Page 65 of Gone in the Night
‘Take care, Morgan, that would be great.’
Stan and Amber were out when Morgan returned to the station. Ben was pacing up and down the office.
‘Where have you been, I was worried.’
‘Enquiries.’
‘Oh, you’re okay then, a message now and again would be a comfort. Come up with anything useful?’
She shook her head; she hated lying to him, but she wasn’t going to drag him or Cain into her dealings with Palmer and make things awkward for them both.
‘Amy’s in labour, not surprised really after the last twenty-four hours.’
Ben’s eyebrows raised as she asked him, ‘Has Cain gone to be with her?’
‘Yes, he was so pale I thought he’d painted his face white with greasepaint.’
Morgan smiled. ‘Bless him, he’s worried.’
‘Nervous too, I’m on pins and it’s nothing to do with me. How long does this labour thing last?’
‘Anybody’s guess, the midwife did say it was progressing fast though, so hopefully for the pair of them it won’t take too long. Marc issued the statement then?’ She tried to keep her voice calm, neutral and not accusatory because she knew it was out of Ben’s control what Marc and the powers that be above them decided.
‘Yeah, too soon if you ask me.’
‘Hey, I spoke to Declan. He needs to speak to you too about Jack.’
‘I’ve already spoken to him.’
‘And?’
‘And I think our first instincts were spot on. I don’t think he took his own life. So, give me some suspects for this, Morgan. How tall is that Leah you went to speak to, and is she strong?’
‘Unfortunately, she’s about two inches taller than me. Jack wasn’t overly big, but he was nearer to your height than mine. I think she’d struggle to strangle him, move his body and everything else. Don’t get me wrong, I think she’s good for it and she’s an awful friend, but it’s the height thing.’
‘What if she had an accomplice?’
‘That would work if they were taller than her.’
‘Okay, so what about…’ Ben was standing in front of the board reading through the list of names under Sharon Montgomery’s photograph. ‘Stefan Montgomery, how tall is he?’
‘Taller than Leah and Jack for sure, but we hardly know anything about Lydia Williams. I spoke with Alison Reynolds from Lancs CID before. She said Lydia has a younger sister who is on her way here, also has an older one she doesn’t speak to, no parents, doted on her dog, kept to herself and loved camping. We need to speak to her boss, find out more about her life. We need to go through her social media like we did with Sharon, find if anyone on the list of interesting commenters match with those on Lydia’s social media.’
‘Yes, we should. Great idea, then we can speak to her colleagues too. Somebody has got to know something.’ He leaned over and brushed his lips against her cheek. ‘Let’s get out of here before Stan comes back with Amber and Marc in tow.’
‘Where are they?’
‘Marc is busy with the Chief Super, and I sent the other two out to do some CCTV enquiries around Sharon’s house, just in case someone has evidence that Jack did not leave when he said he did or that there isn’t some creep hanging around stalking her.’
‘Thank God, I was worried you were going with the Jack is guilty theory.’
He shook his head. ‘No, I didn’t want to openly argue with Marc in front of the team, especially when we have two newbies, but I told him he was way out of his comfort zone.’
He grabbed her hand and dragged her towards the door; out in the corridor they let go of each other and Morgan walked single file behind Ben, wondering if she should tell him about her meeting with Fin Palmer. She’d never kept anything from him in the past, but she didn’t want him to get into trouble either. As long as Fin kept his word then he would never needto know. Although this made her feel a little uncomfortable, she knew it wasn’t like she was doing it for herself. It was to warn other women there was a real possibility that danger was still lurking out there, watching and waiting for them to put themselves in a difficult situation.
Lydia Williams worked in an office building opposite Lancaster Town Hall. Her role was customer service and data entry officer, and Morgan had no idea what that meant, but she was going to find out. There was a video doorbell camera on the door. Ben straightened his tie before pressing the button and announcing who they were. The door clicked open, and they walked in to where a receptionist was staring at them.
‘We’re here to talk to Lydia Williams’s colleagues.’ Ben smiled at her; she wasn’t remotely interested.
