Page 90 of One Left Alive
‘Okay, you can have cornflakes. If you’re still hungry tomatoes can be your second course.’
She turned away, poured the remaining cornflakes into the large glass mixing bowl and poured what was left of her milk on top.
She passed it to him. ‘Voila, enjoy.’
‘Thanks, Morgan.’
‘Do you want a shot of vodka to warm you up?’
He nodded and she pointed to the one nearest to him. ‘Cheers.’
Picking hers up, she tipped her head back and downed it.
‘I’ll eat my cornflakes first, but you’re an expert; that was nicely done.’
‘Drinking shots is one of my specialities. I don’t have many but usually drink my friends under the table on the rare occasion I get to go out.
‘Oh, Harrison, did you know Bronte is awake?’
He looked up, surprise registering on his face. Chewing the mouthful of cereal, he swallowed. ‘Is she? No, I didn’t. That’s amazing. When?’
‘Last night or early this morning. I didn’t speak to her; my sergeant did when he went to visit her.’
‘Did she tell you what happened?’
‘Unfortunately, she couldn’t remember anything, but maybe in time it will start to all come back to her.’
‘I bet she couldn’t. How lucky for her. I wish I couldn’t and now that Greg is going to get all the glory for a crime he didn’t commit.’
Morgan stared at him, open-mouthed. ‘What do you mean?’
He gulped the mouthful of food down and stared at her. ‘I didn’t want to be the one to grass, that’s why I got scared and hid. But I don’t know what to do any more and as much as I hate Greg it isn’t fair.’
‘Harrison, three people are dead; you’re not grassing at all. What’s not fair?’
He lowered his face; when he lifted it again a single tear rolled down his cheek.
‘I was there that night, but I didn’t do it. I couldn’t stop her; she went berserk. I mean, she lost the plot completely. I’ve never seen anything like it, so much anger and rage.’
Morgan reached in her dressing gown pocket. Taking out her phone, but keeping it out of view, she pressed the record button and slipped it back inside.
‘Who went berserk, Harrison?’
‘Bronte, she killed them all.’
Morgan gasped. ‘What, why?’
He didn’t look at her. ‘She hated it here; they used to live in Manchester and she loved it there. She found out at school about the last murders and was furious her parents had bought that house. Then Olivia started having an affair with that prick Greg.
‘We used to follow them. One night we followed them to a pub. I think Olivia tried to break it off with him but ended up fucking him in a car park. Bronte was raging about that; she was so upset and angry, said she hated her dad for making them come here and her mum was a slut. She decided to do something about it, said if they were both dead, she’d get the house. Would be able to sell it, take the money and move back to the city far away from here.’
Harrison hadn’t touched his vodka. He pushed it towards her. Morgan picked it up and downed it. She was so shocked. It tasted a bit funny. She looked down at the glass and wondered if she hadn’t cleaned it properly.
‘How did Olivia end up hanging from the tree? The cameras weren’t working that day.’
‘Bronte did something to them, she loosened the wires. She drugged Olivia first, but she gave her too much and she died. She wanted that arsehole Barker to think it was his fault, that Olivia had killed herself because of him. I know they’d been arguing that afternoon because I heard Olivia shouting at him on the phone that it was over and she’d make him pay.
‘So we carried her out and hung her. It was so difficult; she was really heavy. Even in death she looked beautiful. I couldn’t believe it was happening, it was all so weird.
