Tori’s dad was shaking his head. ‘All of this happened because you saw a ghost. Christ, are you for real? Just admit it, Tori, what happened? Did you lose your shit with Scarlett over Dawson finally and have an argument that resulted in Dawson nearly crashing the car and then you all got out and stormed off in separate directions? Because that I find easier to believe than the ghost of some long dead grey woman running across the road.’
Morgan’s mouth was dropping open at this revelation, and she had to snap it shut.
‘For God’s sake, Dad, no it wasn’t. I mean I was annoyed with her, but it didn’t cause Dawson to slam his brakes on. She almost broke her nose and was pissed off with him after that.’
He shrugged and his gaze met Morgan’s.
‘You didn’t mention this before?’ Morgan asked, her voice soft.
‘I was frozen almost to death. I heard my friend get his head smashed in and I ran to save my own life. I feel so bad I left him that I didn’t want to think about it.’
‘You did what you had to do, Tori. If you’d gone to help Dawson, you would be dead too. Don’t beat yourself up at running away. It was the right thing to do. It wasn’t your job to stop whoever this was.’
‘Was it?’ Tori was crying silent tears and there was no mistaking the hurt in her eyes and the look of betrayal on her face. ‘Scarlett is dead. She would have been screaming so loud you’d have heard her from here if she wasn’t, and a part of me feels glad that she is because if it hadn’t been for her, me and Dawson would have been a thing, but she was always there. Interfering, and I’m a horrible person for feeling that way, so maybe you should lock me up. How do you know I didn’t kill them both?’
Morgan was shocked by Tori’s outburst, but not fazed by it, she took hold of her hand and studied it closely.
‘Whoever killed Dawson would have been covered in blood spatter, their hands would have been bloody, their clothes too. When Amos found you, you were frozen and scared to death. You didn’t kill your friends.’
Tori began to cry. ‘No, but I may as well have. I wished Scarlett would leave us alone forever, she knew how I felt about Dawson and she would flirt with him on purpose to make me mad, she was flirting with him that night and I was so upset with her and now look at what’s happened. It’s my fault.’
TWELVE
Ben was mid briefing when Morgan and Cain walked into the blue room. She looked at the dark purple circles under his eyes, they looked bruised, and she realised that it was exhaustion. Nobody had hit him much to her relief. She didn’t have it in her to have to go and fight someone right now, but she would if she had to. His head inclined slightly in her direction, and she gave him a curt nod to tell him she was fine.
‘Thanks for joining us, Morgan. Cain, appreciate you collecting her from A&E.’
She felt relieved he didn’t ask her if she was supposed to be here and carried on pointing at the blown-up photograph of the head injuries on the boy she’d pulled out of the water. Morgan’s stomach churned at the close-up bloody mess of Dawson’s skull; if they’d have found him earlier would it have made the difference, could they have saved his life?
‘The pathologist agrees with my theory that the injuries were not accidental. Declan couldn’t say anything else about it except that death could have been by drowning. There was a driving licence in his pocket that matches the name Dawson Turner. He has yet to be identified by his parents, which is very sad and not very nice for them. It’s not the kind of news you expect tohear, is it, on a mundane Sunday evening. Obviously, we won’t know for sure until the post-mortem what the confirmed cause of death was, but whatever his conclusions are there is no doubt in my mind that this was intentional, and we are treating it as suspicious.’
Morgan’s hand shot up.
Ben smiled at her.
‘Did you find Scarlett?’
‘No, unfortunately we didn’t locate her. The underwater search and rescue team is going to check the lake as soon as the weather permits.’
‘I spoke to Tori and got her first account at the hospital, and we’ve just been to her house and got a full statement from her.’
‘You did? Brilliant, what did she say?’
‘That all three of them decided on the spur of the moment to go ghost hunting. They never posted anything about it on their social media accounts, they never told another person their plans. Tori said they were in Dawson’s house talking about starting a podcast and he suggested they go up there to get some footage of the area. The girls agreed thinking it would be fun. Both girls are sixteen and Dawson, as you know by his ID, is seventeen; both girls told their parents they were sleeping at each other’s houses, according to Tori. She said they had no idea how bad the weather was until they got up onto the fell and then they were surrounded by the mist. We all know too well how the Lake District has its own weather pattern, I mean we’ve all been caught out at some point.’
Ben was nodding.
‘Tori said as they neared the entrance to the camp, Dawson slammed his brakes on and claimed that he almost hit a person crossing the road. The visibility was poor, the mist was so thick they couldn’t really see anything, and she’d told him it was a badidea to be out there in this weather. It was too dangerous, she said she wanted him to forget it.’
Ben sighed. ‘Why did they not turn around and go home? None of this would have happened.’
Marc leaned forward. ‘Did she think it might be the caretaker? I mean it stands to reason that he’s the only other person with a legitimate reason to be out there at that time of night when the weather was bad.’
Morgan shrugged. ‘Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and we all know too well how the stupidest of ideas when you’re a teenager seem like the best. To answer your question, boss, Tori didn’t see her but Dawson thought it was a girl who had run across the road not some older guy with a limp. So, if Tori is being truthful about not telling anyone where they were going ,whoever did this must have stumbled across them. It’s not premeditated; it was unfortunate for them that the killer was also out there. Why would someone be out on the fells when they couldn’t see their hand in front of their face? Why would they kill Dawson? And is this figure in the mist the killer or another victim?’
‘This gives me all the Friday the thirteenthvibes. Have we got our own Jason Vorhees out there, stalking teenagers who go to that abandoned summer camp?’ Cain’s face was serious, and Morgan realised he wasn’t being sarcastic. That thought put the fear of God into her. Where was Scarlett? The thought that he might have abducted her and taken her with him made her stomach churn.
‘Oh, God, what if he took Scarlett with him and she’s still alive. We haven’t found a trace of her, only Dawson’s body.’
