Page 13 of Gone in the Night
‘Enough,’ yelled Ben who had both his hands in the air. ‘We’re going to miss you, Amy, but I bet you’re going to be glad of a break from him.’ He pointed at Cain, and she shook her head.
‘I don’t know what I’d do without him; he’s been my lifesaver the last few months.’
‘Aww,’ said Tristan. ‘How lovely, congratulations to you both, how exciting.’
Nobody bothered to correct him because they were all too busy diving to grab cakes and sandwiches. The door opened and in sauntered Al and three task force officers along with Wendy, Joe, and Madds who didn’t miss any chance to eat cake. He grabbed a cupcake and pointed to Marc. ‘Thought this was a briefing?’
‘Slight change of plan. After this there’s a briefing so you may as well stick around.’
‘Not me, I just came for the cake. I’ve got a meeting at Kendal town hall to attend. Congratulations, Amy. I hope it goes well.’
She smiled at Madds. ‘Thanks, me too.’
He disappeared along with a paper plate of sandwiches and another cake; everyone sat down and soon there was nothing left on the plates but crumbs. Amy hadn’t stopped smiling, and Morgan realised that Cain had just saved all of them. They would thank him later. She had no idea he could be so thoughtful, and she wondered if Angela had pushed him in the right direction.
Eventually Ben stood up. ‘I’m sorry to bring your celebration to a rather abrupt end, Amy, and I hope you don’t mind but we really need to crack on with this briefing. Are you okay with that?’
She nodded, and he smiled at her. ‘You’re welcome to finish for the day now. I don’t want to spoil your lovely afternoon with the case in hand.’
Amy stood up. ‘Are you sure you don’t need me for anything? I’m happy to stay now I’ve been fed.’
Morgan knew the answer was a resounding yes, they did need her, but Ben shook his head.
‘Absolutely not, you get yourself home and take it easy. We’ll catch up with you soon. Keep us updated, won’t you? And let us know if you need anything at all.’
Then he walked towards Amy and hugged her. Morgan stood up and hugged her too when Ben let go. Marc looked like a fish out of water – he shook her hand, and Tristan who didn’t know any of them, smiled at her.
Amy blew a kiss to Cain. ‘Thanks, Cain, I’ll speak to you later and thank Angela for me too.’
She winked, and Cain laughed. ‘It wasn’t all her idea.’
Amy waved a hand at him. ‘Yeah right, of course it wasn’t.’
She left the room, closing the door softly behind her.
Morgan looked at Cain. ‘You did good, we’ll all chip in to cover the cost. Thank you, it completely slipped my mind, and you just made us all look like we’re not complete arseholes.’
‘I couldn’t let her just walk out with nothing. It would have been terrible, she deserves better, and you’re welcome.’
Ben stood up. ‘Yes, thanks, Cain. We’ll all contribute towards this, well done. Are we okay to get started with the briefing?’
Everyone nodded.
‘Good, what do we have up to now? The victim, Sharon Montgomery, do we have an age for her yet?’
Morgan nodded. ‘Thirty-six, according to her Instagram profile, although not sure if that’s a hundred per cent accurate. I haven’t started the Intel checks yet, as there’s been a lot going on.’
Ben smiled at her. ‘It’s certainly been busy. Tristan, did you manage to get the Intel checks started?’
All eyes fell onto the new guy, who nodded. ‘I can confirm she is thirty-six; there are three reports on the system for her. She was a victim of domestic violence back in 2022.’
‘That’s interesting, were there any after 2022?’
‘No, I guess she kicked the boyfriend to the kerb.’
‘Who was it? Did they get arrested, are they known to us?’
Tristan looked down at his notebook. ‘Eddy Lightburn.’
