‘Or, he has family that are local who know about it.’ Claire was nodding.
Morgan stood up and began scrubbing the knackered old whiteboard clean. She wrote Joyce Black’s name, underneath that Amos with a question mark because had he mentioned it, she wasn’t sure. Then she wrote Ettie’s name.
Ben pointed to the word Ettie. ‘I don’t think Ettie is the watcher, Morgan.’
‘No, I don’t either, but she knows about him because she told me. I’m just trying to list the people who know about it. Then we can ask them if they’ve talked about it with anyone lately and add their names to the list.’
Amber, who was picking at the gel polish on one of her nails, looked up. ‘Better write your own name on that list, Morgan, because none of us have ever heard of it until you brought it up.’ She smiled sarcastically, and this time it was Ben who glared at her.
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ he said.
‘What? It’s not ridiculous, if you’re adding names to a list and you have Joyce Black and her poor aunt Ettie down, it makes sense to put hers down. I’ve never heard of this watcher dude. Has anyone else?’
They shook their heads, so Morgan wrote her name under her aunt’s. Ben took the pen from her fingers. ‘You don’t need to do that.’
She smiled at him. ‘Yes I do, and now I’m going to write all of your names next to mine because I told you all about it.’
Amber was no longer smiling; her lips had drawn a thin line, and Cain laughed. ‘Hahaha, Amber, you dweeb, you’d be my first suspect if you weren’t so short.’
Amber picked a pen off the desk and launched it in his direction.
Marc stood up. ‘Stop it now, you’re behaving like a classroom of unruly children. Let’s be sensible about this. Someone scour the map for disused buildings. I’m going to call out Mountain Rescue to see if they’re able to assist with a full search of the fell, starting from the neighbour’s house. They already did Amos’s land with no success.’
‘Have we tried pinging Scarlett or Janey’s phones?’ Morgan asked.
Claire nodded. ‘It was done last night before we finished. I’m waiting for the results to come through.’
Morgan looked around at everyone. ‘We need to widen the search, check out any other property, buildings in the area, whether they’re on the fell or not. Let’s do a search of all the buildings and houses in Buttermere village, that’s the nearest one. We can make a start now. If their bodies are not in the water or nearby then maybe the killer lives in the village and has someplace he has taken them.’
Ben clapped his hands together.
‘We’ll get teams out on a full house to house of the village; I’ll draft in the PCSOs to help with the door knocking. I want every registered voter spoken to.’ His phone rang, and he saw Declan’s name and put him on loudspeaker.
‘Hey, have you got something good for me? You’re on loudspeaker by the way and I’m in a briefing.’
‘Could be, those nail clippings from Lizzie Thomas had the faintest trace of DNA on them. It would have been much stronger if she hadn’t been in the water, but it’s there and hopefully enough to get an ID.’
A loud whoop of delight went around the room. ‘That’s fantastic, Declan, thank you.’
‘Well, it’s better than nothing. Speak soon.’
Ben was grinning.
‘Until we get something back from the database, let’s get going and carry on with the plan.’
Marc shook his head. ‘No offence, Ben, but the state of your face, you’ll terrify whoever opens the door. You stay in the office and coordinate with Mountain Rescue; maybe see if you can chivvy up the DNA. Ring the lab and ask them to fast-track it. Besides, someone needs to stay behind so it may as well be you. Me and Claire will head up the team going to the village.’
Morgan watched Ben carefully to see if he was disappointed; instead she saw a look she recognised all too well, one of mild relief, and for once she didn’t blame him.
This was turning into a carnival with a whole load of clowns; she just hoped that between them they came up with something tangible to help them find the missing women.
FORTY-ONE
‘Hey, asshole, are you there?’ Janey shouted a lot louder now she had her voice back, and Scarlett couldn’t help smiling at the words that were full of attitude.
‘I don’t think he’s here; I’ve been listening and there hasn’t been any kind of movement. Try loosening that piece of wood that you said is a bit wobbly.’
‘Okay, have you felt around to see if there are any in yours?’ Despite feeling weak, because she couldn’t remember the last time she had eaten, Scarlett stood up, feeling for the piece of wood that had creaked and moved slightly earlier when she’d pressed against it. She pressed each post until she felt the slightest movement. ‘Found it.’
