Page 41 of Gone in the Night (Detective Morgan Brookes #16)

FORTY-ONE

Cain met Morgan in the corridor and slipped her a pale-yellow Post-it note that she pushed into her pocket.

They looked as if they’d just done some kind of illegal drug deal, but she didn’t care.

She ran down the stairs to the rear yard, grabbing a set of keys to a car off the whiteboard.

Once she was out of the car park she drove to The Coffee Pot, her favourite café.

It was sandwiched on the main street between a Thai restaurant and a newsagent.

The outside had been painted sage green and a new sign put up; it looked good after its refresh.

Inside, Jade, the owner, on the other hand, looked as if she could do with a refresh, bless her.

She had dark roots that made her usual honey blonde hair look messy, and it was tied back in a low ponytail.

Jade’s pretty blue eyes had lost all their sparkle.

Even though she was wearing a new apron that matched the outside of the shop and the new logo, she looked exhausted.

It made Morgan’s heart ache so bad for her.

Jade had lost her daughter to another maniac a year ago.

‘Hey, Jade, how are things?’

She smiled at Morgan. ‘I’m muddling along, how are you?’

‘Busy and in desperate need of caffeine.’

‘Then you came to the right place. Are you sitting down for five because if you are I’ll bring it over to you.’

‘I am.’ Morgan double clicked her phone to use Apple Pay, and Jade waved her away.

‘Shoo, go take a seat.’

She felt her cheeks burn a little at Jade’s kindness, but didn’t argue with her. Jade always insisted on giving her free coffee as a thank you for finding her daughter’s killer, even though Morgan would never dream of expecting her to.

She sat down and checked her phone to see if Palmer had replied to her message.

Be there in ten minutes.

She sucked in a breath and exhaled deeply, wondering what on earth she was doing meeting the guy she despised the most on the entire planet.

Jade placed a latte and a cheese savoury baguette on the table in front of her.

‘No arguments, I bet you haven’t been eating properly. I saw the news, those poor women. What is the world coming to?’

‘It’s getting scarier every day. I bet it brought it all back to you, you must miss Melody so much.’

Jade nodded. ‘I just feel as if there is something permanently missing, which there is, but you know what I mean. The flat is so quiet. I miss her mess, her make-up all over the bathroom; I miss her blaring Taylor Swift at full volume all hours of the day and night. I can’t bear to listen to her music now because I just cry. ’

‘Oh, bless you, I can’t even begin to imagine how hard it is for you.’

‘It’s just she was so young, she had her whole life ahead of her. I wish it had been me; I would give anything to swap places with her.’

Morgan stood up and pulled Jade in for a hug, rocking her back and forth to soothe her. Jade hugged her back ferociously. The bell above the door jangled and in walked Fin Palmer, who looked at the two women and arched an eyebrow, which made Morgan want to punch him and he hadn’t even spoken yet.

Jade pulled away. ‘Thanks, Morgan, I needed that more than you know.’

She turned to Fin. ‘Can I get you a drink?’

‘Tap water, please.’

Jade left them to it, and Morgan watched as he sat down opposite her, staring into her eyes.

‘What’s this about? A public apology for getting me arrested? Because I know fine well it was your fault.’

‘Nothing to do with me, but thanks for coming.’

Jade placed the glass of water on the table.

‘You got yourself into that mess. Why were you on the radio in the first place? That was your doing, so don’t blame me.’

‘How are you, Morgan? It’s been a long time, and I miss you.’

She doubted he was being sincere, but she was willing to play along with him to get what she wanted. ‘I’m tired of chasing killers, if you want to know the truth.’

‘I imagine you are, maybe if you weren’t so good at it every person with the desire to murder wouldn’t take it as a direct challenge for you to catch them.’ He was smiling, thinking he was being amusing.

How had she fallen for this guy? Actually, she knew exactly how – he could turn on the charm when he needed to.

He had done that with her, turning it all the way up.

When she’d first met him, she was knee-deep in a murder case and feeling out of her depth, overwhelmed and just needed someone to talk to.

He had swept into her life when she was at her lowest. She’d let him until she realised exactly what kind of a man he was when he’d printed that bullcrap story about her biological family and exposed every dark secret she hadn’t known she’d had before she’d even had the time to process it.

Morgan was so thankful that Ben was nothing like him.

‘I just do my job, that’s all.’

‘It’s more than just doing your job, how about an exclusive interview with you? The whole world would love to know more about the elusive, super detective, Morgan Brookes.’

She shook her head. ‘And bring even more lunatics to Rydal Falls and into my life, it would be like an open invitation. No, thank you.’

‘Then why am I here?’

She took a long sip of her latte, debating if she should say what she was going to because there was no going back once she did.

‘I need a favour from you.’

Fin sat back, a genuine look of surprise on his face.

‘What kind of favour?’

‘I need your word that all of this I’m going to tell you is off the record, except for what I want you to write.’

‘That’s quite some demand.’

‘If you don’t keep it off the record then this conversation is over, Fin. I haven’t got time to waste with you. I’ll find someone else who will keep it off the record.’

She knew she had thrown him because he looked thoroughly confused. He took a sip of the tap water and grimaced, making her smile. Jade was as perceptive as Morgan and had given him warm water and no ice.

‘I will keep your name out of it, I can say a trusted source, but tell me, is this going to get me arrested again? Because I’ve had quite enough of your police station for one day.’

‘I don’t think so, I mean I can’t guarantee it, but you have freedom of speech, you’re making a public safety announcement.’

‘Then why did they arrest me before?’

‘You were talking about a live investigation; this is going to be an assumption on the case that the police may be making or have overlooked.’

She had him, his eyes were wide, glazed with excitement and anticipation at what she was about to tell him.

‘Misconduct? The public love that, they think the police are inept anyway. Well, most of them, maybe not you.’

‘Not intentionally, more an overlooking of things that could compromise the safety of women, but none of it is malicious, there is no ulterior motive, no hate crime against women. It’s more the fact that they’re pushed to their limits and possibly not thinking straight.’

‘Your department?’

Morgan paused, was she getting them into a whole new level of trouble they didn’t need?

‘Not specifically, we always have and always will put the safety of the public first.’

‘Then who?’

A queasiness in her stomach made her wish she hadn’t started this.

‘Nobody.’

Fin threw his arms up in exasperation. ‘You have to give me something; this is all just riddles.’

‘I think that the suspect may still be at large, and I think they could kill again. I want you to issue a warning to all women who partake in solo camping, hiking, anything outdoorsy where they are on their own. I want to ensure they are on high alert just in case.’

Fin’s phone began to ring. ‘Excuse me.’

She listened to his one-sided conversation and knew what it was about.

He ended the call and looked at her. ‘There’s been a press release stating that they’re not looking for anyone in connection with the two murders; they believe they have the suspect and will share more when they have the details. ’

Morgan shook her head then stopped what she was doing, remembering who the guy sitting opposite her was and what he was capable of.

‘You don’t agree at all?’

‘I don’t know, Fin, I just have this gut feeling that we could be missing something.’

‘Look, let’s call a truce. I’m sorry, I was an absolute idiot when I wrote that story about you. I regret it, I don’t feel bad about most of my articles but that one really made me question what I was doing with my life, but once it was in print there was no going back.’

She didn’t know if he was being honest or just trying to get her on his side. She shrugged.

‘It hurt a lot, I was only just finding out things I hadn’t known about myself, and I trusted you.’

He had the decency to look embarrassed and lowered his head.

‘I know and I really am sorry. Let me help you, I’ll write an article about how I think there’s more to this than the police have said.

I was there at a crime scene and saw how bad it was, so I will say it’s all my opinion so you don’t get into any trouble; but I’ll also say that until we have more evidence from the police that they have the right perpetrator, then all women should be careful.

I’ll issue the warning. How does that sound? ’

‘You’re not going to name me in it at all?’

He shook his head. ‘No, I owe you this one, Morgan. By the way, who do they have in mind or who have they got in custody if they’re so certain it’s stopped? Why the big secret, it has to be someone in the force or local government maybe?’

‘If I tell you this, it is not to go into print. I need you to promise me, Fin.’

‘I won’t say a word, pinkie promise. Well not until I hear it officially.’

‘One of our officers was found dead near to the first crime scene yesterday.’

His mouth dropped so wide open she could see his tonsils at the back of his throat. He lowered his voice. ‘And they think he did it? Holy shit.’

‘I’m not saying that, and I don’t believe it, that’s all I can say. You can’t print that part. You’d better not.’

‘I won’t, but the shit is going to hit the fan when this gets out. Can you keep me updated, let me know when I can break it?’

‘I’ll do my best.’

‘Thanks, Morgan. If this means the killer could still be out there, are you not worried given your past run-ins with mad men?’

‘Not really, I don’t think I’m this killer’s type. I’m not outdoorsy, I don’t like camping, I have nothing to offer him that he gets off on.’

Fin smiled at her. ‘Good, I’m glad. I worry about you. I’m glad we’ve called a truce.’

Morgan smiled back, not sure if she was at truce level with Fin Palmer, but she’d see by what he put in tomorrow’s paper whether he was going to do the right thing for once or feed her to the wolves.

Either way it was done now. She’d just have to take whatever fallout was coming her way and deal with it.

As long as Ben didn’t hate her too much, she could live with herself if it meant it potentially saved someone’s life.