Chapter 39
THIRTY-NINE
True to Marc’s word, there was a van stationed across the narrow road that led up the side of the fell.
The two officers inside of it waved when they realised it was Cain driving and reversed enough so he could get the panda car around them.
Morgan directed him to the almost hidden entrance up the fell that led to Joyce’s house.
The mist hadn’t arrived, and Morgan had never been so relieved.
She knew that this watcher legend wasn’t true, it couldn’t be.
They were looking for a very real person, not some ghost. But she did think that someone was out there pretending to be the watcher, and it was so creepy, not to mention downright terrifying.
There were lights on inside the cottage, and Morgan was glad that Joyce was home. She didn’t want to think of her out there in the dark.
Morgan gave the door three quick raps in succession with her knuckles, the same knock she’d used earlier, and stepped back so if Joyce looked out of the upstairs window, she would see her and Cain.
When the door opened, she was kind of disappointed that Joyce wasn’t still wearing her Demogorgon onesie; instead she had a pair of Hocus Pocus pyjamas on, and Morgan thought that she might be in love with this older woman’s nightwear wardrobe.
‘Morgan?’ Joyce’s voice was questioning. ‘Is everything okay?’
‘Can we come in, Joyce? This is my colleague, Cain. We are looking for two missing women, and our boss has asked that we check your house and outbuildings just in case they turn up or are in some kind of trouble.’
Joyce stepped back. ‘Of course, but I would like to think I’d have known if two strangers were in my house, hiding some place.’
Morgan smiled at her. ‘I know you would, but it’s protocol when we have high risk missing persons to search the nearest properties and outbuildings. Is that okay?’
‘Of course, I have nothing and nobody to hide. Oh dear, I’m so sorry there are two missing women. That is dreadful, such a worry.’
‘It really is, would you like to show us around, Joyce?’
She shook her head. ‘No, you help yourselves. I’ll wait down here for you.’
Cain, who was nearest to the stairs, had to duck his head to go up them they were so low. His heavy steps vibrated the wooden treads.
Morgan pointed to the rooms with closed doors. ‘Are you okay if I look in these? How many outbuildings do you have, Joyce?’
‘Just an old barn that’s falling down and a shed full of my husband’s rusted tools that haven’t been used in years, well except for the lawnmower. In the summer, I try and keep the front neat, but I let the sheep come in and graze on the back garden. It’s too big to mow at my age.’
‘Does your grandson not help out?’
She laughed. ‘Daley does not do manual work. He’s a city boy, works in a fancy office in Carlisle.
He would pay for someone to come in, but what’s the point?
It’s not as if I’m going to enter the best garden in the street competition.
It’s just me and Amos up here, and as far as I know he lets the sheep do his grazing too. ’
Morgan smiled at her. ‘Where does Daley work?’
‘You know, I couldn’t tell you. How awful is that? All I know is that he gets paid a lot of money to be some kind of fancy consultant. Gets to work his own hours and be his own boss. He’s done good for himself. I’m very proud of him.’
‘That’s nice, could we get his address and date of birth just to add to our notes.’
Joyce nodded. ‘I’ll get them for you, before you go. I have them written down.’ She pointed to her temple. ‘My memory isn’t as good as it used to be, forget my head if it was loose.’
She opened the door to the first room and felt for the light switch.
It was a living room with a sofa, TV and coffee table covered in magazines, and a Stranger Things mug full of cold tea.
The other room was a dining room and empty too.
She went back to the kitchen, where Joyce was sitting at the small table nursing a mug of tea.
‘Would you like a drink?’
‘No, thanks. We’ve got to get back.’
‘Busy, you haven’t stopped all day, have you?’
Morgan shook her head. ‘Is it okay to check your outbuildings, Joyce? Have you been out there lately?’
‘No, I don’t really know the last time I went out there. I used to keep my wood for the log burner out there, but Daley had a little log store put next to the back door, so I didn’t have to traipse around in the dark.’
‘Daley is a good lad.’
Joyce laughed. ‘He really is, so was my son, his dad. I miss him terribly; he drowned in a lake after drunkenly thinking it was a good idea to go swimming after a few too many pints on a night out with his friends.’
Morgan could see the grief in Joyce’s eyes. ‘That’s so sad, what about Daley’s mum? Is she still around?’
‘She moved to Benidorm, and as far as I know she’s okay. She couldn’t handle being here in the cold and damp. We sometimes go visit her; she’s a good woman. I love her a lot for a daughter-in-law. She loved my son, so I loved her, it’s all I ever wanted for him.’
Morgan smiled at her. ‘That’s a lovely way to look at it. Do I need a key for the barn or shed?’
‘No, there’s nothing in there worth stealing and, if they did, they’d be doing me a favour.’
Cain thundered back down the stairs. ‘I’ll come with you.’
They went out into the vast darkness, the shape of the barn and shed two silhouettes against the black sky. There were no stars or moon to illuminate the side of the fell and it was creepy; no wonder Joyce didn’t come out here in the dark.
‘It’s so dark out here, the lights from the cottage don’t shine very far,’ said Cain.
They didn’t. Morgan switched on the torch she’d brought along with her.
‘I forgot my torch.’
She smiled at him. ‘Good job I have one. What about your phone?’
‘It’s on like two per cent battery.’
‘We’ll manage then, stay close.’
‘Morgan, I’m not exactly going to wander off when I can’t see shit in front of my face.’
She grinned, like it or not he was funny even when he wasn’t trying to be. They reached the shed first and she elbowed Cain in the ribs. ‘Take one for the team, it might be full of spiders.’
‘You’re such a chancer, Brookes, how do you not know I’m not terrified of them. I could have agoraphobia.’
‘Then spiders won’t bother you, will they, you idiot. If you were scared of spiders, you’d have arachnophobia.’
‘Same thing.’
‘No, it’s not at all, agoraphobia is a fear of being in situations you can’t escape from.’
‘Then it’s near enough. I am in fear of being in this situation with you.’
‘Cain.’
He laughed then knocked on the shed door. Morgan arched her eyebrow at him.
‘What? Just alerting the spiders we’re coming in.’
She shook her head. He lifted the latch and pushed open the door; she shone the torch inside.
‘Hello, is anyone in here?’ Morgan called out.
Silence greeted them, and she wasn’t surprised; in fact, she was kind of relieved.
The shed wasn’t big, but Cain ducked his head and went inside, waving his arm around to disperse any cobwebs.
Morgan stepped inside behind him. Joyce was right, a lawnmower and other tools, empty plant pots, but no women and nowhere for them to be hiding.
‘I guess we should try the barn.’
‘I guess we should,’ answered Cain.
They headed towards the much bigger stone building, and Cain held out his hand in the direction of the door. ‘Your turn.’
Morgan didn’t argue with him. This was a much bigger space than the shed, hopefully the spiders would be much higher up.
She pushed open the door, and it moved a couple of inches before getting stuck.
She pushed again, with no luck. Cain pressed both his hands on it, and it let out a long, slow creak before giving way and opening wide enough for them both to get in.
‘Welcome to my crypt,’ he whispered, doing an awful Dracula voice.
‘Scarlett, Janey, it’s the police, are you in here?’
It was so quiet all she could hear was Cain’s breathing behind her.
She stepped inside and walked around, waving her hands in front of her in case there were giant cobwebs.
It smelled much better than Amos’s barn where they’d found Janey’s phone, musty but nothing bad.
She walked around it. There were some broken old chairs next to a table that was on its side.
Cain walked the opposite way around to her and they both met in the middle.
‘Nothing.’ He shrugged at her. ‘Now what?’
Morgan closed her eyes briefly, just a couple of seconds, before opening them. ‘We keep looking until we find them. We’re not giving up on them.’
‘No, we’re not. But we’re going to have to grab some rest, Morgan. We can’t focus on exhaustion. I’m wiped out today both mentally and physically, I need my bed.’
He was right, she knew he was, but oh, how she wanted to go outside onto that cold and lonely fell, to scream their names at the top of her lungs and hope that they heard her and that it gave them hope to cling onto until she found them.
Eyes blurry with tears, she rushed past Cain to get outside and did just that, cupping her hands around her mouth.
‘Scarlett, Janey, I’m looking for you.’ Her voice loud, so loud that it echoed around the valley below.
Cain wrapped his arm around her shoulders and squeezed.
‘I hope they heard that, and can I just say that you made me jump so far out of my skin I think my soul left my body. You have a big mouth, Brookes. Come on, let’s call it a day, we’ve done everything that we can, so don’t feel bad and get yourself all worked up about it. ’
She smiled at him in the darkness and leaned back into his arms. She wanted this to be over, wanted the killer in cuffs and in the safety of a police cell so nobody else stupid enough to be out here when the weather turned had to pay the ultimate price with their lives.