Page 33 of Gone in the Night
Marc stood up. ‘I have a headache.’
‘Join the gang, so do the rest of us. Should I order pizza, or would you prefer a Chinese takeaway?’
‘Pizza.’ He took out his wallet and put two twenty-pound notes on the table. ‘My shout, to show my appreciation to you all for working late.’
Morgan picked the money up. She wasn’t going to turn down free pizza and he knew it, none of them would. She took out her phone and scrolled through her apps until she reached the one for Gino’s Pizzeria.
TWENTY-TWO
The pizza was good, too good, and Morgan was stuffed, wishing she’d not eaten the cake so she’d left room for more pizza, but that was life. She hadn’t known Marc was going to buy them food, so she was never going to turn down the chance to eat anything when they were up to their necks in an investigation. Two officers had been sitting outside of Sharon Montgomery’s address on scene guard in case her parents tried to get into her house, or anyone else who could have a key. Ben had told them all to get ready to do the search, and Cain had gone to look for the huge search bag where they kept all the evidence bags, protective clothing and anything else they may need. Task force had finished for the day, so it was them or nothing.
As they were walking out to the cars in the rear yard of the station, Marc stopped. ‘We could leave this until tomorrow if you want. It’s late, it’s dark. As long as there’s officers outside all night it should be good.’
Ben shook his head. ‘No, boss. I think it needs to be searched now, especially knowing that Jack was one of the last people inside of the address with the victim. He’s telling us that everything was hunky dory, but what if it wasn’t? What if theywere arguing and he somehow manages to get inside and clean up any evidence?’
‘That’s a lot of what if’s. Ben,’ said Marc.
‘It is, but I need to be able to finish tonight with a clear conscience that he was telling me the truth.’
‘Your call, Ben, I’m happy to do what you think. You know that PSD are going to storm in tomorrow and take over anyway, don’t you?’
Ben nodded. ‘That’s exactly why I’d like to get a look before they kick us off this part of the investigation.’
Morgan wasn’t sure if Ben was doing this because he still thought that Jack was one of them or if it was for Amy’s sake. In Morgan’s opinion, Jack had given up the right to be classed as one of them the moment he started being a dick to Amy, and whatever mess he’d got himself into was purely his own fault. She was tempted to tell Ben, but he knew, didn’t he? Maybe he was hoping to find some damning evidence and get Jack locked up before anything else happened.
Sharon Montgomery lived in a pretty little cottage with a beautiful little front garden full of purple and white flowers. The front door was purple too and Morgan wondered if she was a witch. Her aunt Ettie had a purple front door. Morgan knew the lore that if a house had a purple door a witch lived inside, or was that just an Instagram lore? She didn’t think it was; Ettie really was a kitchen witch. Sharon drove a purple 4x4, maybe it was her favourite colour, or could she be into witchcraft? Suddenly Morgan was keen to go inside and look around, see if she had shelves of books on witchcraft, plants and herbs on her windowsill and a crystal collection to be envious of. Morgan had quite a collection now; she had found a couple of trusted sellers that sourced the most beautiful, ethical crystals. Her latest was a beautiful clear quartz skull that Ben had bought her. One day, when things slowed down a little, she was going to spend timewith her aunt who had promised to teach her everything she knew. That thought filled Morgan with a warmth that made her heart so happy. There was a lot more to this life than anyone could figure out, and she had always been drawn to the witchy side of it.
‘So, Morgan, you take the upstairs with me; Cain and Marc, downstairs. Stan, you can check the rear garden, sheds, anything else.’
‘Yes, boss.’ Morgan snapped back to her current reality, pushing her thoughts of being the witch in the woods to one side. Oh, how she envied Ettie, she really was living the dream.
They all dressed in the white paper suits, boot covers and gloves, and Ben, who had retrieved the house key off Sharon’s car key fob, opened the door. Stan had also been tasked with signing everyone in and out of the house, which he didn’t look so happy about, but he was the new guy, he had to do the crappy jobs. God knows she’d done more than her fair share when she’d first joined Ben’s team.
Ben pointed to the door for her to go inside first. She paused on the doorstep and inhaled, the scent of lavender lingered in the air – there was nothing bad. No underlying tinge of anything bad or decaying. She reached in and switched on the hall light. The cottage was bigger inside than it looked, and it was beautiful. The entrance was a dusky pink with gold framed pictures hanging on the wall, a huge mirror and pine flooring. On some floating shelves were stunning pink amethyst, rose quartz and clear quartz crystals. A crushing wave of sadness washed over Morgan for Sharon whose life had been so violently ended; she was never coming home to this beautiful cottage.
‘I think we’re good to go. Please, be careful, it’s so pretty inside. Cain, no clumsy fumbling of anything you don’t need to touch.’ She wasn’t in charge, but she felt that, out of respect forSharon, she should ensure they didn’t go in like bulls in a china shop and wreck the house more than they needed to.
She went upstairs, pausing to stare at the gallery wall of pictures, all of Sharon’s camping trips, beautiful views of the fells, mountains and lakes of the area. Some of Sharon and her beloved 4x4, but mainly of the area surrounding her wild camping sites. There were three doors off the landing: the first one she opened was the bathroom and that was spotless; the second door led into a small guest room with a single bed and a tiny pine table with Sharon’s MacBook on it. They would seize that and get it sent off to the tech guys at headquarters; there were bookshelves and Morgan stepped further inside to look at the spines.The Crystal Year, andAffirmations and Crystalsby Claire Titmus, andThe Witch’s Way Homeby Emma Griffin were just a few that Morgan had on her own bookshelves, and she smiled to herself – she was right, Sharon was into the witchy way of life. It also made her feel even sadder: who was going to take care of Sharon’s beautiful crystals and books? She pulled open the small pine chest of drawers to look through it, but it was empty. She really didn’t have much clutter, and Morgan respected that. Maybe her main bedroom would be messier.
‘Anything?’
Ben’s voice startled her, and she shook her head. ‘Where have you looked?’
‘Bathroom, it’s clean, no blood spatters, or anything untoward.’
‘I’ll take Sharon’s bedroom.’ She walked towards the last door and opened it; this room was much bigger and a little more cluttered. Some of the drawers were half open, the bed was a little messy, there was a stack of books on the bedside table and an empty bottle of water. Over the back of a dark pink velvet chair was a pile of clothes. Morgan thought this was more like it. She said a silent apology to Sharon before she began pullingout each drawer and looking through it, then she checked the bedside drawers, and the books in here made her smile too. Sharon had a mixture of witchy fiction includingWeyward,The Lost Apothecary,Practical MagicandThe King’s Witcheson her stack. Morgan had read and loved all these books too. There was a big, thick, black leather journal in the first drawer. Morgan took it out and flicked through it. Photos were taped inside, notes about books Sharon had enjoyed, places she wanted to go, a daily list of the three things she was most grateful for. No notes about her relationships with anyone, nothing about finding her stepdad with her best friend, no mention of Jack White, or Eddy Lightburn turning up at her house. Morgan continued looking around but found nothing else of interest to their investigation. She went downstairs to where Cain and Ben were in the kitchen chatting. Ben looked her way.
‘Find anything?’
‘Nothing, she lived a pretty lovely life.’
‘Unless her friends tell us otherwise,’ said Cain. ‘I mean she can’t be perfect, can she? None of us is. She must have had some faults.’
‘Well, if she did, I’m not picking up on them. This house is beautiful. Her things are too, I reckon she was a good person with no dark secrets to hide. There’s no secret diary with the ramblings of a maniac inside of it.’
Ben nodded. ‘Where’s all her camping stuff though? I mean this isn’t a huge space, but it is a good-sized house for one person or a childless couple, but there’s no camping stuff, no outdoor gear.’
Stan appeared at the door. ‘It’s all in the shed. I had a wander around the back and she’s got a shed that I’d kill for.’
