He nodded. ‘Unfortunately, they found a body snagged on some rocks in the same lake that the lad was pulled out of last night.’
‘Ah, no way. That’s devastating for the family and so, so sad. I said to Declan before, what on earth were they doing out in that weather last night? I was driving to see my friend, and it was terrible here. I can’t imagine what it was like out on the middle of a mountain.’
‘Fell,’ Ben muttered.
‘Who fell?’ asked Susie.
‘Not a mountain, they were on the side of a fell.’
Susie rolled her eyes at Morgan. ‘Same thing in my world, big hill, too steep to walk up, in the middle of nowhere.’
‘You’re right, definitely too steep to be walking up in any weather,’ said Morgan, smiling at her, trying to ease the tension. Ben was taking this bad, much worse than she’d expected. Thankfully Susie realised he wasn’t in the mood, so she didn’t tease him by asking what book he was currently reading. Ben walked off to the men’s changing room, leaving them staring after him.
‘It’s been a long, awful night. He’s tired and stressed.’
‘I don’t doubt that. I bet you’re both tired and stressed. Bless you, some deaths are harder than others, aren’t they? I really struggle when it’s a kid that comes in, and thankfully that rarely happens, but when they do, I can barely keep it together.’
‘Kids are bad, well every unexpected death is bad, but kids are a whole other level. These are still kids, just bigger ones; three friends who went out last night for an adventure and only one made it back alive, it’s heartbreaking.’
‘What the hell happened, Morgan?’
‘We’re still trying to figure that one out, Susie.’
Susie left Morgan to get gowned up. Morgan wished more than anything that she wasn’t having to do this, that Dawson had turned around when Tori had told him to and got the hell out of Camp Buttermere while he had the chance.
TWENTY
Cain led Amos through the custody suite to an interview room. Amos was subdued and although he had talked a little in the car, he was now silent.
‘Can I get you a tea, coffee or a fruit juice, Amos?’
‘A tea would be good, thank you. Am I under arrest, Cain?’
‘No, this is a voluntary interview. I need to formally take your witness statement about last night, and it will be recorded, if that’s okay? It’s just how things work now. I haven’t read you your rights and we have no information to suggest that you are anything other than a witness. You can leave whenever you want, Amos, but we would really appreciate your help with this, you’re literally all we have at the moment.’
Amos moved his head up and down slowly. ‘I suppose we should get this over with then.’
‘Thank you, I’ll be right back.’
Cain left him to go grab a couple of hot drinks. If he was being honest with himself, the last place he wanted to be was here, in work. He knew that Stan had been all over this building the same as him and it made his fingers clench into tight, white fists just thinking about him. He’d killed Angela in cold blood, so violently, and that gave him a tight, stabbing pain in thecentre of his chest. He’d let her down; she had been so excited and nervous about finally meeting the son she’d never been allowed to care for that she hadn’t told him what she was doing. The thought that she might have been afraid that Cain would be angry with her was almost too much. He would never have been angry. He would have been there to hold her hand and do anything he could to make sure she didn’t get hurt by the one person who should have understood and loved her, because none of what had happened in Stan’s childhood, except for her accidentally letting him slip in the bath, had been her fault. Angela was as much of a victim as Stan was. God he hoped he died in prison while waiting for his court case. He hoped that one of the prisoners realised he’d been a copper and took a home-made shank to his guts and gutted him like a fish, so he bled out on the cold tiles.
‘Hey, Cain, what are you doing here?’
He jumped, unclenched his fingers and turned to see Jo, one of the custody sergeants, standing there with an empty mug in her hands.
‘Oh hi, Jo, how are you?’
Jo shrugged. ‘Same shit, different day, but I have nothing better to do and got bills that need to be paid.’
He smiled at her. ‘Yeah, me too, except I can’t be at home alone in the house that screams Angela’s name from every skirting board to the bathroom rug.’
She reached out and stroked his arm. ‘God love you; I’m so sorry, Cain, she was a lovely woman. I met her a couple of times back in the day when she was still working as a social worker, and she really had a heart of gold. Nothing was too much trouble for her; she would go above and beyond to make sure whoever she was helping got everything they needed. She truly cared about people and never judged them for the predicaments they found themselves in.’
A lump formed in his throat, and he found it hard to speak. He managed to whisper, ‘Thanks, Jo, she really was.’ Reaching out he took the mug off her. ‘I’m brewing up, will bring you one if you have any biscuits going spare.’
Jo laughed. ‘For you, I will raid the secret stash of emergency digestives, but don’t tell anyone. I don’t want them thinking it’s favouritism.’
He grinned. ‘Nothing wrong with a bit of favouritism, besides some of us are worth it.’ He winked at her, and she shook her head. Turning around she began rooting around in the cupboard that housed a thousand plastic food containers with none or mismatched lids that everyone flung in there and left. She brought out the only storage tub with a lid and peeled it off to reveal three packets of digestives.
