Never Tell (May Moore Suspense Thriller 2)

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

Inside the second warehouse was chaos. Instantly, the shouts and clangs grew louder. Glass was smashed on the floor and the sharp reek of spirits cut the air. Boxes lay on their sides. Barrels were upended. Cans were everywhere.

She had entered between two rows of shelves. But the main part of the warehouse was huge and this was where the bulk of the noise seemed to be coming from.

May rushed through. The noise definitely seemed to be coming from the back. It sounded like there was a fight going on.

One of the shelves had totally collapsed. Boxes were strewn in her path. As she carefully stepped over the spilled alcohol, May wondered what was happening.

She hurried forward, following the loud yelling she could hear.

The floor in this area was a pool of wine. Fragments of glass slipped and crunched under her boots. May drew her gun as she walked. She did not want to be overpowered by the killer, who she was certain must be here.

But, even though she could hear shouting, she couldn’t see anyone, she realized. Where was the noise and banging coming from?

In front of her, a row of shelves had been pulled down, leading to the collapse of the other shelving. A couple were jammed together, blocking the path.

Quickly, she detoured around, seeing that she was almost at the end of the shelves. Beyond was a row of neatly parked trucks.

The banging and crashing were coming from the truck in the center. With her heart pounding in time with the metallic thumps, May tiptoed forward. It wasn’t a fight, she realized. She’d been wrong about what she’d heard. Instead, someone was locked in the back. A man, from the shouts and screams.

“Help! Help me!” he was yelling.

May looked around cautiously. She couldn’t see anyone else around. She paced toward the truck, making sure to watch her back.

“Who’s there?” she called in a low voice, tapping on the van’s steel back door.

There was silence.

Then a breathless, terrified voice answered.

“Lewis. I’m Lewis Brooks. And I fled here when some demented murderer tried to kill me in my office. Some crazed person wearing a big Joker mask attacked me.”

“Is that so?”

May looked around, her hands feeling cold. Where was this Joker killer now?

From inside the truck, Lewis continued. “I was hit over the head. I almost passed out, but I managed to run. Then this person chased me. We ran through the warehouse and things got completely out of hand. They cut off my escape route so I took cover in here. I’ve locked myself in but I can’t get out. It only opens from the outside. And I dropped my phone somewhere. I have no idea where it is!” He paused. “Who are you, anyway?”

“I’m going to get you out!” she explained, as she heard the heavy thudding of boots against the door. She had so much to do! She desperately needed to get this key witness into custody. And then she would have to rush straight back here and resume her hunt for the killer.

She tried the handle, but it didn’t open.

Looking more closely, May saw it would need a key to be unlocked. That meant she now had to find the key, urgently.

“You’re a brave woman. A very brave woman,” Lewis replied.

May wasn’t going to answer that. Not right now. Not when Lewis was headed straight for jail.

Despite the dangers that still loomed, her key witness was at least inside the truck. May felt a thread of relief that she had him at last. Let the FBI and other officers do their part in the raids and arrests. But she didn’t need to wait for that. She had found her man.

For now, though, May had to figure out how to get him out. Once she had the key in her possession, she could unlock the back of the truck, draw her gun, make the arrest, and handcuff him. She could then march him to her vehicle, lock him in the back with his handcuffs secured, and she knew that she would be able to get him to the police department without any risk of having him escape along the way.

But finding the keys was a critical part of the operation.

She stepped away from the truck and looked around. Where would they be?

May took another look around, this time feeling panicked. She knew she had to work fast, because she had no idea where the killer had gone. With Lewis locked away and making such a terrible noise there was a chance that the killer had panicked and fled, but May acknowledged that this killer seemed to be an ice-cool operator. He or she had probably gone to look for more equipment to use against Lewis, seeing he had put up such a fight.

Or maybe the killer was looking for the keys, just like she was.

There were two large warehouses to be searched and limited time left to do it in.

Would the keys be kept in an office? Was there such a thing here?

May looked around. She didn’t see anything nearby. No convenient shelf or ring or room where they could be stored. She walked toward the wall of the main warehouse, at one side of the rows of cars and trucks. If the keys were kept anywhere, surely it would be nearby?

There was a small office and when she looked inside, she saw no keys, only a laptop open on the desk. That must be where Lewis had been working. May felt sure they would need that laptop. It might be a treasure trove of information. She unplugged it and took it out to her car, checking around her carefully before locking it away in her trunk.

There was still nobody around. Was anyone watching her? Feeling spooked, May returned to the warehouse and continued looking for the keys.

In front of her, the shelving was stacked with boxes. To the left, she saw an open area with a couple of loose crates, but not much else. May decided to look in the crates.

As she reached them, she heard a noise from behind her. She spun around, looking into the shadows made by the high, stacked shelves. Her heart was hammering.

Nothing there.

And no sign of any office or key storage.