to hide. If things went wrong, it would be disastrous at worst, awkward at best. It might ruin what they had, and she valued that easy friendship more than almost anything.
So she'd decided against it.
She'd told Owen her decision, and he'd taken it well. She thought he was also relieved, in a way. He'd also agreed - it's a small town, and that makes things complicated.
Briefly, her thoughts flitted back to that threatening message she'd received.
Someone in this small town knew what she was up to. Someone wanted to stop her from pursuing Lauren's case. But who?
"Where are we headed?" May asked, getting her mind back to work again.
Quickly, Owen opened his laptop and scrolled through the information that had just come through, sent from a very imposing and highly secure FBI email address.
"We're driving outside Tamarack County. It will probably take us another half-hour," Owen said. "We're heading in the direction of a town called Springfield. That’s where Sheila lived with her husband, Gary Craig. So he's the man we're going to see."
"He must be devastated," May said.
Owen nodded somberly. "It happened just a week ago. So I'm sure he must feel like it's the end of the world."
May couldn't imagine what it must have felt like for him when such a shocking thing had happened, and to know that he'd dialed the number that killed her? That was soul destroying.
She was not looking forward to the interview, but she hoped that the days that had elapsed since the bomb blast might, at least, have allowed Gary Craig to remember some details that had escaped his mind at the time.
*
Half an hour later, May and Owen arrived outside the large, gracious home a few miles from the center of the wealthy and prosperous town of Springfield. It was in a countryside setting, with a golf club down the road and an equestrian club opposite.
The house was large, with a gray pitched roof and a circular driveway with a fountain in the center.
May was feeling terrible about having to do this, and as if it would be opening old wounds. She'd had a lot of time to think about it on the drive. This would be a man who was grieving and distraught. He was likely to be a mess, and would not be interested in reliving the night of his wife's murder.
May sighed. This was not going to be easy, but she needed to keep a positive attitude and look for any small details that might help. As she’d thought previously, sometimes those things were only remembered down the line, after such a traumatic event.
She and Owen stepped out of the car and approached the grand front door.
May rang the bell, and waited. In a few moments, the door was answered by a housemaid wearing a smart blue and white uniform.
"Can I help you?" she asked, giving them a worried glance.
"Is Mr. Craig here?" May asked. "We're from the sheriff's office, following up on the case."
The housemaid nodded, looking distraught.