Page 41 of Gone in the Night
‘Christ on a bike, why are you all always so busy?’
Morgan rolled her eyes at Ben, who replied, ‘You tell me? We don’t do it to ourselves.’
‘No, suppose not. Body at a campsite, found by the groundsman in another of those bloody roof tent things. I’m just arriving at the scene with Cain and Stan.’
Morgan felt a rush of hot bile rise up her throat, surely not another and so soon.
‘When can you get here?’
‘Declan’s going to do Jack next.’
‘He won’t need you there for that one. I told you, it’s pretty cut and dried with Jack. Poor lad must have had some kind of breakdown. I need you and Morgan here at the scene. Wendy too, if possible. I don’t want to wait hours for a CSI to come from out west or north to cover when she’s on duty and the best there is. Actually, I’m going to need Declan here, too. He’s going to have to postpone Jack’s PM until he’s been to this scene.’
Morgan winked at Wendy, who grinned. She didn’t dare look in Declan’s direction – she knew he would be annoyed at Marc issuing his orders.
‘Where are you?’
‘Oh, yes. That would help, wouldn’t it? Hang on, Cain will tell you.’
Cain’s voice echoed around the room.
‘It’s a semi-wild camping site at the edge of Rydal Water; it’s halfway up Loughrigg Fell. It only opened last year.’
‘Is it on Google Maps? And I thought you were with Amy?’ Ben asked.
Cain paused.
‘Yeah, it should be, if not ring me when you get near and I’ll come find you. Oh, and the boss man phoned and said he needed me. It was not optional.’
Morgan could hear the underlying anger in Cain’s voice.
Declan finally spoke. ‘Cain, tell your boss he needs to put in a formal request for me to attend the scene. I need authorisation from my end; he’s not in charge of me.’
‘Absolutely, Declan.’
Cain lowered his voice.
‘He’s such an arse at times, I think he forgets he doesn’t have authority over the entire world.’
Declan smiled. ‘Quite.’
Cain ended the call, and Morgan felt the bitter taste of fear in the back of her throat. Two women murdered in the space of a couple of days, and Jack’s apparent suicide. It didn’t sit right with her. It was beyond terrifying. She looked around the room which was in complete silence. She had to break it first.
‘We need to put out a warning for female solo campers like now, Ben.’
Ben was nodding. ‘I know, we will get that organised and approved, the press office can take care of it.’
‘I don’t care if it sparks a panic, and if HQ won’t authorise it then I’ll do it myself.’ She stared him in the eyes, daring him to challenge her. He didn’t, he was wise beyond his years, and she knew that he wouldn’t stop her either. If she had to put her job at risk to help save another woman’s life then she would do it in a heartbeat, even if it meant having to visit every single campsite in the Lake District to warn them personally.
She would bear the consequences later.
TWENTY-NINE
Morgan drove to the campsite whilst Ben was on the phone to Marc. She had a rough idea of where it was, and remembered reading an article about it whilst searching for Sharon Montgomery on Google. She wanted to find the killer before there were any more victims. When Ben finished his phone call, she couldn’t help herself.
‘If Jack killed Sharon, then killed himself, who killed this woman?’
‘Morgan, I’m with you, okay? I’m not against you. I don’t think Jack killed himself either.’
