Page 68 of Her Lips Are Sealed

‘We continue to door knock. He looked as if he was on foot, so he’s got to live locally. Someone must know who he is. Morgan, you do not go anywhere on your own, is that understood? Either double up with Cain or whoever, but preferably someone with a taser.’

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes at Ben, she smiled instead. ‘Yes, boss.’

Josh looked at Ben. ‘Morgan can come with me. I haven’t got a taser, but I’ve got these.’

He curled his fists, and she laughed. ‘Thanks, Josh, I have a pair of those too and I’m not afraid to use them.’

‘Cool, that’s the two of us ready to fight then. Is that okay? I was halfway along the high street.’

Ben nodded. ‘Fine, okay.’

Morgan walked off, Josh followed behind. She loved Ben dearly but God he was suffocating at times, and the constant worrying about her was clearly taking its toll on him physically and mentally.

FORTY-TWO

By the time they called it a night and headed back to the station, over three quarters of the residents in the small village of Coniston had been spoken to. Almost fifty per cent of the house were second homes or holiday cottages. In the built-up area of the village there were five hundred and ninety-four residents, which was the area they had focused on, everything that was in walking distance of Lisa’s flat.

‘Did anyone get anything?’ Ben asked everyone who had gathered in the blue room. It was late, everyone was tired, hungry and ready to go home.

Heads shook from side to side, and he sighed. ‘I don’t get it; he’s like the invisible man. He walked away from a major crime scene with a stolen cat in a carrier and nobody saw him. It wasn’t as if it was dark either. It was still fairly light when we headed back. He has got to have a house, flat, tent, caravan within walking distance of Lisa Palmer’s flat. Thanks for your efforts, guys, it’s very much appreciated. You can get yourselves off now.’

Officers, PCSOs and task force all began to shuffle out. The mood was one of extreme disappointment from everyone. Nobody had dared to say anything to Ben, and Morgan thought they were wise because he looked as if he might explode at any moment and it wasn’t anyone’s fault except the killer’s. When it was just their team, he looked at Amy with so much hope in his eyes Morgan almost wanted her to tell him something just to appease him even if it was momentarily.

‘Anything, Amy, any hits of ANPR?’

‘No, I checked out all the vehicles that came into the village in the time frame you gave to me and there were only a handful. I then did PNC checks. One of them is the neighbour of Lisa Palmer and he literally arrives home the same time give or take a few minutes. We know he wasn’t there when she rang for help so that rules him out. Lots of tourists driving through, but no other guys driving in that are local, so your theory that he lives in the village works out. He has to have been on foot. We can check with the shops nearest to the crime scene for CCTV footage when they’re open in the morning.’

Ben nodded. ‘Yeah, we can. Thanks for trying. The fact that he did this has just thrown me into a whole new level of astonishment. I think we should go to speak with Lisa Palmer now and get her statement. We don’t have time to be sitting waiting around when he is more than likely planning his next murder.’

‘I totally agree with you, Ben, but as much as I’d like to go and speak to Lisa there is little point when she’s still sedated and we need her to be as clear-headed as possible.’

Ben frowned at Morgan, she could tell he was displeased she had disagreed with him, but she didn’t care. What good was it going to do getting a statement from Lisa when she was under the influence of whatever drugs had been administered to her?

‘You and me both, I don’t know what else we can do tonight. I think we should speak to Lisa as soon as she is clear-headed enough to give a full statement. We need to see if anyone has CCTV footage that covers that area. It’s brilliant that the flat has a hidden camera, but if only it had one at the entrance to the drive.’ Lucy tried to defuse the situation.

‘Why have we not got the dogs out searching for him?’ Morgan asked.

Lucy glanced at Ben who slapped his forehead with his hand. ‘I’m such an idiot, why have we not?’

Lucy gently clasped Ben’s arm. ‘No, you’re not. We’re all stressed and I did request a dog handler the moment Morgan called it in. There isn’t one available until the morning, two of them are on the sick.’

‘Can we not borrow one from Lancs? If it rains overnight, we’re going to lose any scent there might be and surely with a cat there must be one.’ Morgan looked hopeful.

‘Let me see what I can do, I’ll see if I can call in some favours.’ Lucy left the room, leaving Josh, Cain, Amy, Morgan and Ben.

‘Good shout, Morgan, always thinking outside of the box.’ Cain was smiling at her and for moment she thought he was being sarcastic again, but he was being serious.

‘Thanks, I just can’t believe that he did this. It’s beyond bold. I mean we know that killers like to revisit the crime scene, but to blatantly walk into it like he did takes a lot of nerve. We need to speak to Carl and Joe, one or both of them talked to him.’ Morgan was already standing up to go look for them, and Ben sighed.

‘I might as well give it up; I’ve screwed up more times if not more than Marc.’

Amy crossed to where he was sitting, leaned over and hugged him fiercely.

‘Don’t say that, you’ll never be like him. You are running two murder investigations and an attempt murder, it’s too much for a whole homicide unit never mind the six of us. We’re a team and if we suggest something you missed, isn’t that the whole point?’

Morgan turned away, her eyes threatening to betray her and make her ugly cry in front of everyone, her anger from minutes ago quashed by Amy’s kind words.

Ben squeezed Amy back. ‘I don’t know what I did to deserve you lot, but I’m so grateful that you’re my team.’