Chapter 4
FOUR
Scotty and Amber left with Mike in the van; they had assured him he wasn’t under arrest but needed to get his prints and a swab, which he hadn’t even argued about.
This made Morgan doubt he had anything to do with the murder, but it would be foolish to not process him.
Better to rule him out than let him walk away from here ready to kill again.
As much as she hated being right, from her experience, anyone who committed a violent crime such as this didn’t just walk away and turn into a saint for the rest of their lives.
The violence was always there bubbling underneath the skin, just waiting for the right moment to break free.
Wendy, Ben, and Morgan sheltered inside the CSI van, waiting for backup to arrive in the form of a search team. Marc, their detective inspector, beat the search team to it as he drove up the pitted, bumpy drive in his Porsche.
Wendy rolled her eyes. ‘I thought he was going on holiday. I bet you two a tenner he insists on going inside there to have a look around.’
Morgan smiled. ‘I bet you twenty he does.’
Ben shook his head. ‘I’ll bet you both fifty because there is no way he’s going to wait outside like a good lad should.’
They watched as he got out of his car, walked to the boot and began to rip open a packet containing the white crime-scene overalls they were already wearing.
When he was suited and booted, he walked towards the hotel, turning to wave at them.
When none of them attempted to get out of the van he beckoned them to him.
Ben groaned. ‘For fuck’s sake.’
Wendy sniggered, cupping a hand across her mouth. ‘Go on, your boss is calling you both. I don’t answer to him so I’m staying put until you tell me that Michael Myers isn’t hiding out in that creepy hotel ready to stab you all.’
‘You wait here, Morgan.’ Ben’s order was clear.
She paused to think about it then opened the van door and jumped out. ‘I don’t think so, if you’re going in, so am I. Don’t give me any of that crap, we’re a team.’
‘We’re also trying to stay alive and if you wait out here, you can tell backup to hurry up when we get chased out by a knife-wielding maniac.’
‘Wendy is quite capable of doing that.’ Morgan strode towards Marc, and she heard Ben muttering under his breath behind her.
‘Boss.’
‘Morgan, Ben, what’s the craic then?’
Morgan glanced at Ben and arched an eyebrow, had he really just said that out loud?
‘Dead security guard was on her own doing the rounds. Got a message to her control room to say there was someone inside before her radio died. Then phoned us because there was a dropped nine nine nine call. Scotty arrived on scene and found her stabbed to death in an empty room upstairs.’
‘Do we have someone in custody? Who was that Scotty was transporting back?’
‘The guy who worked in the office who—’ Ben stopped talking. ‘Have we got a name for the victim?’
Morgan nodded. ‘Lauren Williams, but here’s the thing, Scotty said that Lydia Williams was her sister and they have another sister, too. They were estranged.’
Marc’s expression was blank, the name didn’t mean anything to him, and Morgan felt her toes curl up along with her fingertips that she had to quickly stuff inside of her paper suit pockets.
How he managed to grate on her last nerve so effortlessly was beyond her comprehension, she imagined he must be infuriating to live with.
‘The woman who was found dead in a roof tent a couple of months ago.’
Marc’s mouth dropped so wide open she could count the fillings at the back of his mouth.
‘For real?’
‘According to Scotty.’
‘That’s horrific.’
‘I know.’
‘What are we waiting for? Let’s sweep the building, and who is looking for the estranged sister? She could be good for this.’
Morgan wondered how many US cop shows her boss watched in his free time, sweep the building?
Ben answered for her. ‘With all due respect, sir, we have nothing to protect ourselves and it’s a big building to sweep. If he’s still in there, he could attack any one of us.’
Marc glanced inside the entrance. It was dusky now, and the light which had been poor after the storm wasn’t good enough to work their way through the empty building safely without powerful lights.
‘I suppose so.’
Tyres on the gravel announced the arrival of the armed search team, and Morgan was glad to see them. She was hungry and too stressed to go in that building alone with Marc and Ben. If Marc irritated her any further, it might not be the killer he needed to run away from.
The slamming of doors and heavy boots on the path as a team of four cops arrived, all dressed from head to toe in black, with tasers and guns, made Morgan feel a whole lot better.
She felt so bad for leaving Lauren up there alone, but this had to be done the right way.
If Lauren had still been alive, Morgan would never have left her and protected her at all costs.
A sharp pain stabbed her heart at the grief she felt for the dead woman.
Morgan saw herself in someone working as a security guard.
She obviously wasn’t scared of putting herself in danger.
It could have been Morgan herself who got killed this time.
All she had been doing was her job, a job she’d been doing for months, one she could probably do with her eyes closed.
How did the killer know she would be here at this time?
They had to have been watching either her or the building; she needed to ask Mike, or Lauren’s friends once they interviewed him, if she’d ever mentioned anyone stalking her.
Al’s smiling face was a welcome distraction from Marc; she smiled back at him, and Daisy, who was standing to the side of him, mouthed ‘hi’ at Morgan, and she grinned back at her.
‘What’s the plan?’
Marc spoke before either she or Ben could. ‘Building needs searching. The killer could still be in there.’
‘It’s a big building, is there any indication he’s still inside?’
Marc pointed at Ben. ‘Not really, but the victim was brutally murdered, chased upstairs, throat cut and bled out in one of the guest rooms. Plus, Scotty arrived pretty quickly. Victim hasn’t been dead long, and the hotel is huge—’
Morgan interrupted. ‘There’s a knife in her chest too, just like the two murders last month.’
Al tilted his head. ‘Didn’t that woman who did those murders kill herself?’
‘Yes.’
‘Copycat?’ he asked.
Morgan shrugged. ‘Can’t say, but I didn’t think we had released about the murder weapon being left inside their chest.’
Ben turned to Al. ‘I don’t know offhand if that information was made public, but we’re going to have to look into it.’
Al began to give orders to the three officers standing next to him. ‘Me and you will take the upstairs, Daisy; Eric and Paul can take down. Clean sweep, every cupboard, wardrobe, room, searched. I want to know that we didn’t miss an inch of this place.’
Eric held up a hand. ‘Attics and cellars?’
Al nodded. ‘Absolutely, anywhere we can’t access we’ll either see if there’s a key or break the door down.’
‘The victim is the security guard; I’m sure she’ll have a set of keys for the place on her,’ Morgan said.
‘Perfect, seeing as how you’re suited, Morgan, can you retrieve those for us in case we need them? Unless there is anywhere a fully grown male can hide in the room the body is in, we’ll give that one a miss. We don’t want to storm through it and ruin everything.’
If she could have kicked herself, she would have, gladly.
Marc said, ‘I’ll accompany you; I can take a look at the scene then.’
‘Yes, boss.’ Her voice was loaded with a lack of enthusiasm for the task she’d just been asked to perform. When was she going to learn to keep her mouth shut? Wendy had joined them and was standing with her hands on her hips.
‘Can you be very careful on the staircase; don’t touch the railings or go near the broken pieces of the radio that’s in pieces at the foot of them.
I’ve only body cammed and photographed, I haven’t had time to process anything before we had to exit the building.
Also, the corridor leading down to the room the victim is in. ’
Al was nodding. ‘Absolutely, Wendy, we won’t compromise anything unless the killer appears and starts causing chaos.’
Wendy smiled at him – who couldn’t smile at Al? He was one of the good guys and always had a smile for everyone.
‘Thanks, appreciate that.’
He gave her a little salute and then led the team to the entrance. Turning back he waved Morgan to him.
‘We’ll go first; you follow, okay?’
‘Great, thanks.’
He winked at her, and she couldn’t stay annoyed for long, besides this was her own fault.
Sometimes she was too observant for her own good.
But that was a good thing, right? If she didn’t pick up on the small things that mattered, then she wouldn’t have such a great track record at doing this, at finding the bad people who thought they were God and could choose who lived and died because of their twisted beliefs.