‘Morgan, Ben, what’s the craic then?’
Morgan glanced at Ben and arched an eyebrow, had he really just said that out loud?
‘Dead security guard was on her own doing the rounds. Got a message to her control room to say there was someone inside before her radio died. Then phoned us because there was a dropped nine nine nine call. Scotty arrived on scene and found her stabbed to death in an empty room upstairs.’
‘Do we have someone in custody? Who was that Scotty was transporting back?’
‘The guy who worked in the office who—’ Ben stopped talking. ‘Have we got a name for the victim?’
Morgan nodded. ‘Lauren Williams, but here’s the thing, Scotty said that Lydia Williams was her sister and they have another sister, too. They were estranged.’
Marc’s expression was blank, the name didn’t mean anything to him, and Morgan felt her toes curl up along with her fingertips that she had to quickly stuff inside of her paper suit pockets. How he managed to grate on her last nerve so effortlessly was beyond her comprehension, she imagined he must be infuriating to live with.
‘The woman who was found dead in a roof tent a couple of months ago.’
Marc’s mouth dropped so wide open she could count the fillings at the back of his mouth.
‘For real?’
‘According to Scotty.’
‘That’s horrific.’
‘I know.’
‘What are we waiting for? Let’s sweep the building, and who is looking for the estranged sister? She could be good for this.’
Morgan wondered how many US cop shows her boss watched in his free time,sweep the building?
Ben answered for her. ‘With all due respect, sir, we have nothing to protect ourselves and it’s a big building to sweep. If he’s still in there, he could attack any one of us.’
Marc glanced inside the entrance. It was dusky now, and the light which had been poor after the storm wasn’t good enough to work their way through the empty building safely without powerful lights.
‘I suppose so.’
Tyres on the gravel announced the arrival of the armed search team, and Morgan was glad to see them. She was hungryand too stressed to go in that building alone with Marc and Ben. If Marc irritated her any further, it might not be the killer he needed to run away from.
The slamming of doors and heavy boots on the path as a team of four cops arrived, all dressed from head to toe in black, with tasers and guns, made Morgan feel a whole lot better. She felt so bad for leaving Lauren up there alone, but this had to be done the right way. If Lauren had still been alive, Morgan would never have left her and protected her at all costs.
A sharp pain stabbed her heart at the grief she felt for the dead woman. Morgan saw herself in someone working as a security guard. She obviously wasn’t scared of putting herself in danger. It could have been Morgan herself who got killed this time. All she had been doing was her job, a job she’d been doing for months, one she could probably do with her eyes closed. How did the killer know she would be here at this time? They had to have been watching either her or the building; she needed to ask Mike, or Lauren’s friends once they interviewed him, if she’d ever mentioned anyone stalking her.
Al’s smiling face was a welcome distraction from Marc; she smiled back at him, and Daisy, who was standing to the side of him, mouthed ‘hi’ at Morgan, and she grinned back at her.
‘What’s the plan?’
Marc spoke before either she or Ben could. ‘Building needs searching. The killer could still be in there.’
‘It’s a big building, is there any indication he’s still inside?’
Marc pointed at Ben. ‘Not really, but the victim was brutally murdered, chased upstairs, throat cut and bled out in one of the guest rooms. Plus, Scotty arrived pretty quickly. Victim hasn’t been dead long, and the hotel is huge?—’
Morgan interrupted. ‘There’s a knife in her chest too, just like the two murders last month.’
Al tilted his head. ‘Didn’t that woman who did those murders kill herself?’
‘Yes.’
‘Copycat?’ he asked.
