Page 33 of Gone in the Night (Detective Morgan Brookes #16)

THIRTY-THREE

Morgan left Leah, who had gone back to sniffling into a tissue as if to prove to Morgan she did have a heart inside of that block of ice surrounding her chest. In the car she quickly wrote down notes as the radio was quietly playing in the background.

Selfish, cold, admitted she wasn’t close with Sharon, was angry about her spoiling her chance of a good life with Stefan’s money. Couldn’t say if she knew Lydia Williams, could have killed her to draw the attention away from Sharon. Greed and money are a good motivation for murder, so is revenge!

She let out a long, drawn-out sigh and sat back in the seat, closing her eyes for a moment. The song had stopped and was replaced by a voice on the radio that made her sit up straight, and she opened her eyes.

‘You were unlucky enough to be on a campsite where a woman was murdered in cold blood, how did you feel when you realised what had happened?’

‘Shocked, it’s not the kind of thing that usually happens when you go away for a long weekend camping with your new girlfriend.’

‘You’re no stranger to murders though, are you? As a crime reporter, you covered the string of murders that happened some years ago in this area that were carried out by a serving police officer at the time.’

Fin Palmer’s voice was smooth and made her so angry she wanted to punch the radio to stop him talking.

‘Yes, I did. That was pretty harrowing too, Dave, it never leaves you. Late at night when you try to sleep those images are there, replaying over and over again in your mind.’

‘Arrggh.’ Morgan slammed the palm of her hand against the button to turn his voice off. The bastard was repeating what she’d told him in confidence. He was playing games with her. She took out her radio and dialled Cain’s collar number. He answered immediately.

‘Where are you? The boss is pretty mad you snuck out without Amber.’

‘Where I am isn’t important, where are you? I thought you were going to speak to Palmer.’

‘I am, we’re having difficulties locating him.’

‘I can tell you exactly where he is. He’s on the bloody radio talking about the crime scene earlier. You need to get to the Radio Cumberland offices and shut him up. Where are you?’

‘Christ.’

‘Yes, exactly.’

‘We’re not far away, just turning onto that street. Do I need to arrest him?’

‘You may as well seeing as how he can’t keep his mouth closed.’

Cain ended the call, and she felt bad for being so mean to him. She turned the radio back on despite the blackness that was rising inside of her chest, wanting to hear Cain shut him down.

‘Can you describe what you witnessed?’

‘I don’t think I can, Dave, it’s an active investigation and the police won’t want me discussing the finer details on air. However, I can tell you that, from the press release that was issued yesterday, I’d say this body was found in very similar circumstances.’

‘Two bodies, in two days, both found in similar circumstances. Same killer, same MO?’

If Morgan didn’t know any better, she could have closed her eyes and thought she was back in the blue room at the briefing an hour ago. The blackness inside of her was fizzing into a tidal wave of bright red. Palmer needed to shut up and now. He had no right discussing this live on air.

‘Hey, who are you?’

Muffled voices. There was a scuffle in the room as a chair tipped over, and Fin’s voice called out, ‘I want a lawyer,’ before Fleetwood Mac began playing, ‘You Can Go Your Own Way’.

Morgan wondered how much carnage Cain had just caused in that little studio, and her face cracked into a huge grin. Ben and Marc were going to be mortified when he got back to the station with Palmer, and she kind of wished she could be there to watch the drama unfold.

At least he was quiet for the time being. It was time to go and speak to Stefan Montgomery.

The gates to his large lakeside mansion were wide open, so she drove straight through them and parked next to the Porsche 4x4.

It occurred to Morgan that the Porsche could probably have made it up the narrow coffin road to where Sharon’s body had been found, if Stefan was a competent driver and wasn’t afraid of scratching or dinting his car.

As she got out of the small white car she took a slow walk around the Porsche to see if there was any damage.

A few scratches, but nothing to shout about.

‘I can assure you everything is in order. Do you want to run a PNC check to confirm that? Although you have no right on private property.’ Stefan’s voice was loud and cocky, and she glanced his way.

‘No need, I was just admiring it. I like these cars, wouldn’t mind one myself.’

‘On your wages I think you might regret that purchase; the insurance alone and fuel costs a small fortune each month.’

The tiny red hairs on the back of Morgan’s neck bristled.

How did he know what her circumstances were?

She could be richer than him, even though she had no idea of his net worth and clearly wasn’t.

She shrugged. ‘That’s good to know, it doesn’t deter me from looking at one though, but thank you for your advice. ’

Stefan was staring at her, but it didn’t bother her, she was used to it.

‘What do you want?’

‘I need to speak to you about your alibi for the night Sharon was murdered.’

‘Do I need a solicitor?’

‘You tell me, do you?’

‘No, because I didn’t kill her. You better come inside unless you’re taking me to the station on some made-up charges.’

‘If I was here to arrest you, Mr Montgomery, there would be a team of armed police behind me. I just need to talk to you about what happened leading up to Sharon’s murder, but if you’d prefer to come to the station to talk that’s fine.’

He shook his head. ‘No, I’d rather not.’

He turned and went back inside of his house, and she followed him.

He led the way into a huge room that looked out onto the lake.

The view was breathtaking. She could see right across to the round house on the other side of the water.

There was someone out on a ride-on mower on the other side cutting the grass.

‘This is beautiful, what a view.’

He nodded. ‘It’s nice, but you don’t notice it when you see it day in day out, might as well be living in the city. It would be an easier commute that’s for sure.’

Morgan didn’t think she’d ever not pause for a moment to take it all in. ‘Which city?’

‘Manchester, my business is based there. I work from home a lot these days, hate driving to Manchester, the roads are awful.’

She nodded; they were awful. ‘How are you both?’

He fixed his gaze onto her, his eyes boring into her it was so intense.

‘What, like you’re bothered?’

‘I am, I’m truly sorry for your loss. I know how painful it is to lose someone close to you.’

‘You do? Are you just saying that? Is that the corporate spiel they tell you in police school on how to address grieving parents?’

Morgan didn’t like Stefan much more than Leah, but she did feel his pain. The problem with being an empath was she felt everyone’s pain whether she wanted to or not.

‘My dad was murdered a few years ago, and my mum was murdered in front of me when I was a toddler, so yes I know how much it hurts.’

‘Oh, sorry. That must have been hard.’ His tone had lost all the cockiness from seconds ago.

She nodded. ‘Is the family liaison officer with Beth?’

‘I have no idea. Beth is staying at Storrs Hall Hotel. She packed a case and left after we got back from the mortuary.’

‘Oh dear.’

‘Oh dear, is right. My entire life is a shit show of the highest degree. I feel as if it’s all spiralled out of control and I don’t like not being in control.’

‘I’ve spoken to Leah.’

He had been staring out of the window but snapped his head around to stare at her.

‘And what did she have to say about the mess she helped to create? Because I’m not taking all of the blame. Did she tell you she practically threw herself at me?’

‘Not exactly.’

‘No, I bet she didn’t. We were drunk, she made the first move and me not being able to keep my own dick in my pants couldn’t resist. I bet you think I’m a total creep, sleeping with my daughter’s best friend, but it’s not like they’re teenagers; she’s a consenting adult.’

‘It has nothing to do with me. Leah said you weren’t with her all night when we think Sharon was murdered, she also said she didn’t see you much this past week because you told her you were busy.’

Morgan let that hang in the air, watching Stefan’s face closely. He closed his eyes and began to slowly shake his head. When he finally opened them, he stared her straight in the eyes.

‘No, I wasn’t with her all night, but it didn’t mean that I snuck off to murder my daughter. Is that what she was insinuating?’

‘I couldn’t tell you; she said that you were very angry with Sharon.’

‘I think I need a lawyer; I don’t think I should say anything else in case it incriminates me for something I didn’t do. We’re done here.’

He stood up and pointed to the door.

‘If you have nothing to hide why the change in attitude? Where did you go when you left Leah?’

‘Home to try and ease my guilty conscience, if you have to know. I realised that I was regretting the quick fumbles with Leah; they didn’t mean anything to me.

She was a bit of fun, and I wasn’t going to mess things up with Beth.

I love her more than anything, even though it’s too late and I should have figured that out before I slept with Leah.

That is all you’re getting. If you want anything else then I’m not talking to you without legal advice. ’

Morgan nodded. ‘Thank you, that’s okay. I can see myself out. One last thing, did you know Sharon was seeing a police officer called Jack?’

Stefan’s eyes were wide; he looked as if he was frozen in time at this revelation. Morgan realised this was news to him; he looked genuinely shocked.

‘No, I did not.’ He shrugged. ‘Did he kill her?’

‘We’re trying to find that out.’

‘I bet he’s not been arrested; you’ll all cover it up because that’s what you lot do. You take care of your own.’

Morgan shook her head. ‘He’s dead, so no we couldn’t arrest him.’

Stefan sighed. ‘How convenient.’ Then turned his back on her to stare out of the window again.

Morgan left him there, hoping to find the maid on her way out.