Ben held up his hands, palms facing them. ‘Stop it, I think we’re getting ahead of ourselves here. Thanks for that, Cain, very reassuring to consider that theory.’
Cain shrugged. ‘Glad to be of service.’
Morgan looked around the room. ‘Why are we here? We need to get back out there.’
‘We are as soon as possible; we need to just take a moment here, guys, to think about our next steps. The only key witness we have is the caretaker, Amos Watson. He heard Tori scream and went out to search with his dog. Cain, can you check to see if we have any newly released sex offenders in the area, or any that may have moved here? Might as well get that ticked off straight away. There are no neighbours nearby, but someone could have been squatting in the abandoned grounds.’
Cain nodded.
‘Let’s get Watson brought in for a video interview, Ben. If he’s all we have let’s do it officially, and to be honest with you, he is my prime suspect at the moment.’ Marc was pacing up and down putting everyone on edge, and Morgan was desperate to tell him to sit down.
‘Boss, we will do that. Cain and I searched his house and outbuildings in the early hours, we found nothing of interest. Personally, I don’t think he had anything to do with this, but yes, we’ll interview him again here at the station. Morgan, to answer your question I am more concerned that Scarlett is in the water, and I think we need to consider that is a huge possibility, or out there somewhere. If she ran and hid like Tori, then she could be. The dog handler is on their way with the search dogs; Mountain Rescue has their search dogs out, but right now we can’t do a lot until the weather clears enough for it to be safe to have my team out on the side of that fell. Morgan, you already put yourself at risk, let’s not have a repeat of that.’
Marc paused. ‘Did the caretaker say if he had CCTV? Because if he’s fed up of teenagers trespassing wouldn’t he have cameras, I mean you can get those trail cams that are ideal for that kind of terrain?’
‘He never mentioned there were any, we didn’t see any but to be fair we didn’t see an awful lot because of the mist.’
‘Put that down as a priority.’
‘His only neighbour is an elderly woman, but again it’s on the list to check. Morgan, do you want to pay her a visit and see if she has anything to say? She might have heard something. Scarlett’s screams could have carried down the fell to where she is.’
Morgan nodded. ‘Yes, I’ll go there after this. Has anyone spoken to Scarlett’s parents?’
‘Madds sent Amber and her student officer to inform them she’s missing. Obviously Caz is with Dawson’s family. They’re sending an FLO from Barrow to liaise with Scarlett’s family.’
Cain rolled his eyes at Morgan, and she knew exactly what he meant – off all the officers, why did it have to be Amber who had the worst people skills out of anyone she had ever met?
‘Before any of you judge that decision, I need you to be aware that I would have preferred Morgan or Cain to go and deal with such a delicate situation, but you were both otherwise engaged. Plus, I think the news is better coming from a uniformed officer. For now, let’s concentrate on motive as to why this has happened, and also bringing Scarlett home. I’m going with the theory that she is still alive, possibly injured, hypothermic but breathing. When Cassie gets there with the search dogs, I’ll go back out. I guess task force can’t go out and search until the weather permits.’
Morgan’s skin felt as if it was crawling and she shivered; she didn’t think the girl was in the water. They needed to find her and fast, not be here sitting around a table wasting time.
THIRTEEN
Everyone left the blue room except for Morgan; she needed a moment to process everything and a bit of space if she was honest. The urge to dive headfirst and go straight back out to help search was like a burning torch inside of her chest, but she knew Ben would have said no. That was why he was sending her to speak to the neighbour. It meant she was in the area, though, which was good. As soon as she’d spoken to her, she would be straight back out searching, whether Ben wanted her to or not.
She was looking at the area on Google Maps when her phone began to vibrate; she smiled at the picture of her aunt Ettie that filled her screen.
‘Hey, how are you, Ettie?’
‘Morgan, darling, I’m good. More importantly, how are you? I woke up and had this awful fizzing sensation in my chest as if I was underwater, and the only person I know who would get into that situation is…’
‘Me.’ Morgan laughed but it was gentle. ‘I got into a bit of bother earlier searching the grounds of the old summer camp up at Buttermere fell.’
‘Tsk, I knew it. What kind of bother?’
Morgan didn’t really want to tell her aunt the details, it was too horrific, but she knew stuff anyway and would find out on the news soon enough.
‘I went into the lake to pull a body out.’
‘Dear God, and you almost drowned?’
‘Maybe. It’s a bit of a blur. A colleague dragged me out before I did, so I’m good.’
There was a slight pause.
‘Morgan, I love you dearly, but you literally have a walking death wish. You need to deal with it and maybe start putting yourself first before others. And before you argue with your old aunt, I know you are the most selfless person in the world, but you have people that love you more than anything and would be devastated by the Morgan-shaped hole that would be left behind if one of these days you weren’t lucky enough to have a colleague willing to wade into an icy-cold lake to help you out.’
Ettie was right and Morgan knew this. ‘I know, I’m sorry. I promise to try to do better.’
