Page 73 of Gone in the Night
He leaned down and brushed his lips against the top of her head. ‘Good work, Brookes, as always.’
She smiled at him and felt some of the knots in her shoulders begin to untie. They needed a break and hopefully this was it.
FORTY-EIGHT
It took an hour to assemble a team to go to the Montgomery home. Morgan had asked Caroline to find out Marie Jones’s address and had been stunned to find out she lived in a one-bedroom apartment above the garage that she had seen her coming out of on a previous visit. Stan, Amber and Marc had gone in the van with two task force officers. Ben and Morgan were following behind. Morgan kept checking her phone and sighing. She’d messaged Cain thirty minutes ago to find out how things were going, but he hadn’t even read it, and she realised that he must be too busy to not even look at his phone. She hoped he hadn’t fainted. Amy would never let him live it down.
‘Any news?’ Ben asked.
‘Nothing, I feel so nervous for her, and so bad about the last few days.’
‘If I’m honest with you, I don’t think she’ll even be thinking much about Jack at this point. She’s going to be so consumed with pain and hopefully some good drugs to help ease the pain.’
‘Maybe not, but I can’t stop thinking that in a different life he wouldn’t have left her. If he hadn’t left her and they were still together he’d be with her right now, holding her hand not lyingin a body bag inside Declan’s mortuary, leaving her to do this on her own.’
‘Wow, that’s deep and scary and she’s not on her own, she has Cain.’
‘Yeah, that’s what I’m worried about, Cain not being able to handle it. It’s true though, his life completely changed course, didn’t it? And now look how it’s ended. It’s so sad and pointless.’
‘Not if he didn’t kill himself.’
‘Well, no, but if he hadn’t been involved with Sharon Montgomery, I don’t think he’d be dead right now.’
They rounded the corner to see two police vans and an unmarked car all waiting in the lay-by not too far away from the Montgomery house. The plan was Morgan and Ben would go first and gain entry then they’d follow through. Morgan had the warrant in her hand ready to give to Stefan. It included any outbuildings, which technically covered the garage and Marie’s living quarters.
Morgan buzzed the intercom, and the gates swung open without anyone asking them who they were. She glanced at Ben, but he drove through and she said, ‘Good to go,’ into the radio so the others could follow them through.
Marie was standing on the doorstep, and Morgan jumped out of the car, walking briskly towards her before Ben had even turned the engine off.
‘What’s all this?’
‘Is Stefan home?’
Marie shook her head. ‘Not sure where he is.’
‘I guess you’re in charge then?’
‘I suppose I am whilst the Montgomerys aren’t here. Why?’
Morgan handed her the warrant. ‘We have a search warrant for the house and outbuildings.’
‘I don’t understand, why do you need this? What are you searching for? I’m going to have to speak to Stefan first. I can’t let you in to trample all over the place.’
Ben had joined Morgan. ‘You ring Stefan, but this is a legal document giving us permission to come inside. I’m afraid you can’t stop us.’
If Marie was feigning innocence, she was doing a very good job because her eyes were flitting from Morgan to Ben to the officers who were all getting out of the vans and car behind them.
‘Okay, I’m not sure what this is about though. Can you at least explain that to me?’
‘We believe that Stefan may be involved in the deaths of three people, and the search warrant gives us legal permission to enter this house and look for any evidence.’
Marie let out a gasp. ‘What? Three people? Have you gone mad?’
‘I wish we had. You need to step to one side now, Marie, just let them do their job okay, we’ll be as fast as we can and cause minimal mess.’
Morgan turned to Ben. ‘I’ll take the garage.’
Ben nodded. ‘We’ll take the house.’
