‘She’s okay, isn’t she?’ Morgan was trying to ease the feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach.
‘Yeah, she’s probably out of battery and oblivious to the time.’
Her phone began to ring; Cain’s voice was much calmer.
‘She’s okay, sorry. False alarm, she just messaged to say she was with an old friend and the time got away from her. She’s going to be home in a couple of hours. Sorry, guys.’
Morgan gave Ben a thumbs-up, and he breathed out a sigh of relief. ‘I’m so glad, I was so worried something awful had happened to her. What is happening to us all? It’s like we’re all walking on a tightrope that’s fraying at the edges and could snap at any moment.’
‘Sorry for worrying you like that, I should have realised she’s not you and I’ll shut up now. I don’t mean that in a bad way, Morgan. I just meant you have run-ins with sickos all the time and, well, Angela is a retired social worker so she would have no reason to, would she? I’ll see you guys back at the station.’
‘No worries, I’m so glad she’s okay, and I won’t take offence at that because we’re all stressed.’
‘Me too, and phew.’
Cain ended the call, and Morgan blew out a long breath. ‘That was tense.’
‘Welcome to my world, Morgan Brookes. Do you know how scary it is when I can’t find you and know that something awful might have happened?’
‘I’m beginning to, and for what it’s worth I’m sorry, but honestly it’s never actually my fault.’
He laughed. ‘I know, thank God you’re made of tough stuff and Angela is okay. Right, let’s focus, where are we up to with the investigation?’
Morgan couldn’t answer, it was as if she had a head full of cotton candy. Her mind was all fuzzy and unable to concentrate. She focused enough to send Amy a quick message to let her know Angela was okay.
Ben’s phone had connected itself to the car and the loud ringing startled them both. He glanced at Morgan who leaned forward and pressed the green answer button on the console screen.
‘Well, if it isn’t the invisible man himself.’Declan’s voice filled the car.
‘Declan.’
‘Ben, I’ve been trying my hardest to get hold of you.’
‘You have, why?’
‘Are you forgetting our date?’
‘What?’
‘You kindly called me out on my day off a couple of hours ago to come walk a mile through the woods or have you forgotten that already?’
‘It’s been a rough day.’
‘Has it, well, my friend, I hate to break this to you but I’m in work and literally have nobody to play with.’
Ben glanced at Morgan again, as if to sayis he high?
‘Did you get that? I have no body, actually that’s not strictly true. I do have a body, and I thought that you might want to come see me and we could get the post-mortem for Lauren and Lynsey Williams over with, seeing as how I’m here now and there are no other bodies on my list. All because you had to go find another. What do you say? I also can say with some certainty that the knife found in Lauren’s chest cavity is identical to the ones removed from Lydia’s chest and Sharon Montgomery’s. I’ve been looking through the photos in the file. I think that the one inside of Lynsey’s chest which is a bit messy will also be identical to the ones used on her sisters, although it looks in a much poorer condition because of the decomp, but once it’s been hosed clean, I would bet you a hundred quid it’s the same brand of knife. I think our guy favours these knives because they do the job quickly and efficiently, but listen to me rambling on. If you come see me, we can see if my theory is correct.’
‘Yes, I don’t know if I have any CSI available though, I’d have to check. I thought you were doing it first thing in the morning.’
‘Already done, I messaged our fearless leader Wendy, and she said she could attend with Joe if I could track the pair of you down.’
Morgan was smiling to herself; they weren’t getting out of this today.
‘She can, right, okay. On our way, although we will need to clear it with Big— I mean John.’
‘Oh, your new boss. I’ve met him before, you know. He’s a bit brash, isn’t he, but he seemed okay.’
