Ben blinked rapidly to clear the tears pooling in the corner of his eyes. Declan’s gentle manner with all his patients got him every time.
‘She’s been here some time.’
‘Yes, her last post on social media was around eight weeks ago.’
‘What about Lydia, did Lynsey know her sister was murdered?’
‘Yes, she did according to Lancs police who gave her the death message. From what we know, the three sisters were estranged from each other. Though, as far as I can gather it didn’t stop Lynsey from coming here to do her vlog. She couldn’t have felt threatened or worried because if she had, surely, she wouldn’t have come somewhere so remote, alone.’
‘Was Lynsey reported missing by anyone?’
‘Unfortunately not, from what I can gather. She and Lauren weren’t on speaking terms.’
‘So sad, it’s tragic, isn’t it? An entire family wiped out by some sick—’ Declan stopped talking and began to open his case.
Ben knew the procedure as well as he did; in fact he could probably have done it without Declan’s help. Instead, he watched in silence as Declan busied himself taking samples and securely bagging Lynsey’s hands to make sure no trace evidence was lost when they moved her body. When he eventually stood up his knees cracked, and he let out a small groan.
‘I can honestly say I will never, ever consider going camping for the rest of my life after seeing these horrific murders.’
‘No, me either. There is no appeal to it whatsoever after working these cases, although to be fair there wasn’t much appeal to begin with. I’m too old to be sleeping on a hard floor in a draughty tent.’
Wendy shook her head. ‘Where’s your sense of adventure?’
‘Would you go camping after working these crime scenes, Wendy?’
Declan was being serious, and the corners of Ben’s mouth turned up a little.
She nodded. ‘I think so, but not on my own like they did. I’m not that brave to solo camp, but I’d stay on a busy campsite if it was warm enough.’
‘You would? But Lydia Williams was on a campsite and was still murdered,’ Ben said.
‘It was hardly busy though; there was only her and another couple.’
Fin Palmer’s smug face filled Ben’s mind. He disliked the guy with a passion for what he’d done to Morgan. Yet, he’d tried to help her so he had to cut him a little slack, but if he’d thrown her to the wolves again Ben wouldn’t be standing here now. Hewould have been suspended for ripping Fin Palmer’s smug head off his shoulders.
It seemed everyone had expected him to propose to Morgan in New York, and he hadn’t, and it crushed him to think that maybe Morgan had been hoping for that too and he’d let her down. He was too embarrassed to tell them he had been scared she’d say no because he didn’t know what he’d do if she turned him down. What they didn’t know was that he would marry her tomorrow if she asked him. He wasn’t scared of being married. He was terrified of chasing Morgan away and forcing her to commit to their relationship when she might not want to. Maybe it was time to have that conversation with Morgan. It was between the pair of them regardless of what anyone else thought. He’d rather propose to her in front of The Witch House in Salem anyway, as she was completely obsessed with it and had pictures of it as her phone and laptop screensavers. He couldn’t wait to see her standing outside of it in all of her Goth heaven. She was going to be so happy to finally get to see the places she talked about all the time, and at least he was helping her make those dreams a reality.
‘Earth to Ben.’ Declan’s voice broke the trance he was in.
‘What?’
‘Just checking you’re still with us, mate, you kind of drifted off there for a moment.’
Ben shrugged. ‘Thinking.’
‘Dangerous thing that, if you do too much. You can move the body when you’re ready, I’ve taken what samples I can.’
Ben looked at him. ‘Same killer, same knife, same MO?’
‘Ah, you know I can’t say that on a professional level without conducting the post-mortem first, but on a personal level, from my observations between the pair of us, almost certainly the same, but don’t quote me on that. That knife looks of a very similar size to the one used on Lydia, and Lauren, and alsoSharon Montgomery; it’s in an almost identical position. I would say whoever used it had to have the same strength. Can you see how far the blade has gone in, up to the hilt of the knife. That would take some force because of the chest plate; obviously, until it’s removed I can’t say much more, but between the pair of us and because I know how urgent this is, I would think that it’s the same killer.’
He nodded at Ben. ‘Call me when you have a free minute to arrange a little get-together, supper at ours, Theo is lonely.’
‘I will.’
‘Obviously I’ve had to postpone Lauren’s PM, but I’m thinking that if we can get together once the body has been moved, I’ll do them back to back. It will be interesting to compare the injuries.’
Declan picked up his case and began to walk back through the overgrowth, following the tiny path he’d walked down to get to the scene.
