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She bolted out of bed and burst into Leigh and Jake’s room, flicking the lights on.
What awaited her was a scene out of a nightmare.
Leigh was pressed up against the headboard, shrieking, her eyes on the looming figure that was fast approaching her.
Morgan couldn’t make out anything about what the man looked like, as he was wearing a ski mask. All she could tell was that he was of average height and build. As if that would help anyone identify him.
She didn’t have long to dwell on this, though, because he was advancing quickly on Leigh with a knife.
Morgan threw herself at him, tackling him to the floor. He immediately turned to face the new threat, trying to stab her through the ribs. Morgan rolled out of the way just in time and grabbed his wrist. He twisted it away, but she managed to get hold of his arm and she wasn’t letting go for anything.
She wrapped her legs around his waist, focusing on holding him still while she disarmed him. She finally wrested the knife from his hand, but in the few moments when her focus was on the knife, he used the opportunity to escape her legs. Morgan hurried to put herself between him and Leigh, falling into a defensive crouch, the knife clutched in her hand.
The attacker appraised them for a brief moment before turning and leaping through the window. Morgan cursed under her breath as she followed him. it was dark outside and he was wearing black clothing, making him little more than a shadow. She dashed after him, leaping over benches and dodging around bushes.
It was over in a few short moments. He rounded a corner, and when Morgan rounded less than a couple of seconds later, he was gone.
“Fuck!” She stared hopelessly around, looking for any sign of movement, but she had lost him.
She ran back to the house to check on Leigh. She didn’t want to stay out here looking for him in case he decided to double back for Leigh.
Leigh was still in her bedroom and jumped violently when Morgan climbed back through the window.
“It’s okay. It’s just me.”
Jake had an arm around Leigh and smiled in relief when he saw Morgan. “We thought you might be hurt. Did you get him?”
“No, he got away,” Morgan grouched. “Come with me. I want to check the security cameras, but I don’t want to leave you two alone in case he makes another attempt.”
The three of them went through to the surveillance room, where Morgan flicked through video feeds until she found the one she was looking for. She watched as Leigh’s assailant vanished into the trees in the garden, then reappeared at a wall, climbed over it and went out of sight.
She sighed. “I’m going to call the police. They need to be informed, and they’ll want to take some fingerprints off this knife. Are you both alright?”
“We’re fine,” Leigh said shakily. “I can’t believe that actually happened. If you hadn’t been there…”
Morgan wanted to take Leigh and hold her and promise her everything would be ok. Her big brown eyes were scared and she was pale beneath her freckles.
“Well, I was there, so try not to dwell on the worst-case scenarios.”
Morgan glanced at Jake, frowning. Now that she thought about it, Jake hadn’t been in the room when the attacker had struck. It was most suspicious.
“Where were you, Jake? You weren’t with Leigh when the attack happened.”
“I was asleep in my room, over there.” Jake gestured to a door that looked to be concealed behind a tapestry. Morgan poked her head through to see another bedroom, with no door leading out to the corridor.
What reason would Leigh and Jason have to sleep in separate rooms, but go to such obvious attempts to hide it? She would have to ask them, but they both looked so shaken right now that she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She’d save her questions for when they had calmed down a little.
Leigh and Jake sat silently in the background while Morgan was on the phone to the police. They seemed to be in shock, not that she could blame them.
Once she had reported everything and was sure officers were on their way, she made Leigh and Jake both some tea and convinced them to eat a few cookies each. Blood sugar was usually one of the first things to go in situations like these and she didn’t need either of them collapsing.
The police arrived a few minutes later. Morgan described the attack. Leigh wasn’t much help, becoming too distressed to give an accurate account when asked what happened. Morgan saw it all the time with clients. Jake tried to comfort her, but it was clear he didn’t know how best to do so.
“Leigh. Hey, Leigh, look at me.” Morgan took Leigh’s hands in both of hers. “I am going to keep you safe. Okay? I’m not going to let him get you. You can breathe. You can rest. I promise, I’m going to be on full alert from now on. He made a mistake tonight. He’s given us evidence to use against him. I know it may not feel like it, but what happened here puts us closer to catching him than we were before.”
Leigh took a deep breath, bringing her eyes up to meet Morgan’s. “Thank you. I’d probably be dead right now if not for you.”
“Just doing my job.”
