‘Try?’
This time she did laugh. ‘Yes, I will try my best not to do stupid stuff.’
‘Well then, I suppose that’s as good as I’m going to get, thank you, I appreciate that. Now why were you up there? You know it’s a bad place right? It’s shrouded in darkness and misery, not to mention haunted.’
Morgan had been slumped in the chair and she sat up straight. ‘For real?’
‘For real, I wouldn’t joke about anything so serious. I don’t know why Amos hasn’t razed those buildings to the ground and had it blessed. I think the guy likes living in all those shadows of the past. I suppose it keeps people away.’
‘You know the caretaker?’
‘I have known Amos for years, I went to school with his mum. She was a good woman; she hated the place, but for some reason the Watson family are tied to it and have been for generations. Talk about generational curses, that land is one hundred per cent cursed. There are tales of a tall, thin, grey man who only appears when the fell is covered in thick fog.’
‘Whoa, that’s a lot.’
‘Do some research, Morgan, it will keep you out of trouble for a little while and inside where I know you’re safe.’
‘Can’t you just tell me, please.’
‘I’ve told you what I know to a certain degree, it’s been years since I’ve thought about it. I can’t remember it now.’
Morgan scrunched her eyebrows together, her aunt was being coy with her and more than a little sneaky, but she wasn’t mad with her. She cared about Morgan and she understood her reluctance to tell her what she needed to know even if it would be better for the investigation and save her time.
‘I suppose if you happened to pay me a long overdue visit, I could maybe remember a little better over tea and cake.’
‘Ettie!’
‘Just saying. Anyway, how did the body get into the water? I suppose the poor soul got lost in the mist and fell in.’
‘It’s looking like a murder case, but this is between you and me.’
‘Murder?! Who was out on that fell last night in that weather? Tell me you haven’t arrested Amos. I would be genuinely shocked if he did something like that. The guy has his problems, but murder? I can’t see him stooping to that.’
‘He isn’t a suspect at the minute, but he literally is the only person who we are aware of that was in the area when it happened, so time will tell. It depends on the evidence we have.’
It hit Morgan, what if Scarlett did it? That could explain why she’s missing. Tori said Scarlett was with Dawson and she wasbehind them. She heard Scarlett screaming so she ran, but what if Scarlett was doing that to cover her tracks and then ran away? Morgan stood up. ‘Got to go, sorry Ettie. I’ll see if I can get to you, hopefully sometime today, if not tomorrow for sure. I love you.’
‘I love you more, Morgan, remember what I said. You’re too precious to put yourself in danger.’
Ettie ended the call and Morgan felt a warm rush of love for her aunt, her sneaky, clever, wonderful aunt, and hurried out of the blue room to go and find Ben.
FOURTEEN
Ben had already left. The office was empty. The lingering smell of lemon furniture polish combined with Cain’s aftershave were the only things left to suggest anyone had ever been there. Morgan grabbed the last set of keys off the whiteboard and hurried outside to the car park, hoping to catch Ben but he was long gone. She rang him.
‘Morgan.’
‘Where did you go so fast?’
‘On our way to the scene.’
‘Without me? You could have dropped me off at the neighbours.’
‘Sorry, not thinking straight. I’m tired and my head is a shed. Should I get Cain to turn around and come back for you?’
‘It’s okay, I’m good. Listen, I had a thought.’
Cain groaned loudly, and she realised she was on loudspeaker.
