Page 16 of Her Lips Are Sealed

‘Should I be worried you might kill me in my sleep?’ He winked at her.

‘Only if you get on my last nerve, boss.’ Morgan thought for a moment. ‘I know her responses were strange, but they seemed natural. We’ve had odder reactions to people being told their family member has been murdered. Plus it’s interesting that Dan, her upstairs neighbour, would likely be able to get hold of a key to her flat. He never mentioned that his dad owned the building.’

He laughed. ‘True, we need to look into Dan’s background a little deeper. Well, ball’s in our court, where next?’

‘Get Dan to do the official ID, or can we go off the one from the cleaner? I mean he already said it was Rachel and we know that her sister Rena is alive and well.’

‘I wouldn’t say she was well, Morgan, but she’s definitely alive.’

‘Ben.’ She elbowed him in the ribs.

‘Let’s do it by the book, get this Dan to do it and then I can see what I think of him.’

‘Have they even moved her body yet?’

‘Christ, no. Come on, let’s go take one last look and see if Wendy is happy for her to be moved. What a shame, this one is tough, different, isn’t it?’

‘They’re all tough.’

‘Yes, you’re right they are but the fact that she was undressed, it’s not right.’

‘We didn’t figure out what she was wearing. I doubt she was walking around like that and she wouldn’t answer the door in her underwear, would she? We need to take another look because if we can’t find out what she was wearing, did the killer take the clothes with them?’

‘Maybe there was too much evidence on them if they did. Task force should be out searching. They’ll check all the bins and places they could have been discarded in the area.’

Scotty had been replaced by Amber. All that was left to signal he had been here was his empty coffee cup balanced on the church wall where Morgan had seen him put it last. Her student, Brad, was guarding the other end of the scene. There was a sea of fluorescent yellow uniforms canvassing the shops and businesses along the main street that ran in front of Rachel’s. Ben parked outside of the blue-and-white tape. Morgan had the foresight to stock up the protective clothing and the box in the boot of the car had everything they needed to wear including plenty of evidence bags. Wendy and Joe’s van was parked at the other end; there were task force officers all dressed in black searching the church grounds. She better tell them the cup had been left by Scotty, otherwise it would be taken away to be forensically tested and cause problems for him he probably didn’t already need.

She headed towards the cup. The wall was low enough that she could see Al, who was searching the perimeter of the grounds. ‘Hey, Al.’

He looked up and waved at her, then began walking towards her. ‘All right, Morgan?’

She grinned at him; he was the friendliest out of his whole team. ‘Yeah, not so bad. Look, that coffee cup was left by Scotty. I’m pretty sure of it, I don’t think it’s evidence.’

Al rolled his eyes. ‘There’s a surprise, lazy sod couldn’t even put it in the bin. I’ve a good mind to seize it, and you can tell him it’s been sent off to the lab. Might make him think twice next time.’

‘I’m not doing that, but happy to bin it for you.’

‘You’re sure it’s his and not evidence?’

‘Not a hundred per cent sure, but Costa closes at five, and time of death is three hours later. I can’t see the killer sitting on the wall sipping coffee for that long.’

‘You never know, but it’s your call.’

‘Hang on, let me point him.’ Morgan typed his collar number into her radio keypad and waited for it to ring; and she put him on loudspeaker so Al could hear.

‘Go ahead.’

Scotty sounded as if he had a mouth full of his lunch.

‘Did you leave a coffee cup anywhere at the scene, Scotty?’

‘Oh, crap it’s on the church wall. I did, sorry, Morgan.’

Al was shaking his head.

‘Yeah, it’s okay. I told Al it was most likely yours. It almost got bagged up and sent off for testing.’

‘Scotty, you’re a dweeb,’ Al shouted in Morgan’s direction.