He waved at him and turned, pulling the dog away from the tree which it had now peed all over at least three times. He wondered how much the old man knew about him, probably nothing, but if he was lonely and only had that yappy dog for company, he might make it his business to keep an eye on everyone and that was the last thing he needed.
He didn’t need some nosey neighbour watching his every move.
SIX
Al was watching from the door as she walked slowly towards Lauren’s body. Morgan couldn’t tear her eyes away from the knife that was sticking out of her chest. When she crouched down to check her pockets she whispered, ‘I’m so sorry, Lauren, please forgive me, I think I let a killer walk free and you have paid for that mistake with your life. I will never get over this.’ Morgan had to blink rapidly to clear away the tears that were pooling in the corners of her eyes. To say she was horrified was the understatement of the year. Lydia Williams had been found with almost identical injuries and a knife protruding from her chest.
The woman’s eyes were glazed, staring towards the doorway, forever frozen in horror. Morgan couldn’t help but notice how blue they were. She had such pretty eyes that were never going to crinkle with laughter ever again. The body was cooling now, and when Morgan reached out her gloved fingers to feel inside of a pocket for the keys, she flinched at how stiff Lydia’s hips were. She was wearing tactical pants with lots of pockets, similar to what Morgan used to wear when she was a response officer. Morgan began to pat the pockets; much to her relief she felt them jingle in the large pocket on the side of Lydia’s leg. Rippingthe Velcro open, she reached inside and tugged the metal key ring out and waved them at Al.
‘Bingo,’ he replied.
She stood up and noticed the door that wasn’t quite shut. Handing the keys to Al she walked towards it. She had assumed it was the bathroom door. Gripping the wood and not touching the handle, she tugged it open.
‘She ran to hide in here, but I bet she didn’t know about this adjoining door.’ She spoke aloud. ‘I bet the killer came in this way.’ She looked down at Lauren. ‘Because her body is so near to that door and the position it’s in, she would have tried to move away from it if he came through that one. Surely, she would have run, but if he crept up on her…’ This time it was a full body shiver that rushed through her, a coldness inside of her at the absolute horror that Lauren must have felt when she realised her killer was standing behind her. Morgan had to stifle the sob that rose like a trapped air bubble needing to escape her lungs so she could breathe again.
‘Horrific, poor woman.’ Al’s voice was much quieter than his usual boisterous happy one. ‘Do you want to go wait downstairs, Morgan, whilst we search?’
She shook her head. ‘It’s okay, I’ll hang on here. Declan should be coming soon.’
Marc had got distracted and hadn’t even made it upstairs, and he finally appeared at the door and sucked in his breath. ‘Oh, wow. That’s awful. The position of the knife is familiar.’
‘Yes, it is. Both Sharon Montgomery and Lydia Williams were found with knives protruding from their chests just like that.’
He was nodding. ‘Is it common?’
Morgan tried not to snap at him, she really did. ‘Is what common? Women getting killed by knife-wielding psychopaths?Or the fact that we now have three murders all with the same MO?’
‘Steady on, it’s just a simple question.’
‘Boss, I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you I wasn’t more than a little bit concerned that we either have a copycat or…’
‘Or?’
‘Or Beth Montgomery had an accomplice. Maybe even her husband, Stefan. We need to find out where he is and what he’s been doing.’
Marc nodded. ‘Good point. Christ. Leave it with me, I’ll take Amber now and go see if he’s home.’
Morgan thought,well at least that’s got rid of those two for a bit. There was a chair in the corner of the room, a little dusty and it hadn’t been used for a long time, but Morgan dragged it as close to Lauren as she could and sat next to her. If the killer was still inside this building, she wasn’t leaving her on her own to face him again.
SEVEN
An hour later, the decaying twenty-three-bedroom building had been searched from dusty attic to damp cellars and given the all-clear. Nobody was hiding inside and no forensics connected to the crime were found in any of the other rooms. Everything had happened in the entrance, on the main staircase which filled the middle of the reception area and those two rooms upstairs. Ben found Morgan sitting on the chair next to Lauren, her elbows resting on her ripped jeans and her head in her hands. She saw the sadness in his eyes as he looked at her, then Lauren, where his gaze lingered. He paused as if trying to find the right words.
‘We’re good to go. Wendy is going to finish off now, the crime scene manager is on his way to assist her. Declan should also be here soon; he and Theo were out walking so he’s had to go back to get his car. By the way, how did you get rid of Marc so efficiently? He mumbled something about Stefan Montgomery and dragged Amber to go visit him.’
‘I told him the knife in the chest was too similar to how we found Sharon’s and Lydia’s bodies, that maybe Beth Montgomery had an accomplice. I am one hundred per cent sure we never released cause of death to the media.’
‘You’re right, we didn’t. I just checked all the press releases whilst the search team were doing their thing. We certainly never said the knife was left inside the body. So, I’m afraid to say we have a major problem. Is the killer still free?’
Morgan wanted to say no, they hadn’t missed the killer, but that all-too-familiar feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach wouldn’t let her say it just to make her feel better. Not when she knew they had gone with the easy option and accepted Beth’s psychosis or whatever the professionals would call it. The woman was clearly having some kind of mental health problems, but there had been too many coincidences that they had willingly swept under the carpet to say the job was done, the suspect was dead, and the cases were closed.
‘Yes, it looks like we did, boss, and now I don’t know if I’m going to be able to live with myself for fucking up.’
Ben’s eyes widened. ‘You didn’t. If anything, it’s my fault, I should have picked up on it. I guess it was just too convenient to have a confession from a killer seconds before they killed themselves. Christ, why is everything so bloody complicated? I’m tired of this, tired of people wanting to hurt innocent victims for their own sick pleasure. When is this ever going to stop?’
She couldn’t answer because it was far too complicated, and she felt the same way. ‘Should I go back to the office and get out the files for Lydia, Sharon and Beth?’
Ben flicked his wrist to look at his watch and nodded. ‘You’re okay with that?’
