Page 54 of Gone in the Night

He turned away from her, gritting his teeth. She really grated on his last nerve without even trying.

Marc rushed through the door looking more stressed than Cain had seen him in some time.

‘Tell me you had a good reason to bring the reporter in?’

‘He was talking about the crime scene live on the radio.’

‘What about freedom of speech?’

‘What about it? Not to be blunt, boss, but he’s a dick and he was saying things that might compromise the investigation.’

Marc let out a sigh. ‘Can we get rid of him? Let him go with a warning or a slap on the hand? We don’t need any bad publicity.’

Ben arched one eyebrow in Cain’s direction as if to say I told you so, and Cain shook his head.

‘If you want me to do that right now, I can. I don’t see what harm it will do to leave him there for a couple of hours though.’

‘Just get him out of here, Cain. You’re going to open up a can of worms that we won’t be able to contain if he starts a campaign against this department. We have enough to be dealing with.’

Cain stood up. ‘Yes, boss.’

He was trying to keep his cool, but he was losing it. Marc was too much of a jobsworth at times. He did everything exactly by the book and sometimes it didn’t pay off.

THIRTY-FIVE

Morgan was about to get into her car when she saw the maid coming out of the barn and waved at her. The woman had a basket full of laundry, and she walked towards her.

‘How are you? I guess things have been very stressful around here.’

She shrugged. ‘It’s so sad. I feel terrible about Sharon, and now Beth has left and Stefan is on his own and they’re grieving without each other, making it even harder.’

‘How long have you worked for the Montgomerys?’

‘Too long, fifteen years.’

‘Do you not like it?’

‘Oh, yes. Sorry, that sounded wrong. I do, I love it. It’s not too hard and the pay is wonderful compared to what the girls get cleaning in the big hotels these days. What I mean is I feel old I’ve been here that long.’

Morgan smiled at her. ‘How old are you, if you don’t mind me asking?’

‘Forty next month.’

‘You’re still a teenager.’

‘Ha! Tell that to my knees.’

‘Sorry, I didn’t catch your surname?’

‘Marie Jones.’

‘How were things before the incident with Stefan and Leah?’

‘As in was this the first time he’d brought other women here?’

‘Yes.’

‘There have been a few over the years, nobody serious. Quick affairs that fizzled out before they’d begun.’