Chapter 36
THIRTY-SIX
Ben was nowhere to be found, his office had been well and truly taken over by their temporary inspector. Morgan rang him and his voice was low as he asked her, ‘How did you get on?’
‘Where are you? I have coffee and cake.’
‘In Marc’s office, can’t stand being in such close proximity to that man, it’s too claustrophobic in my office with him in there. I don’t know what cheap deodorant or aftershave he uses but give me Lynx Africa any day over the putrid stuff he wears.’
‘On my way.’ Morgan snorted with laughter, grabbed a coffee out of the holder and a bag with two cakes in it out of Cain’s fingers.
‘Where are you going?’
‘To speak to Ben. Give me ten minutes, will you, before you come charging into Marc’s office.’
‘Oh, right. Yes, will do.’ He winked at her and saluted.
‘Bugger off, Cain, I mean to talk to him about what we’ve discovered.’
‘Oh, yes.’ Now he had one hand free, he took out his phone and was staring at it. His brow furrowed as he squinted at it and Morgan guessed he still hadn’t heard from Angela.
‘Look, why don’t you nip home whilst I’m talking to Ben and go see if she’s okay. There are probably several reasons why you can’t get hold of her. I bet her phone isn’t working.’
He nodded. ‘You think Ben would mind?’
‘Of course not, let me know when you get hold of her, okay. Just to put my mind at rest too.’
Cain had one coffee left in the carrier and he took it out, threw the carrier into the recycling and hurried away with the spare coffee.
Morgan watched him, her stomach a little queasy thinking about Angela’s prolonged absence.
She was praying she hadn’t got into a car accident or any other kind of accident, but surely there would be a log on.
She realised then that neither she nor Cain had been paying any attention to their radios all afternoon.
Taking the stairs, she saw Ben’s shadow in the glow of the computer monitor behind Marc’s desk. He was sitting in the dark, which made her smile. Pushing the door open she walked in.
‘Am I glad to see you, is that for me?’
Morgan passed him the cake and the coffee. ‘Yes, it is.’
‘I could kiss you.’
‘Well, don’t let me stop you.’ She grinned at him. ‘I have news which I think puts Scotty out of the question unless—’ She stopped talking. Could he be the adopted brother of the Williams sisters? Who knew? Should she be ruling him out so soon?
‘Tell me then.’
‘There is an adopted, foster, half or stepbrother.’
Ben’s eyes widened.
‘There is? How did you find this out?’
‘By the way, Cain came with me. He sent Stan to speak to Lauren’s boyfriend, is that okay?’ Ben was nodding. ‘Also, I said you wouldn’t mind if he nipped home. He hasn’t been able to get in touch with Angela for a few hours now and he’s worried.’
The look of concern on Ben’s face made her remember just how much of a good boss he really was. ‘He hasn’t? Do you think she’s okay?’
Morgan shrugged. ‘Probably, her phone might be broken, but he looked really upset.’
‘Should you have gone with him, do you think?’
‘I didn’t ask.’
‘Should I ring him?’
‘Up to you, maybe let him get home and check if she’s there first.’
Ben was nodding. ‘Good plan. So, what are we thinking about this mystery brother?’
‘Well, I think there is a good chance he’s involved, but I can’t rule out that he could be the next victim. Either way we need to find him ASAP.’
‘I agree he looks good for it, but we have zero evidence to suggest that it might be him, or do you have something? Please tell me you do so we can bring him in and put this to bed once and for all.’
‘Sorry, all I have is that he was possibly in some kind of drowning accident as a baby. The girl we spoke to earlier overheard Lauren last year at a BBQ having a conversation with who she thinks was her sister.’
All the excitement drained from Ben’s face. ‘Is that it, not exactly concrete proof of him existing. I mean that’s just hearsay.’
Morgan’s shoulders slumped and she felt deflated. ‘It’s better than nothing and it’s a good angle to begin looking at.’
‘Oh, it is. You’re right, sorry I’m just thinking logically.’
‘But a secret brother would make sense, especially if he’s the psychotic contingency.’
‘I don’t know, I mean, I want to. I really do, it does make perfect sense.’
‘But?’
‘How are you going to trace him?’
‘Angela would have been working as a social worker around that time, and I thought she might be able to help or point me in the right direction.’
‘Okay, so we’re forgetting about Scotty?’ Ben looked hopeful.
‘If he wasn’t in a drowning accident as a young kid and doesn’t have three sisters.’
Ben spat the mouthful of lukewarm coffee all down the front of his shirt. ‘You’re going to give me a heart attack. You’re saying he could be Lauren’s half-brother?’
‘I’m trying not to; can I just quiz him about his family?’
‘Morgan, if I say no, you’re only going to do it anyway, be discreet about it.’
She sat down opposite him. ‘Or I can do a bit of digging on his Facebook page.’
‘You can dig away. Aren’t you due a break? What you do on that is of no concern of mine as long as you’re discreet about it.’
She grinned at him. ‘I seriously think I’m wrong, but I’d rather be sure than let it go and someone else gets killed.’
‘Trust me, if you’re right, I’m never getting over it; I’ve said it too many times he hasn’t got the umph to do it.’
‘I hope you’re right and if you’re wrong, Ben, then we’re going to have to make it official and ask HR to release his information to us so we can check his blood type and see if his DNA is a match.’
Ben groaned a little too loudly.
She ignored him and leaned back in the chair opening the Facebook app on her phone, and after ten minutes she put it away. ‘I think you’re right, he doesn’t mention any family except his wife and kids. I’ve been right through his friends list and none of the Williams sisters are on it.’
‘Are you friends with his wife?’
‘Not really, I mean I know her. I’ve met her a few times. Should I be?’
‘I’m not saying that, just curious.’
‘Ben, I hate Facebook. I rarely go on it except for work purposes. Why would I be friends with Scotty’s wife? I only know her to say hi to and talk about the weather.’
‘I don’t know, I don’t use it, so I don’t understand how it works.’
Morgan’s finger hovered over the add friend button, then, as if out of her control, she pressed it. ‘Oops.’
He shook his head. Almost immediately, her request was accepted, and she began scrolling through Lisa’s list of friends, which was four times longer than Scotty’s. A message popped up.
Hey Morgan.
‘Crap.’
‘What’s up?’
‘Lisa is messaging me.’
Ben rolled his eyes, shaking his head.
Hey Lisa, just wondered how Scotty was. He was pretty upset earlier.
I know, bless him. He’s taken the dog for a walk to clear his head. He’s had a rough few weeks at work. He’s known the Williams sisters since school. We used to hang around with Lauren; she was one of our mates. It’s so sad.
Tragic, tell him I was asking after him.
Thanks, I will. Xx.
Morgan closed the app. ‘Well, I was right, he does know them better than he’s letting on.’
Ben clapped his hands together. ‘Good. What confirmed it for you? Getting caught sneaking around by Lisa? Or have you come to your senses, because let’s face it, we both know Scotty is far too lazy to carry out something of this magnitude.’
‘No. She said they were mates with Lauren at school. She would have known if he was their brother, wouldn’t she? I mean it stands to reason that she would have, and wouldn’t we know? Surely, he would have mentioned it when he found Lydia’s body, that she was his sister.’
‘Yes, I’d say so, unless he killed her. Oh God, Morgan, what are you doing to me?’
She grinned at Ben. ‘Sorry, okay, Scotty is temporarily off the top of my suspect list then, but I’m not ruling him out completely. I’m going to keep him hovering in the background just in case anything crops up that directly ties him to it.’
‘Good, that’s okay. I can deal with that, I think.’
Her phone began ringing and she saw Cain’s name. ‘Hey, is Angela okay?’
‘No, I can’t find her. The house is empty; she hasn’t been back here. Her phone and handbag are not here, neither is her car. What if she’s been in a car accident or something.’
He was talking so fast he didn’t pause for breath. The panic in his voice made her heart begin to race.
‘Maybe she had to go see somebody and her phone died, or she might have broken down somewhere with no signal. Please try not to panic, I’m sure she’s—’
‘No, Morgan. You don’t understand, ever since the day we first began seeing each other we’ve never missed messaging each other some way or another.
Stupid jokes, what do I fancy for tea, that kind of thing.
I have this bad feeling inside of my gut, deep inside of it, that something awful has happened. ’
‘Have you phoned around the hospitals?’
‘I’m just about to do that. What if she’s left me, Morgan? I don’t know what I’d do. I want to spend the rest of my life with her.’
‘Did you guys have an argument or something?’
‘No, nothing at all. I left for work after giving her a kiss. She was busy on her laptop, said she was working on something for a client she worked with years ago and was meeting her friend for lunch.’
‘What kind of thing?’
‘She said she was helping her client find her son that got taken away from her. She was pretty evasive about it but said it was a favour and giving her some kind of purpose again and something about there’s life in her yet.’
‘What about Amy, could she have gone there?’
‘I’ve messaged Amy, but she hasn’t replied, she might be asleep. Morgan, what if she’s hurt somewhere or something bad has happened?’
‘This is Angela, I’m sure she’s fine. It’s not like she works anywhere to put herself into any danger like we do. She’s a retired social worker, it’s not exactly a dangerous position to be in.’
‘Can you check the logs and see if there’s been any accidents?’
‘I’ll do that now. Then I’ll send a patrol out to take details. I’ll swing by Amy’s on the way. I’ll come to you as soon as I can, okay. Don’t panic, we’ll find her.’
Ben was standing up. ‘What’s going on?’
‘Angela isn’t there, he’s panicking.’
‘I know that feeling. Come on, we’ll go see him and I’ll put the log on. Don’t send a copper he doesn’t know, that wouldn’t be fair to him. Have you seen those kids on shift tonight, they look about eighteen and fresh out of college.’
Morgan followed him out of the office.
John’s voice boomed over the railings as they rushed down the stairs. ‘Hey, where are you two going?’
‘Can’t stop, busy.’ Morgan didn’t even look him in the face as she shouted it.
‘I need an update.’
She waved her hand in the air. ‘Back soon.’ Then she dashed out of the door after Ben who had grabbed a set of keys for a marked car.
He didn’t put the blues on because there was no log on for him to be attached to yet, but at least he could put his foot down.
That uneasy feeling in Morgan’s stomach had turned into full-on summersaults and she had to swallow the bile threatening to rise up her throat.
On top of trying to find a serial killer she was now worrying about Angela as well.
She wasn’t sure how much more her nerves could take and she desperately hoped that Cain was panicking over nothing, because she didn’t know how he would cope if anything awful happened to Angela.