Chapter 19
NINETEEN
When Morgan arrived at the old summer camp it was chaos trying to park, as the huge search and rescue truck was practically blocking the whole of the road, and she had to park a fair bit behind it and walk up. Ben appeared and began striding down the side of the fell towards her.
‘Are you okay? I was starting to panic about you.’
Morgan resisted the urge to snap back at him that she was perfectly fine and capable of being on her own for an hour. She knew she had put him through hell since the day they’d met, and it wasn’t his fault he worried so much, but it was stifling at times, not to mention really fucking annoying.
‘I’m fine, just doing what you told me to do, Ben, and now I’m ready to help search for Scarlett. I spoke to Ettie as well.’
‘You did? Is she okay?’ His voice was cooler, calmer, gentler.
‘She’s fine, got herself a new man, but that’s not what I was speaking to her about. I wanted to know about his place.’ She pointed to the gateway.
Ben arched one eyebrow at her. ‘What would she be able to tell you about it that you don’t already know?’
‘She told me that the land is cursed, there is a legend of a nine-foot tall man called the watcher, who only appears when it’s misty, and nothing but bad stuff happens here.
Which was also kind of confirmed by Joyce, the neighbour, who made me the best cheese and tomato sandwich I have ever eaten, well since my mum died that is.
’ She was climbing into the car; Ben was getting into the passenger side.
He looked at her, both his eyebrows were raised, his eyes wide open.
‘What? Did I just step into an alternative universe or what, Morgan? What’s going on with you? Did you just say that some stranger you called on for house to house made you a sandwich and you ate it?’
She noticed he never mentioned the weird stuff; instead he’d skirted over that. ‘Yeah, it really was good. I bet she’d have made you one too. You must be hungry as well. I mean it’s been a hell of a night, morning, whatever up to now.’
‘I’m good, I’ll grab something after the post-mortem. Did you find out anything that is useful?’
Morgan glared at him. Okay she hadn’t really taken much notice of Ettie’s tall tales, but she hadn’t discounted them either like Ben just had.
His phone began ringing. ‘Yeah.’ He put it on loudspeaker.
‘Hi, Ben, it’s Amber. I went to a job before and thought you might be interested in it.’
Because it was on loudspeaker, Morgan watched his face contort in ten different ways instead of groaning outwardly so she could hear.
‘You did?’
‘Yeah, Sandra, one of the cleaners from the station, reported the two guests at the Airbnb she cleans as missing.’
‘That’s a shame, but what exactly has it got to do with me?’
‘Well probably nothing, but it’s a bit odd, isn’t it? You have that missing teenager from last night, but there is a good chance these two women in their early twenties could be missing, too. Brett has phoned around the hospitals, and the lead booker hasn’t been admitted by any of them.’
Ben’s knuckles were white he was clenching his hands so hard.
‘Anyways, I’ve put the report on and I’m going to try and find some family or friends to speak with and see if they’ve heard from her, but it’s just a heads-up in case they got into some trouble.
It looks as if they were recording a podcast. All their equipment has been left behind in the cottage.
It’s expensive, you wouldn’t drive away and leave that behind, would you, at least not without good reason. ’
A chill went down Morgan’s spine – was it a podcast about the haunting, like what Tori and her friends had been doing?
‘Okay, Amber, keep me updated. What are their names?’
‘Janey Moore, we don’t know her friend’s name yet. Sandra was waiting on a call back from the support team. She said she’ll pass any information on they tell her.’
‘Have you run this Janey through the system in case she’s got form for overstaying her welcome at other establishments?’
‘Not yet, just about to do all of that.’
‘Well, keep me updated. If you find anything, I need to know. I’ll speak to you when I get back to the station.’ He ended the call.
He said to Morgan, ‘Should we be worried about that, do you think?’
She shrugged. ‘Bit odd to leave all your stuff behind and not contact anyone to tell them why.’
‘Christ, this is all we need.’
They drove the rest of the way to the mortuary in silence. Morgan was desperate to start researching the local lore around the old summer camp, but it would have to wait until after the post-mortem.
Ben shoved the entrance doors to the mortuary, expecting them to be open, and was surprised they were locked. Usually through the day you could walk in. It wasn’t the kind of place that you went into unless you had a good reason. He rang the bell and they waited for Susie to come open them.
A shout echoed over the radio so loud it made the pair of them start.
‘Found a body, repeat found a body, clothing is caught on some rocks. I’m just going to try and loosen it.’
Morgan squeezed her eyes shut, trying to process those words as her heart broke in two with grief for Scarlett, her parents and Tori.
This was devastating news for everyone, but at least they had found her, as sad as that was.
Her family could get closure, lay her to rest and not spend the next twenty years wondering where their baby girl was.
‘Roger that, well done and thank you. I’m on my way to the mortuary now for Dawson Turner’s PM.
Do you need the pathologist to come out, or are we going to get the body moved here?
If someone can make contact with Scarlett’s family liaison officer, they can break the news that a body has been found, and we can meet them here for an ID while we’re already here. ’
‘Yeah, we’ll sort that out, Ben. No need for the pathologist to come here. She’s been in the water far too long, and there is no chance of her being alive. Wendy is still here, and she will bag the hands up and anything else that needs to be done to preserve any forensics.’
Susie greeted them with a buzz cut of neon orange-coloured hair. She was grinning at them until she realised that they were listening to their radios intently.
Morgan reached out and patted her arm, whispering, ‘Sorry.’
Ben tucked his radio back in his pocket. ‘Well, bloody hell. I don’t know whether I’m relieved or gutted.’
‘Bad news?’ Susie asked.
He nodded. ‘Unfortunately, they found a body snagged on some rocks in the same lake that the lad was pulled out of last night.’
‘Ah, no way. That’s devastating for the family and so, so sad. I said to Declan before, what on earth were they doing out in that weather last night? I was driving to see my friend, and it was terrible here. I can’t imagine what it was like out on the middle of a mountain.’
‘Fell,’ Ben muttered.
‘Who fell?’ asked Susie.
‘Not a mountain, they were on the side of a fell.’
Susie rolled her eyes at Morgan. ‘Same thing in my world, big hill, too steep to walk up, in the middle of nowhere.’
‘You’re right, definitely too steep to be walking up in any weather,’ said Morgan, smiling at her, trying to ease the tension.
Ben was taking this bad, much worse than she’d expected.
Thankfully Susie realised he wasn’t in the mood, so she didn’t tease him by asking what book he was currently reading.
Ben walked off to the men’s changing room, leaving them staring after him.
‘It’s been a long, awful night. He’s tired and stressed.’
‘I don’t doubt that. I bet you’re both tired and stressed. Bless you, some deaths are harder than others, aren’t they? I really struggle when it’s a kid that comes in, and thankfully that rarely happens, but when they do, I can barely keep it together.’
‘Kids are bad, well every unexpected death is bad, but kids are a whole other level. These are still kids, just bigger ones; three friends who went out last night for an adventure and only one made it back alive, it’s heartbreaking.’
‘What the hell happened, Morgan?’
‘We’re still trying to figure that one out, Susie.’
Susie left Morgan to get gowned up. Morgan wished more than anything that she wasn’t having to do this, that Dawson had turned around when Tori had told him to and got the hell out of Camp Buttermere while he had the chance.