Page 61 of Their Burning Graves
THIRTY-NINE
Natalie had looked different today, almost like every other forty-something woman should. No tight sportswear, no neat hair or perfect make-up, she’d looked a little frazzled, one could almost say haunted. This made the person watching her smile. They’d looked on as she sat at her usual seat chatting to the woman who owned the café, no yoga friend today which was a first.
‘What’s eating you, Natalie?’ they whispered to themselves.
‘What did you just say, are you talking to me?’ the supervisor had asked.
They had snapped their gaze away from the café across the road, not realising they’d spoken out loud.
‘No, just singing along to the radio.’
The supervisor had frowned but didn’t ask anything else, and went back to gossiping with a customer. That had been careless, and they had been lucky to get away with it. Now it kept replaying on their mind; they realised they were getting sloppy, and it wouldn’t do.
They didn’t know what was wrong with Natalie, but she wasn’t her usual self. For all her being the wife of a rich guy she looked more miserable than they did waiting for payday. Still, it was what she deserved, wasn’t it? Somehow, they didn’t think that killing her husband would upset her that much. He was hardly home; the kid was almost as bad as he was, she was rarely there either. Such a big house for poor Natalie to wander around in. Still, she wouldn’t have to do it for much longer. Soon she’d be dead. They could just kill her quickly, but where was the fun in that? And it would be over way too fast, whereas they liked to make things last. If they killed Jasper though, then Lexie, and saved Natalie until the end, would she know that this was all her fault? Just like with Sally Lawson, would she realise that she was the reason her family had been killed?
They smiled in happy anticipation. The police had no idea what was going on, the plan was working perfectly. The only worry was the visitor from today. They had seen her photograph in the local paper many times, had even met her, and they were hoping that Detective Constable Morgan Brookes wasn’t as good as her reputation. If she figured out what was happening that could ruin everything, and they really didn’t want to have to deal with her as well, when she had never been a part of the original plan.
FORTY
It was chaos at the hospital; Maggie had been first to arrive and had been rushed down for surgery to remove the knife and deal with her internal injuries. The doctor had been lovely, mistaking Morgan for her granddaughter and telling her she may as well go home because she might be some time yet, and then Maggie would be going into Intensive Care to recover. Morgan had kissed Maggie’s cheek before they whisked her away, and promised her she would take care of Roley. Big, wet tears slid down Morgan’s cheeks and she realised that she was definitely too involved, but she liked Maggie and the woman had no one else. As she was walking out the next ambulance to arrive had Luke Rigg in the back, and she hung back to see what kind of mood he was in and if the two officers with him needed a hand. When the doors opened and he was brought down on the tail lift, he was lying there staring into the distance. Morgan looked at the officer in the back of the ambulance who had accompanied him.
‘He’s a lot calmer now, aren’t you, Luke? Got a bit of a headache too I should imagine.’
There was a gauze bandage wrapped around his head. He looked at Morgan and whispered, ‘How’s Maggie? It was an accident. I didn’t mean to hurt her.’
‘She’s gone down to surgery.’
He closed his eyes. ‘I’m sorry, it’s all such a mess.’
She didn’t answer him because yes, it was a complete mess, and she didn’t know how his family were going to recover from this. They would, of course they would, but she couldn’t shake the feeling Heather had set Luke up from the minute she got a chance, and she wanted to know why. What was it about the man that had made her want to frame him for murder and then almost kill him as soon as she got the chance?
‘Do you need me at all?’ Morgan asked the officers.
Col shook his head. ‘Me and Luke made a pinkie promise in the back of the ambulance, we have an agreement, don’t we? No more angry outbursts; he’s going to try some deep breathing instead and hopefully the docs will give him something to ease the pain and chill him the fuck out. Isn’t that right, Stu?’
Morgan had to turn away to stifle the laughter threatening to explode out of her mouth. Col had a way with words, but it always seemed to work with the angry guys and girls. Sometimes a bit of plain talking was what a person needed to bring them back down to earth, and it looked as if Luke had come down fast when he’d realised just how much trouble he was in.
‘I’m going back to the station. If you get an update on Maggie when she’s out of surgery, can you ring me, Col? I’m desperate to know that she’s okay and made it.’
He gave her a thumbs up as the paramedics began to wheel Luke through the automatic doors. Nick glanced back at her and gave her a smile, and she smiled back. They’d come close to going out a couple of times, she liked him but not as much as she loved Ben. What a day, she was exhausted just trying to get her head around the last hour. Instead of solving the Lawsons’ murder, now they had to investigate Maggie’s attempted murder, providing she made it through surgery, as well as Luke’s criminal damage and Heather’s assault on Luke. Morgan squeezed her eyes shut then opened them again. To top all of this off, everyone was starving because she’d totally screwed up the lunch run by getting sidetracked and going off with Annie to visit Natalie White. She walked towards the car park then stopped dead in her tracks, she didn’t even have a vehicle to go back because she’d accompanied Maggie. There was a broken wooden fence running along one side of the car park, and Morgan sat down on it and phoned the office. It was Cain who answered.
‘CID.’
‘Hey, are you busy?’
‘Well, I’d have to ask the boss if I am or not. He’s about to interview Heather Rigg and I’m not sure if he needs me, why?’
‘I’m stranded at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary.’
Morgan spotted a familiar face, crossing the road, and stood up. ‘Actually, it might be okay. I’ll see if Declan can drop me off.’
She hung up and waved her arms in the air. ‘Declan.’ Her voice was so loud everyone in the car park turned to stare at her.
Declan stopped, then waved at her.
She crossed to where he was standing. ‘Are you busy?’
‘Not for you, my sweet, what’s up, has lover boy dumped you here?’
