‘Still want me to book her in at the mortuary?’
‘Yes, please. Dan is going to follow Harrison home to make sure he gets there safely. Another patrol is on the way to wait here and see if the family turn up, to break the news to them.’
He stood up and got out of the van, followed by Harrison. Dan was already on his way back to his own van. Climbing into the driver’s seat, Morgan turned on the engine, then whacked the dial on the heater up to full blast. Her hands had turned into blocks of ice and she was shivering. She waited for Harrison to leave, with Dan in convoy, before setting off.
About to drive away, there was a knock on the window. Jumping, she looked to see Ben standing there.
‘I just wanted to say thank you, you did a good job.’
Before she could answer he turned and walked back to the white Ford Focus he’d arrived in. She smiled. Maybe he wasn’t the ogre everyone had told her he was.
Three
All the way to Royal Lancaster Infirmary, Morgan listened intently to her radio, waiting for someone to report that they’d located a relative for Olivia Potter. It was really starting to bother her that they hadn’t. Three hours had passed now since she’d first arrived on scene and not one family member had turned up or been successfully contacted by the police. It happened, but unless Saul worked shifts, he should have been home by now. There was no obvious reason for the girls to be missing either. There had been no indicators inside the house that they’d gone away for a few days. Whenever she went anywhere her flat always looked as if a tornado had gone through it while she decided what to pack. Maybe she should have checked the storage cupboards to see if there were any suitcases around. She pressed Dan’s four-digit collar number into her radio and waited for it to ring.
‘Yeah?’
She rolled her eyes; he was so rude.
‘Don’t you think it’s odd?’
‘What?’
‘That they haven’t located anyone for Olivia yet.’
‘Who?’
She paused. Was he serious? She was about to admonish him, when he answered.
‘Sorry, wasn’t thinking. I don’t know, not really. They could be at an afterschool club or dance class; they might even be at the cinema for all we know.’
‘Suppose so, but it’s nearly eight.’
‘Are you fretting, Morgan? Don’t let it worry you. They’ll turn up; they can’t be far, can they? Maybe they all had a big row and the dad took the kids away. Wouldn’t be the first time some couple have had a big argument then one of them goes and tops themselves. It happens all the time.’
She ended the call. He was so matter-of-fact about everything, so unfeeling. Then again, she was the opposite; she took everything to heart and spent hours worrying. The shrill sound of her handset blasting broke the silence.
‘Hello?’
‘Why did you hang up? Look, what I meant was don’t go seeing things that aren’t there before we know the facts, okay. We’re response officers; we’re the first port of call for an emergency. We get there, take control, and make everyone feel safe, blah, blah, blah. Anything too complicated, it gets passed to CID and it’s out of our hands. They get to be the ones to fret over it. If you get too involved, you’ll end up wasting your time. You’re not a detective; let them worry about the rest of it. You’ve done your part, time to move on to the next job. It’s harsh, but that’s the way it is, Morgan.’
‘I know that, I get it. I just can’t switch off like you can.’
‘Well, you’d better learn to, or you’ll end up batshit crazy.’
‘What if there’s something wrong though? What if something has happened to them?’
‘Like what? The house was immaculate, no signs of a disturbance and it was all secure. Remember we had to get a spare key to get inside? Don’t go overcomplicating things.’
She ended the call for a second time. She knew everything Dan had just said was true, but she also knew in her gut that something wasn’t right with the whole situation. But who could she tell, or more importantly, who was going to listen to her, a rookie, with little experience and fresh out of company? They’d probably laugh at her.
The entrance for the mortuary came into view and she turned in. The hearse was already parked at the loading doors waiting for her.
The mortuary was housed in a bland, beige brick building. She parked the van next to the hearse and got out. The doors to the mortuary were opened by a smiling woman, dressed in blue scrubs with a long-sleeved thermal vest under them. As Morgan walked inside the hallway she was hit by a subtle chemical smell and how cool it suddenly was. She understood the need for the vest.
She’d been here only once before, with Dan. The first time she’d walked through the double doors into the examination room she’d been terrified, expecting to see steel tables lined up with rows of dead bodies on them and lots of blood. She’d been pleasantly surprised to see a couple of steel tables, but no bodies. It smelt better than she’d imagined as well. Clean. The pathologist had been very kind and taken his time to explain to her how everything worked and the process of what happened before a post-mortem could even begin. Like everything else it was lots of paperwork first.
The undertakers wheeled in the trolley. Olivia Potter’s body didn’t look very big inside the large black bag.
‘Have you got some evidence bags?’
Morgan turned to look at the woman, who was still smiling at her. The ID card around her neck said ‘Susie Quirk’.
‘Right, shall we get her booked in then?’ said Susie brightly.
Morgan left the mortuary with the bags containing Olivia Potter’s jeans, linen shirt and her underwear and headed towards Rydal Falls. It was late enough that there wasn’t too much traffic on the approach to the busy town, and she needed to return to the station to book Olivia’s items into the property store. There had been no front door key in Olivia’s pockets; in fact there had been nothing in any of her pockets. Not even a mobile phone, which was odd. When they’d removed her clothes there had been a couple of ligature marks around her neck, as if she’d tried it once then changed her mind, then tried again. Morgan wasn’t an expert, she knew that the pathologist would be able to tell them more, but the alarm bells were ringing even louder in her head. There was something wrong with this case. She needed to speak to the DS and tell him, even if he did think she was interfering. There was no point even discussing it with Dan because he’d either tell her to back off or make fun of her like he usually did.
When she arrived back at the station it was like a ghost ship. The only person around was a PCSO going in for their break and the front counter clerk. Morgan went to see Brenda at the front office. She knew she’d help her book the evidence in.
‘Thanks, Brenda. I’ve done it before with Dan, but there’s so much to remember.’
She laughed. ‘You’ll get used to it. How are you getting on?’
‘It’s okay. Some days I wonder what on earth I was thinking, others I enjoy it.’
‘It’s not the easiest of jobs, but it can be very rewarding as well as stressful, but you already know that.’