Chapter 34
THIRTY-FOUR
Whilst Morgan ordered the coffee and cakes that Cain was pointing towards, her mind was working overtime.
Had the row between the three sisters caused that much of a rift between them it was worth killing them all for?
But how did Sharon Montgomery fit in? Was it to throw them off?
And what about this mystery brother? Lancs police hadn’t mentioned a brother, had they?
Could he be at risk or was he the one so upset with his sisters that he had decided to murder them in cold blood?
Cain called Stan, who picked up immediately. ‘What you doing, Stan?’
‘I’m at Lauren Williams’s flat with her partner like you asked me to.’
‘Oh, perfect timing then. Are you free to speak?’
‘Just a minute.’
The line went quiet, and he heard Stan excuse himself and the sound of his footsteps, then a door close.
‘I am now, what’s up?’
‘Morgan just spoke to someone who knew all of the sisters.’
‘And?’
‘I’m getting to the good part, give me a minute.
Apparently, there is a brother, maybe stepbrother, half-brother, some relationship to them anyway.
Can you ask Joey if he’s aware of him, maybe knows his name, ask if Lauren had any photographs of him lying around?
There’s a cake and a coffee with your name on it if you can get any further information. ’
‘That’s amazing, yes, of course. I’ll go ask him now. Or do you think I should ask Caroline to ask him?’
‘How is he?’
‘Devastated, hasn’t stopped crying since I got here. It’s pretty hard to get any conversation out of him to be fair.’
‘Maybe he might talk more to Caroline. No offence, mate, but you know she’s good at this stuff, being doing it for years. Ask her if she can do it as soon as she thinks it’s appropriate.’
‘Yeah, will do.’
‘See you back at the station then.’
Cain ended the call in time to pick up the cardboard carrier full of coffee to carry it to the car, leaving Morgan to carry a small brown paper bag full of cakes.
They got back to the car and stowed the coffees.
‘What did Stan say?’
‘He’s going to get Caroline to talk to Joey, said he’s distressed and not really spoken a word to him.
I doubt he’s going to open to Stan, but Caz is good, she’ll get the information we need out of him.
Then hopefully we’ll be able to get all the background checks done and get an arrest team together. ’
‘You think whoever this brother is, he’s guilty then?’
‘Has to be, don’t you think?’
She nodded, blowing through the hole in the lid of her coffee cup before taking a sip and savouring it with a huge grin on her face.
‘That is so good. Yes, I think it makes sense, I’ve mulled over the possibility that he could be the next victim, but it doesn’t feel right.
We’ve only just found out about him. Maybe he was left out of the parents’ will and is taking his revenge on them one by one.
Wendy was right, it is like an Agatha Christie novel, the twists and turns this case is taking. ’
‘Or maybe he just hates them, they might have been horrible to him. Three girls growing up, if you’re adopted and not made welcome, would be a nightmare to live with, especially if they’re jealous of him.’
‘Horrible enough to make him kill all three of them – and Sharon Montgomery, too? I’m not sure, whoever did this was angry though, angry enough to slit their throats and stab them in the chest. Whoever did this wanted to make sure they were dead, that they couldn’t be saved.
I get the impression he did what he had to do to dispose of them. ’
‘He annihilated them out of his life. Do you know how good we are, finding all of this out? What a team, I can’t wait for you to tell Bigfoot to go shove his arrogance up his arse.’
‘I’m telling Ben before we even mention it to Bigfoot; Ben deserves to know first.’
‘Absolutely, sorry. Getting carried away with myself there. Benno is the boss and always will be unless you finish him off first with all the stress you cause him.’
He rifled around in the bag of cakes, pulling out a huge slice of red velvet cake and taking a huge bite.
‘Don’t choke, Cain, that would be awful.’
He started to laugh, his head shaking at her, then he patted her shoulder before swallowing the mouthful of sponge and buttercream.
‘You’re funny, I’ll try not to.’
‘And I wish you’d stop patting me as if I’m your pet dog, you’re really annoying.’