‘Thanks, have you tried it to see what would happen if you did that again?’
‘I’d be lying if I said no, but it doesn’t work a second time and I’m pretty sure that when they come to top it up, it won’t happen again, so for now it’s yours and my secret.’
She laughed. ‘I guess the amount of everyone’s money it’s swallowed and not given coffee out makes it even.’
‘Exactly, it’s had a fortune off me and not even given me a black coffee, so we’re definitely even now, although don’t go telling Benno on me.’
They walked to a table in the furthest corner and sat down, both of them blowing at the cardboard coffee cups.
‘So, what’s wrong with the formidable Morgan Brookes? This is between us by the way, the same way that my vending machine fraud is.’
She smiled at him. ‘Vending machine fraud is nothing compared to letting a woman die in complete and utter terror.’
He arched an eyebrow at her. ‘How do you take that and blame yourself?’
‘It’s true, we messed up, Al. We took it for granted that Beth Montgomery killed her daughter, Sharon, and then Lydia and Jack, too, before killing herself.’
He nodded. ‘Did Beth confess to the murders?’
‘Well, yes.’
‘Okay, did Beth hit you over the head, tie you up and leave you for dead in a pit in the garage?’
She nodded. ‘Yes.’
‘Okay, then why would you think she was lying? She was clearly psychotic; her behaviour was borderline psychopath. You can’t blame yourself. Obviously you’re going to feel bad because you’re a nice person, but you did not kill the woman in that hotel as far as I know. Some raving lunatic did that. All you can do is focus on who could be responsible, who could have done it and who had ties to all the previous victims. Beth could well have killed her daughter and Jack, Lydia too. Do what you’re so good at, Morgan, review the files, find the killer, close the case and for God’s sake cut yourself some slack.’
‘PSD are going to be all over this.’
He shrugged. ‘So, let them. Nobody can dispute how hard you work, how amazing your success rate at catching killers is. You’re not a robot, you’re a human being and you thought you had the right person. You have done nothing wrong and if PSD come here acting like they’re the shit, send them my way, I’ll get them told.’
Morgan laughed. ‘Thanks, Al, I’ll tell them that you’re the shit and they should talk to you before pointing fingers.’
‘Exactly, maybe just don’t mention the vending machine fraud though, that might tip them over the edge.’ He winked at her. ‘Look, Morgan, you have the most incredible track record of any detective I’ve ever known. It’s going to be okay; you’ll find whoever did this. I mean, what if someone thought this was the perfect excuse to get rid of their girlfriend or pain in the arse friend? It happens and right now for all you know the cases might not even be connected.’
Morgan nodded, he could be right, it could be a copycat but if it was then it had to be someone who had inside knowledge about the case. Why was she so keen to think they had messed up when it could be a jealous boyfriend or friend? ‘Thanks, Al, you’re right.’
He nodded. ‘See, I always am. You should listen to your uncle Al’s advice. I’m older and maybe not wiser but I have been around this block a few times.’
He reached out and squeezed her hand. ‘This place would fall to pieces without you, Morgan, don’t let it make you be the one to fall apart, because they don’t care one bit about you, you are a name and number to the big bosses. That’s it, easily replaced in the blink of an eye, so make yourself the priority.’
She sipped at her latte, then smiled at him. ‘Thanks, Al.’
‘You’re more than welcome.’
He stood up, drained the last of his coffee and threw the cup into the bin. ‘Catch you later, Morgan, don’t overdose yourself on free caffeine.’
Then he was walking away, and she felt her shoulders lift a little. She could do this. Al was right. She needed to cut herself a little slack and believe in herself as much as everyone else did.
ELEVEN
Morgan sent each case file to the printer; she wanted copies to work on at home as well as the ones on the system. Somehow it was easier to read them on paper and not on the screen. She didn’t know where the key was to the filing cabinet where Ben kept all the hard copies of each investigation and hadn’t thought to ask him. She found some old cardboard document files at the back of the stationery cupboard and put the copies of each file into a separate one, working diligently to make sure they were in the right order.
‘Hey.’
Ben’s voice was so close to her ear she could feel it vibrating, and it made her heart skip a beat. She whipped around to face him. ‘You scared the crap out of me, where did you come from?’
He pointed to the lift. ‘I couldn’t have been any louder, you were in a world of your own. Are you okay?’
