Page 7 of Their Burning Graves
‘I’m afraid that I can’t tell you any more than that because we don’t know ourselves what has happened. I’m so sorry.’
‘Was it smoke inhalation? I’ve seen it on the television, it can kill you before you get the chance to evacuate.’
‘It’s hard to say right now.’ An image of Sally with a plastic bag over her head and her right hand chopped off filled her mind, and she had to blink to clear it.
Mrs Wilkes leaned forward. ‘No, it wasn’t that judging by the pained look on your face. Did David go mad and kill them all? You read about it all the time, don’t you? Middle-aged man under too much stress goes crazy and kills their entire family.’
Morgan was shocked that the woman sitting across from her could read her so well and she made a determined effort not to show any further emotion.
‘Like I said, Mrs Wilkes, we really have nothing we can share at the moment. I’m trying to piece together the last few hours and would really appreciate it if you could talk me through your evening.’
‘Maggie, please, I always think Mrs Wilkes is such a mouthful. The neighbours all call me that and I’m not daft, I know what they think, that I curtain twitch all day and walk my dog just so I can be nosy. I’m not, well, I do like to keep an eye on the area, but these are expensive houses, and the neighbours are out at work all day, sometimes away working for days on end. I do my best to make sure everything is tickety-boo, a bit like a one-woman neighbourhood watch.’
‘That’s very kind of you, Maggie.’
She shrugged. ‘Truth is, since my husband, Ronnie, died two years ago, I’m a bit isolated, so to see these gorgeous people and their families going about their business makes my day a little less lonely.’
Morgan felt her heart tear in two for the woman, her opinion of her changing substantially.
‘Have you told your neighbours this? I bet they would love to have you over for coffee and a chat.’
Maggie laughed. ‘They’re far too busy and I would never impose, although Sally, God bless her, would ask me for a coffee when she had a rare moment to herself. I can’t believe she’s dead. My heart is broken for her and her lovely boy, he was never cheeky or rude like most teenage boys. David was a little more standoffish but that’s men in general, don’t you think?’
‘I suppose so. Maggie, do you know who on the street has CCTV systems, camera doorbells, dashcams?’
‘Now, that I can help you with, dear, because we all do. I can’t tell you if they actually work or not, but almost everyone has cameras outside of their houses. We are very security conscious.’
Morgan had to stop herself from jumping up and high fiving Maggie. Just this once they might actually have caught their killer on camera. She felt a flicker of hope that they would find whoever slaughtered Sally, David and Tim Lawson, and lock them away for the rest of their lives.
Maggie picked up the remote control and turned on the television. The screen filled up with small squares showing her front, back and side gardens; there was also a view of the front garden and street.
‘Can you make that one bigger?’ Morgan was standing next to the TV pointing to the view of the street. One click and the fire engines and police cars outside the Lawsons’ house came into view. They were some distance away from Maggie’s, but it was still good enough. ‘That’s amazing, can you rewind it too? Hang on, I just need to check what time the call came in. Excuse me a moment, I’ll be right back.’
Morgan left the house to go and find Ben, as she didn’t have a radio with her, it was in Barrow. Then she realised she could do one better than that. She hurried down the street to find Paul. He was standing talking to Wendy and another guy dressed in protective clothing.
‘Hey, what time did the call come in to you guys about the fire?’
‘At 19.57 and we arrived on scene at 20.07.’
‘Thanks, that’s great. Have you seen Ben?’ She was asking Wendy, who pointed to the rear of the house.
‘He’s still there, Morgan.’
‘Thanks.’
She left them to it, discussing the best way to work the crime scene.
Ben hadn’t moved, he was still sitting on the outdoor sofa.
‘Hey, are you okay?’
He turned his head to look at her, the sadness on his face making her want to grab hold of him and never let go, but she didn’t.
‘We have CCTV, multiple cameras along the entire street.’
He stood up. ‘There is?’
She grinned at him. ‘There really is, probably dashcams too.’ She walked closer and held up her hand, Ben raised his and high fived her.
