‘My aunt Ettie told me that she thinks this place, well, more Amos’s place…’ Morgan paused not wanting to upset Joyce who had been so lovely to her. ‘Well, she thinks the land is cursed and mentioned a mystical figure called the watcher who only appears when it’s misty.’
Joyce didn’t laugh like she expected her to; in fact, she didn’t even flinch and nodded her head.
‘I’ve heard of him but never paid much attention to it, same as the land being cursed, heard that a lot, too. I mean, this watcher, where is he from? Where does he live? If you ask me, it’s a folk tale passed down to scare walkers from trespassing on private property. It’s a bit like the Loch Ness Monster I suppose, some stories gather traction and interest, but do we actually think there is a prehistoric monster living in a loch in Scotland of all the places one could be? What I do know is there have been a lot of tragic deaths on the land of the old camp and that in itself is enough to fuel the ghost stories.’
‘Why do you think that is, the high death rate?’
‘Oh, well. I don’t know about land being cursed, but I do know that no matter where you are, when you have a large volume of people in the same area there is bound to be some accidents or tragedies. I mean if you google every lake in the UK, I bet you’ll find tragic deaths that have happened in the water, accidental drownings, boating accidents, that kind of thing. It’s not as uncommon as you’d think. I’m not superstitious at all, what I do know is that there have been sporadic tragedies, those poor sisters and the Sunday school teachers, well that is beyond horrific, but it’s probably not that rare of an occurrence. Windermere has had its fair share of tragedies over the years. I’m sorry, Morgan, I don’t know if I can say if it’s cursed or justAmos’s bad luck to live on land that has a large lake and lots of tourists back in its heyday.’
Morgan’s phone began to ring. ‘Excuse me.’ She pulled it out of her pocket.
‘Morgan, where are you? It’s been well over an hour.’
Ben’s voice was fraught with worry.
‘I’m with Joyce, the lady who lives nearest to Amos, like you told me to be.’
‘For this long? Did you get anything?’
‘Nothing to see or hear from Joyce.’
Ben’s sigh was so loud it made her ear tingle.
‘Well can you get here ASAP. Declan has just phoned. He wants us both at the mortuary for the PM.’
‘Yes, boss.’ She hung up and stood up. ‘Thank you, Joyce, I have to get back to work.’
Joyce smiled at her. ‘Anytime you’re cold or hungry then please come see me. I get a little lonely out here on my own, as my grandson doesn’t get to visit as often as I’d like. He’s busy with his own life.’
‘I will, I promise.’
‘Please take care.’
Morgan smiled at her and wondered why every single person she met ended up telling her to be careful. She would go tell Ben what Ettie and Joyce had told her. It was useful information, but it wasn’t going to solve the case any time soon. As far as she knew they still hadn’t found Scarlett, or Dawson’s killer, and she wasn’t going to stop until she did.
NINETEEN
When Morgan arrived at the old summer camp it was chaos trying to park, as the huge search and rescue truck was practically blocking the whole of the road, and she had to park a fair bit behind it and walk up. Ben appeared and began striding down the side of the fell towards her.
‘Are you okay? I was starting to panic about you.’
Morgan resisted the urge to snap back at him that she was perfectly fine and capable of being on her own for an hour. She knew she had put him through hell since the day they’d met, and it wasn’t his fault he worried so much, but it was stifling at times, not to mention really fucking annoying.
‘I’m fine, just doing what you told me to do, Ben, and now I’m ready to help search for Scarlett. I spoke to Ettie as well.’
‘You did? Is she okay?’ His voice was cooler, calmer, gentler.
‘She’s fine, got herself a new man, but that’s not what I was speaking to her about. I wanted to know about his place.’ She pointed to the gateway.
Ben arched one eyebrow at her. ‘What would she be able to tell you about it that you don’t already know?’
‘She told me that the land is cursed, there is a legend of a nine-foot tall man called the watcher, who only appears whenit’s misty, and nothing but bad stuff happens here. Which was also kind of confirmed by Joyce, the neighbour, who made me the best cheese and tomato sandwich I have ever eaten, well since my mum died that is.’ She was climbing into the car; Ben was getting into the passenger side. He looked at her, both his eyebrows were raised, his eyes wide open.
‘What? Did I just step into an alternative universe or what, Morgan? What’s going on with you? Did you just say that some stranger you called on for house to house made you a sandwich and you ate it?’
She noticed he never mentioned the weird stuff; instead he’d skirted over that. ‘Yeah, it really was good. I bet she’d have made you one too. You must be hungry as well. I mean it’s been a hell of a night, morning, whatever up to now.’
‘I’m good, I’ll grab something after the post-mortem. Did you find out anything that is useful?’
