Page 4 of One Left Alive
‘No, it’s not a trick question.’
She shrugged. ‘I don’t know, she lives in this gorgeous house with her family, and Harrison described her as “happy and chilled”. Not the kind of woman you’d expect to do this kind of thing. Not many women kill themselves by hanging, do they?’
‘Not often, but some do. We need to locate her family and find out what her state of mind was before we make any judgement. It looks like a straightforward suicide to me.’
Morgan nodded and began to walk towards the house. She paused then turned to face Ben.
‘How did she get up high enough to do it? There was no stepladder. Harrison ran and got that out of the shed.’
Ben shrugged. ‘Maybe she was an excellent climber or used the rope swing. That tree doesn’t look too difficult to get up to that branch. But I’ll bear it in mind.’
Morgan left him and carried on walking up to the large detached house. It looked as if it had been recently painted the walls were so white, and the dusky pink front door made it stand out. Morgan loved it. It was modern yet quirky. There were pots of scented lavender and roses either side of the door and she inhaled the heady smell. It was such a perfect place to be able to call home. She tried the front door: it was secure. Then she walked the perimeter of the building checking the windows and other doors. All of them were shut tight and locked; there was no sign of life inside.
At the back door, Morgan turned and took in the view. She could hear a small creek at the end of the garden as it babbled along. The burning sun was setting against the backdrop of the Lakeland fells, giving out the last of its warmth. Olivia Potter lived in a beautiful place; she wondered what had happened to make her do such a terrible thing.
Two
The bright flash from the CSI camera illuminated the darkened garden. The temperature had dropped along with the last of the sunlight and there was a chill in the air. Morgan couldn’t take her gaze away from Olivia Potter; even in death she looked beautiful. Despite trying for the last hour Harrison hadn’t been able to make contact with Bronte. Ben had asked for a PNC check of all vehicles listed for the address and it had come back with two: a brand new Jaguar F-Pace, in white, and a slightly older Mercedes C-Class. The Mercedes was parked in the garage, its engine cold, but there was no sign of the Jag. An ANPR marker had been placed on the vehicle to find out where it was last seen. It was strange that they couldn’t find anyone to notify about Olivia, but it happened. For all they knew Saul could be on his way to visit family or take the girls somewhere and not even realise something was wrong. Morgan wondered if this was possible, that after being married for a long time like these two had been, for Saul not to have felt something at the moment of his wife’s death? Harrison had said he was sure there had been no plans for the family to go away though. She couldn’t stop the uneasy churning in her stomach that something wasn’t right; she wished she knew what.
‘Have you got a whammer?’
Ben’s voice brought Morgan back to earth. She shook her head.
‘Dan might, I’ll go ask. Why?’
‘There were no house keys in Olivia’s pockets. I want to make sure everything is in order inside the house and see if we can find details of other family members. We need to find a next of kin for Olivia.’
She walked over to where Dan was sitting in the van with Harrison.
‘Any luck getting hold of Bronte?’
He shook his head. ‘She must be really pissed with me; her phone is going straight to voicemail now.’
‘Is that usual, does she normally not answer?’
He shrugged. ‘Yeah, well she ignores me when she’s angry. She doesn’t usually turn her phone off though, she’s too addicted to Instagram. I’m getting a bit worried about her.’
Morgan didn’t like it. Something was niggling away at her. Most people couldn’t live without their phones, especially not teenagers. Why would Bronte not answer or turn her phone off? Perhaps it had run out of battery.
‘Dan have you got a whammer in your van?’
Dan nodded. ‘I’ll go get it.’
Harrison stared after him and asked. ‘What’s a whammer?’
‘A metal battering ram; we use it to put the door in when we need to gain entry to a property. Do you know if anyone might have a key? Have you got one?’
He shook his head. ‘No, but Bronte sometimes left hers under a garden gnome for me so I could let myself in. Should I go and look?’
‘Yes please, that would be great.’
She didn’t ask him why he hadn’t told them this earlier, putting it down to shock. Dan came over carrying the heavy metal bar.
‘We might have a key.’
He rolled his eyes and let it drop onto the gravel drive with a loud thud.
Harrison came back holding a silver key in his fingers. He gave it to Morgan.
