Chapter 21
TWENTY-ONE
Declan was smiling at Ben when Morgan walked through the doors that led into the mortuary, and Ben was actually smiling back which was a miracle. He’d been in a terrible mood all morning. She got why that would be, but still she preferred him a little less anxious.
Declan turned his attention to her. ‘Look at you, Morgan, if you don’t look like something the cat dragged in.’
‘Thanks, Declan, I almost drowned, so you know I’m not quite feeling my best at the moment.’
He held up his hands. ‘Forgive me, my mouth ran away with my observations before I could silence it. I’m sorry, I believe you were very brave, selfless and very stupid going into that lake.
However, I’m sure that Dawson appreciates your bravery, as will his family who are about to turn up to ID him, so if we get that done before we start, that would be wonderful. Is this okay with you, Ben?’
Ben nodded. ‘I thought the ID had already taken place.’
‘Unfortunately not, Dawson’s parents weren’t sure if they could do it, but his mum said she had to know if it was him. Which is why he’s already in the viewing room waiting for her to arrive. I believe the family liaison officer is bringing her in, if you wanted to have a little chat to her.’
Morgan didn’t want to chat to her, not because of any reason other than she felt so sad about all of this, and now Scarlett’s body was on the way here too, another ID.
That was two too many for her liking in such a short space of time.
Those kids should be in college now, not about to be cut open on a cold steel mortuary table.
Susie popped her head in. ‘They’re here.’
Ben grabbed Morgan’s arm. ‘It’s okay, I’ll go speak to them.’
For some reason, she felt relieved and so very grateful to him for taking this off her shoulders.
She waited behind with Joe and Claire, the two CSI who had been sent to evidence the post-mortem because Wendy, and Carl, the crime scene manager, were still at the scene.
All three of the stood around in silence, until the doorbell at the rear of the room rang and Morgan realised it would be the undertakers with Scarlett’s body.
There was no one to let them inside. Hurrying over, she opened the door to see two women both dressed in black standing next to a silver van with the words private ambulance written on the side in bold, black font.
There was a police car pulling up behind it.
Scotty got out of it and sauntered towards her.
‘Morgan.’
‘Scotty.’
‘I’m here to book the victim in, no ID on her but everyone is assuming it’s Scarlett because of where she was found. It’s so sad.’
‘That’s good, well I mean, at least they’ve found her.
I’m here for the other victim’s post-mortem.
’ Not sure why, but she felt she needed to explain herself to him.
How long was it going to take before she stopped feeling guilty about almost getting his door kicked in and having him arrested on suspicion of murder? Probably forever at this rate.
She stepped back to the sound of the metal shutters rolling upwards and saw Susie standing there with the remote for them in her hand.
‘Thanks, Morgan, Declan and Ben are sorting the viewing out. Blimey, it’s all go this afternoon.’
She nodded and stepped back to let Susie get on with booking the body in.
The black body bag looked small, and she felt another stabbing pain inside her chest. The world had gone mad.
Scotty was filling out the forms, and she had an uncontrollable urge to ask him if he’d heard of the watcher who appeared on the fell when it was misty and followed walkers who were lost. She didn’t, though, because Susie would have had a field day with that snippet of chit-chat, but then she wondered if Susie knew about it or if it was just a local lore, and decided she had nothing to lose.
‘Do you know any folk tales about the area surrounding that old summer camp?’ There, she’d said it without thinking about the consequences.
Susie shook her head, and Scotty did too.
‘Erm, what kind of lore? Spooky, wild, urban legend type of lore?’ Susie was wheeling the gurney into the mortuary.
‘I guess so.’
Susie stopped and looked up. ‘You guess so, what’s that supposed to mean, Morgan? What have you heard? You tell me and I’ll tell you what I know.’
Scotty and the undertakers were standing near to the metal shutters. Everyone was staring at Morgan, who felt her throat begin to close up. They were all ears.
‘Erm, I heard there was the ghost of a girl haunting the summer camp, and a guy out there, who some people call the watcher; he walks around behind lost walkers on the fell whenever the weather is foggy or misty.’
Scotty laughed. ‘The watcher, what’s he watching in the fog? Is that it, he just walks behind people?’
‘Well, not just that. Apparently, he’s nine-foot tall, pale-skinned and, I don’t know… It’s just what I heard. I’m not saying it’s true or that he’s out there.’
‘Hahahaha, good, because I’m not sure what the point is.’
Morgan felt stupid now, wishing she had never opened her mouth.
‘I heard that when I was a kid,’ said Susie.
Morgan looked at her expression to see if she was teasing her, but her lips were set in a straight line and there was no hint of humour on her face.
‘Well, my gran used to call him the grey man, but I reckon it’s the same thing. Nine-foot tall, only seen when it’s misty, that kind of thing.’
Morgan nodded. ‘Did she say if he did anything, is he a ghost or what?’
Susie shrugged. ‘I can ask her for you, not sure if she’ll remember it now though, her dementia is pretty bad most days.’
‘Thanks, that would be great.’
‘You know who you need out on that fell, don’t you?’ Scotty was grinning.
‘Who?’
‘Mulder and Scully off The X-Files, they’ll find your watcher and figure out what he’s doing.’
Morgan laughed, secretly she wanted to tell him to shut up but she did love watching old reruns of The X-Files.
‘You better not tell the boss you’re looking for a grey man, watcher dude for this.’ He pointed to the body bag on the table. ‘He’ll have an instant heart attack on the spot.’
‘I think you’re right. Marc isn’t the most open-minded of people.’
Declan walked in to find them whispering; they had formed a semi-circle around the body bag on the gurney. ‘What in the bejesus is going on in here, are you trying to summon that poor soul back from the dead?’
Scotty guffawed loudly, too loudly, and he cupped a hand over his mouth. ‘I’ll leave this in your capable hand, Morgan.’ He turned and walked towards the door.
The undertakers hovered around.
‘Can you sign our paperwork, please?’ She waved it in Susie’s direction, and Susie walked towards her, uncapping a pen.
Declan smiled at Morgan.
‘The family is on their way to ID this victim, who I have been told was pulled out of the same lake the teenage boy was found in. Apparently, they heard it on social media that a body had been discovered in the water and they can’t wait.
Which technically, I get. I mean how awful for them, especially to hear the news over social media first. Ben’s just chatting to Caroline, then we’ll rock and roll with this identification.
Today is not going how I expected it would at all, but it’s not a bad thing.
Sometimes things happen for a reason, now don’t tell me what that reason could be because I can’t figure it out, but you know there could well be one. ’