Jack strode out, leaving May to scroll through the phone.
She couldn't help thinking how strange it was that this phone had been innocently used by a teenager who had no idea of her fate. Most probably, she'd been texting on her way through the woods, unaware of what was waiting ahead.
She knew from experience that Kyle, being a secret boyfriend, might be saved under a totally different name. But it seemed that Savannah had not found it necessary to do that. She hadn't been that devious.
There he was, in her contacts.
Kyle, saved with a heart at the end of his name.
"I got it," May said.
Now to see what they had been speaking about.
As she opened the folder, May felt very strange to be looking at the private messages between them after such a terrible crime had occurred.
But this was the job.
Reading from the last message backward, May caught her breath.
Coming in at the end of the conversation, she saw at once that the most recent exchanges were aggressive.
Kyle sounded furious.
"I'm going to get you back for this," he wrote. "You're going to regret messing with me."
May stared at the words, feeling a chill.
'Messing with me?' What did that mean? And what had Savannah done to make him so mad?
May scrolled back, eager to learn more, feeling something dark beginning to unfurl inside her.
"I'm really angry with you," Kyle had written earlier. "I want you to know how much you've hurt me. I want you to think about that, and how it feels, how much you've messed up my life."
May shook her head. This was sounding more and more incriminating.
And there, finally, was the text from Savannah that had triggered these aggressive outbursts.
"It's not working out between us, sorry Kyle, but I don't want to see you anymore. Hope you understand."
May's eyes widened. Savannah had ended the relationship two days before she’d disappeared. This timeframe was highly significant.
"Okay," she told Owen. "He was seriously pissed at her because she broke up with him two days ago before she was reported missing"
Owen gasped. "You think he took revenge?"
"He said she was going to regret messing with him." May felt sick inside at the thought. "I'm scrolling back further. She saved the whole conversation. I want to see if he mentioned his home address to her."
Her hand was shaking as she scrolled back through the conversation, speed-reading as she went.
"Yes. He did tell her where he lived."
“Want to come to my place? My mom's out. It's 16 Willow Avenue."
Savannah had replied. "I don't have a car, sorry. And that's miles away. Can you come here instead?"
Craning over her shoulder, Owen was already busy on his maps app.
"Willow Avenue, miles away from Snyder. I think I've found it, May. There's only one street it could be, and it's in the neighboring town, Maple Vale."
They stared at each other excitedly.
Finally, they had a lead to a person with a real, angrily stated motive for wanting to do Savannah harm.
"Let's go talk to this guy, right now," May said.
They stood up and raced for the car.