Chapter 14
FOURTEEN
Morgan had managed a quick shower without getting her hair too wet and had changed into the fresh set of clothes she kept in her locker in case of emergencies.
She even had spare foundation, eyeliner and mascara.
As tired as her eyes looked when she stared at herself in the mirror, at least she appeared a little more like her usual self.
Cain had come up with the goods, a quick trip to The Coffee Pot and he’d brought them decent lattes and breakfast which had tasted so good Morgan could have eaten it all again.
She wouldn’t say she was bright-eyed, but she looked better than dead, and she sat in the blue room waiting for everyone else to join her for the briefing.
Marc was faffing around with the Smart Board.
He had the three blue folders on the desk next to his laptop.
Ben walked in followed by Cain, Stan, Wendy, Joe and Carl from CSI.
Cain was rolling his eyes in Marc’s direction; he had clearly been on one this morning and upset just about everyone whom he had come into contact with.
Morgan was hoping eating some carbs and consuming caffeine had made him a little more human too.
As everyone took their seats the door opened once more and in walked two officers who she instantly knew were from PSD by the serious expressions on their faces, smart suits and stiff backs.
Though it was the thick document files they were carrying that really gave them away.
She glanced at Ben to see his gaze meet theirs and he nodded at them.
He didn’t look too worried; maybe this would all be okay.
‘Before you begin, I just want to introduce myself and my colleague. I’m Aaron Jones and this is Steph Walker.
We both work up at headquarters in the Professional Standards Department.
I think you can gather that we’re here because of the similarities of Lauren Williams’s murder to that of two previous victims including her sister Lydia.
We’re not here to judge or blame anyone; we both want to help as much as we can.
We’re also not here to interrupt the briefing.
We just need to know what’s going on as much as you do and we can take it from there if that’s okay. ’
Aaron sat down next to Morgan. He smiled at her as he did, and she smiled back.
She stole a glance in Stan’s direction, and he looked as if he wanted to run from the room straight back to his old station in St Bees.
Poor bloke was definitely not going to hang around for the long term.
He would be out of here as quickly as he could get a transfer.
She didn’t blame him, but it made her wonder just what kind of copper he’d been when he’d been out on patrol, had he buckled up and joined in with the fights and arrests that were part and parcel of being in uniform, or had he shied away from any drama?
Marc was finding it difficult to stand still; he was raring to go.
‘Right, I suppose we should get started. As you all know a body was found last night in the empty Keswick Manor Hotel. I’m pretty sure most of you are aware of how secluded and abandoned this location is, especially those who’ve worked response, as it’s been a part of the patrol strategy for drive-bys since the owner died, until the sons hired a private security firm to take over after a spate of break-ins.
If you’re not familiar with it then it’s not too far from Crosthwaite church.
This is what we have up to now: Lauren Williams is, was, a thirty-eight-year-old, Caucasian female.
She lives, lived, with her partner, Joey Baker, at twenty-one Kendal Road, recently moved here from York.
There are no known issues between them. They were, according to Lauren’s boss Mike Walker who turned up at the scene last night, in a happy, stable, loving relationship.
They both work for the same company and Mike never heard either of them complaining about the other.
‘Lauren was the regular security guard responsible for monitoring the hotel, and she worked Wednesday to Sunday on the evening shift, has worked at the Rydal Falls Security firm since she moved here and been checking out the hotel for the past two months. She radioed the control room to say there was an intruder then got cut off. Her supervisor drove straight out there, but she also phoned nine nine nine, and that call was abandoned before she could give us any information and, unfortunately, we know why. Cause of death is, as far as we can tell, the slashed throat and stab wounds, and the murder weapon was left in her chest cavity, which is the cause of this chaos. Ben, do you want to explain?’
Morgan knew Ben would rather do anything but, especially when he looked so exhausted, but he stood up with a handful of printouts and passed some in each direction around the table, including crime-scene photographs of the bodies of Lydia Williams and Sharon Montgomery.
Taking a huge gulp of his latte, he cleared his throat which still sounded gravelly, and waited a moment until everyone had looked at those before he began to talk.
‘As you can see from those photographs there is a striking similarity between the wounds inflicted on all three women. As far as I am aware we didn’t release any of this information to the press or on social media.
The only people who would know about the injuries and the way the weapon was left in the chest is anyone who worked the case, the victims’ families and possibly close friends who could have found out from the victims’ loved ones. ’
Morgan sensed Aaron straighten up in his seat. He raised his hand. ‘What are you saying, Ben, that it’s a copycat killing by someone who knows the intimate details of the first two cases?’
Morgan looked at him. ‘That or we never caught the killer. Perhaps they slipped through the net when Beth Montgomery took her own life. She confessed to me to killing Lydia, as well as her daughter Sharon and Sharon’s boyfriend, Jack White.’
Ben gave her a small smile; she was happy to take as much of the blame for this as anyone else.
In fact, she felt that she was to blame, even though the rationality of it meant it was impossible that any of them could be at fault.
Marc had buried his head in his hands, which Cain found highly amusing, by the smirk on his face. Morgan continued speaking.
‘The crime scenes are completely different though. Sharon and Lydia were found inside their roof tents at desolated locations whilst on solo camping trips, and both were vloggers with decent YouTube and Instagram followings. Lauren was found inside Keswick Manor, where she worked, although I suppose it’s not too dissimilar because of how remote the hotel is and the fact that it’s been empty a long time.
There’s also the family connection between two of the victims but not all three. ’
Steph was listening intently. ‘Which is?’
‘Lydia Williams and Lauren Williams are sisters.’
A gasp echoed around the room. Morgan nodded.
‘It’s so sad, and there is another sister, an older one, Lynsey, who is also a vlogger, and she posts under the name of Crystal Yolanda Yoga on her social media accounts.
I have checked but she has posted nothing on social media for about eight weeks, the last was two days after Lydia’s death. ’
Ben was scribbling notes in a notepad. He looked up.
‘We need to focus on finding Lynsey Williams. I want Cain and Morgan on that. We don’t know if she’s alive or if she’s the killer.
Either way we will know once we track her down, and then we can investigate any possible connections to the deaths of Sharon Montgomery and Jack White. ’
Morgan nodded. ‘There is a chance this isn’t connected though, maybe Beth was the killer, and Lynsey has taken this opportunity to dispose of her sister.
Apparently, there was some jealousy between the siblings over their parents’ estate and the vlogging, or there was according to Scotty who knows them.
He messaged Lynsey on Instagram last night for me. ’
‘Did she reply?’ asked Marc.
‘I don’t know, I haven’t heard anything from Scotty, though he said he’d let me know the minute she did.’
Cain groaned. ‘You actually expected him to do that?’
‘Yes.’
‘But we’re talking about—’ Cain stopped talking, remembering who was sitting on either side of him, and he said, ‘Cool, yeah. I guess she didn’t reply.’
Which made Morgan side-eye him.
Ben continued. ‘Family, do we know them? Is there an address for Lydia’s parents?’
‘Parents are both dead, fatal car accident; it was just the three sisters, as far as I know.’
‘And now there is one,’ whispered Wendy. ‘It’s like a horrific modern day Agatha Christie novel.’
‘Who did we have on our list of suspects for the other murders?’ Ben asked,
his eyes were screwed so tight Morgan could have counted the lines on his crow’s feet. They hadn’t really got any definite suspects.
‘Well, we thought Jack could have been involved but that was ruled out when we found his body, and traces of the rope fibres were found at both scenes and also in the Montgomerys’ maid’s quarters at their house.
There was Stefan Montgomery, but isn’t he in France?
Then there was the maid, Marie Jones. I thought she was a little bit suspicious, only it turned out to be Beth, not her at all.
Marie was just being very protective over her employers, and I suppose if they treat her well and pay her a decent wage then why wouldn’t she be? ’
‘We can rule Stefan out, he’s definitely in France. Does the maid have any connection to Lynsey and Lauren though? Is it worth checking her out in case we missed something?’
Morgan squeezed her eyes closed for a second then looked at Ben. ‘If you don’t mind, I’d rather not go back there. Can Stan or Cain go and talk to her, please.’
Ben’s eyes widened in horror. ‘Of course not, I didn’t expect you to go.’
She knew he was so keen to solve this murder, and quickly, that he hadn’t contemplated what it meant to her to send her back to the place she was attacked, and then watched her attacker kill herself.
It was so brutal that whenever Morgan closed her eyes to try and go to sleep, the image of the huge metal blade slicing through Beth Montgomery’s delicate skin across her throat was always there.
Like an ulcer you couldn’t stop probing with the tip of your tongue, she couldn’t stop her mind from replaying that particular movie reel in all its full, technicolour glory.
‘Change of plan. Stan, you can go and speak to Marie, Morgan will give you the address and the background on the Montgomerys. Cain, you can focus on finding Lynsey. I want you out there actively searching for her, home address, place of work, hobbies, friends, where she goes shopping, gym she uses, is that okay?’
Cain nodded.
‘Morgan, we are going to speak to Lauren’s boyfriend, Joey Baker, because we left it in the hands of the Lancs team and I think we need to see him face to face.
Then we’ll go to the scene to take another look, then Lauren can be moved.
Once she’s at the mortuary we have the post-mortem.
Wendy, have CSI finished processing the scene? ’
‘Enough that you can move the body.’
‘Good, we’ll see you there. It’s at three, just about gives us chance to get to the mortuary.
I don’t want the scene releasing, it’s not hurting anyone being left as it is.
There’s no urgency to get it cleared as the hotel has been empty for over a year, so they’re not desperate to get it back. It means we can take our time.’
‘Hallelujah, makes a change not to be under pressure,’ said Wendy.
‘Task Force are going to do a thorough search of the grounds, to see if they can find any evidence. It might take all day, as the gardens are extensive and very overgrown. Is everyone clear on what needs doing?’
They all nodded. ‘Good, thank you, and be careful. I don’t perceive any threat to us, but you never know.’
Ben looked at Morgan, who shook her head at him. It wasn’t as if she purposely went out to get herself in trouble. It was the opposite; trouble seemed to find her no matter where or what she was doing.