Page 32 of Gone in the Night (Detective Morgan Brookes #16)
THIRTY-TWO
Morgan slipped out of the station by the back door.
She hadn’t looked too hard to find Amber, preferring to go and speak with Leah on her own.
Leah lived in a small flat above the crystal shop in Ambleside.
Morgan had been relieved to have an excuse to leave all the guys behind.
There was too much testosterone in the small office that was just not the same without Amy.
She hoped that Ben would request that Gilly come work with them – rather a woman than another man, there were far too many of them already.
Ringing the intercom for the flat, she waited patiently for a reply. Eventually it crackled to life, the voice quiet, hesitant.
‘Hello?’
‘Hi, Leah, I’m Detective Brookes with the Rydal Falls police station. Can I talk to you about Sharon?’
Morgan knew by the long pause Leah was going to try and avoid it.
‘Now isn’t a good time.’
‘I don’t want to be rude, but I don’t think there is ever going to be a good time to talk about Sharon’s murder. It’s always going to be painful, and I really need to get as much background information about her as possible.’
‘Why?’
‘It will help me to build up a personal profile of her. It could help to find her killer.’
Another pause, this one not quite as long.
The blue door opened and a red-eyed, red-nosed woman, much taller than Morgan, was staring down at her.
She looked up and down the street before opening the door wide enough for Morgan to step through.
There was a tiny entrance with a steep flight of stairs leading up from it.
Leah pointed. ‘Go up.’
Morgan did, not waiting to be asked again in case the woman changed her mind. The stairs led directly into the flat, which was bigger than Morgan had expected. A much bigger, very magnolia-coloured flat. Everything was cream including the sofa, cushions and curtains. Leah pointed to the sofa.
‘Before you ask, yes, I am devastated. I know I was sleeping with her stepdad, but it’s over now and he won’t be coming back here again or into my life.’
Morgan wondered who had told Leah that the police knew about their relationship, had it been Sharon’s mum or her slimy stepdad?
‘That really isn’t any of my business. I just need you to confirm if you were with Stefan the night she was killed.’
‘I was for a little bit.’
‘How long is a little bit?’
‘An hour, two at the most.’
‘He didn’t stay here all night?’ Morgan felt her shoulders stiffen as she sat straighter.
Leah lifted her little finger to her mouth and began to nibble at the nail, working it until the skin tore and a thin line of blood appeared.
‘No, not all night. Oh, maybe I shouldn’t have said that.’
‘Is it the truth?’
‘Yes, it is.’
‘Then you definitely should have said it. I’m not here to try and blame anyone. I really want to find out what was going on in your friend’s life. Was Sharon having problems with Stefan?’
‘She wasn’t until she found the pair of us together last week. They’d always got on great. I used to be so jealous that she had this super-cool, super-rich stepdad. Not jealous enough to kill her though.’ Leah sniffed then and pulled a tissue out of her sleeve.
Morgan was perched on the edge of the sofa. She got the impression that Leah was definitely not as upset about her friend as she should be, and that she was being a little overly dramatic to make herself look more sympathetic.
‘So, Sharon and Stefan were fine with each other until when?’
‘Until she found me coming out of the shower in her mum’s bedroom.’
‘What happened, where was Stefan?’
‘He was getting dressed. She dragged me into the hallway naked, well I had a towel wrapped around me and it fell off. I was so embarrassed. She didn’t care; she dragged me out of the house into the drive with no clothes on.
If the maid hadn’t been home and felt sorry for me, I don’t know what would have happened. ’
‘Did you speak to Sharon after this incident?’
‘No, she wouldn’t answer any of my calls or messages.’
‘You must have been so angry with her for showing you up like that.’
‘A little, I was sadder to be honest that I’d upset her.’
Or that you got caught , a voice whispered inside Morgan’s head. ‘Have you ever had arguments that have ended in violence in the past?’
She shook her head.
‘Look I am or I was upset that she did that to me, but I didn’t want to kill her over it.
I get that she was pissed with me. I acted stupid and could have caused all sorts of problems for her mum.
I feel terrible about what I did, but it wasn’t all my fault.
Stefan can be quite demanding when he wants something.
He doesn’t stop until he gets what he wants.
I guess having money that isn’t always spoken for and plenty of it makes you a little more adventurous. You’re talking to the wrong person.’
‘Who should I be talking to?’
‘Stefan, he was furious with her.’
‘Furious enough to murder her?’
Leah shrugged. ‘Poor Sharon. After everything that happened with Eddy, she deserved so much better.’
‘Sharon’s YouTube channel was doing really well; she has a lot of followers on Instagram.’
‘Yeah, she was doing well.’
‘You don’t sound so happy for your friend.’
‘She made me look like some kind of prostitute in front of her stepdad; I was still annoyed with her then she went and got herself killed. Plus, she was making buckets of money even though she had a golden credit card off mummy, and she thought it was okay to ruin my life when I finally had the chance to be with someone who could make my life better.’
Morgan studied Leah, she didn’t like her at all. She was selfish, motivated by money and an awful friend who had tried to split up Sharon’s parents – and was a terrible actress too.
‘Did Sharon ever mention to you if she was having problems with anyone through her social media accounts, any stalkers or creepy people?’
‘There are always weirdos who message on Instagram and Facebook, it’s full of them.’
‘True, but was she particularly worried about anyone. Eddy?’
‘Worried enough to tell me about them you mean? Eddy had left her alone as far as I knew. She said he’d called around to see if they could start again, I mean talk about delusional, but I suppose he wanted a free ride as much as I did.’
Morgan nodded. ‘Did Sharon tell you about the guy she was dating? Jack White?’
Leah shook her head. ‘She was dating? No, she never said a word about him. I had no idea she was seeing someone, maybe that was the reason she was a bit distant. I’m going to be honest with you, Morgan, and it might make me seem as if I was the worst friend in the world, but I don’t see the point in lying to you about anything, nothing I say is going to hurt Sharon anymore, is it? ’
Morgan smiled at her, thinking, I already know that you are the worst possible friend that Sharon could have had in the world. Who needs enemies when you have a friend ready to step in and ruin your life for free?
‘Go on.’
‘Sharon and I, well we weren’t close like we used to be.
We were drawing apart, different lifestyles, different goals that kind of thing and she was so obsessed with making content for her YouTube channel.
’ Leah did air quotes to emphasise her point.
‘She had started the process of pushing me away herself. She knew that we were no longer besties, and it hurt, it hurt a lot. I spent a lot of my time following her around and doing whatever she wanted to do to make her happy; we were always at her house. She rarely came to mine. She didn’t want to slum it when she could have luxury, I get it, I really do, but I sacrificed a lot to make her happy.
It’s a shame when it was my turn to be happy that she didn’t see it that way and had to make a whole big deal out of it. ’
Morgan snapped her mouth shut, she knew her jaw had gone slack, and she was staring at Leah in a gormless manner that didn’t do her any justice, but it was hard pretending not to be offended on behalf of Sharon at her so-called friend’s lack of loyalty.
‘Do you know a woman called Lydia Williams?’
Leah shook her head. ‘I don’t think so, why?’
‘You don’t follow her on social media?’
Leah paused, her eyes were watching Morgan’s face intently.
‘I don’t know offhand; I’d have to search her name to see if I do. I mean I have a lot of friends and followers who I wouldn’t know if I fell over them in the street. Everyone does, maybe not as many as Sharon though, but I have a fair few. Why are you asking me about her? Did she kill Sharon?’
‘Not that I know of. She was found dead earlier today in similar circumstances to Sharon.’
Leah had the decency to let out a gasp, cupping a hand to her mouth, but Morgan wasn’t convinced it was genuine and found herself looking at the knife block on the kitchen worktop behind the woman in front of her, to check if there were any knives missing, because right now she would have no problem arresting Leah on suspicion of murder.
The only problem was she had no hard evidence, just a gut feeling deep inside of her that the woman sitting opposite her could quite easily have stabbed her friend to death and thought nothing of it.