a side cubicle. Despite the bruising around her neck she was breathing unaided. Ben had told them he suspected she may have been drugged and they were waiting for the results of her blood tests to come back. Despite being squeezed onto the hardest, most uncomfortable chair for the last couple of hours, he found his eyes were closing; he was desperate for sleep. As he drifted off, he heard his name being called.
‘Ben.’
His eyes opened. Morgan was staring at him.
‘What time is it?’
He frowned and looked at his watch.
‘Four twenty-five,’ they said in unison, her voice a hoarse whisper.
She smiled at him. ‘Bloody insomnia; even when I’m stoned, I still wake up at that time.’
He leant forward and clasped her hand. ‘I was so worried about you.’
‘You were?’
He nodded. Pressing the necklace into her hand, he let go. She lifted it up and a single tear trickled from the corner of her eye.
‘Where?’
‘Stan came through, he brought your necklace back and saved your life.’
She tried to sit up. ‘He did?’
‘He did, he turned up to give it to you himself. I haven’t got the whole story off him yet because he hurt himself pretty bad in the process of trying to save your life.’
‘Is he okay?’
‘Bruised, lost a lot of blood but yeah. He did good. I know where you get it from now.’
‘What?’
‘Dramatic entrances: wait until you see the state of your flat. He only went and threw a boulder through your picture windows.’
Despite the seriousness of the situation they both began to laugh, a little too loud for the emergency department, but they couldn’t help it, and Ben realised he liked the sound of her laughter a lot more than anything else.
Fifty-Eight
One Week Later
Morgan stared at her reflection; she was ready to go back to work. The DCI had insisted she take some time off, but she was already bored and sitting home on her own didn’t help. Apart from the couple of times she’d visited Stan in the hospital, she hadn’t been out of her flat. Ben had done a good job of getting the window repaired and the flat cleaned up before she’d returned. She hadn’t seen the mess or the blood because she’d been unconscious by the time Stan had made his heroic attempt to save her life. Who’d have thought it, after all this time he’d finally shown her he really did care and she was grateful to him. Her fingers reached up and touched the crescent moon necklace he’d brought back for her. It would take a lot of time to repair their fractured relationship, but at least they were both speaking to each other and she would accept that. She tugged a black roll-neck jumper over her head to hide the fading ring of bruising around her neck that was still visible. She didn’t want people to stare at her. For seven days she had been forced to lie around doing nothing; she was bored beyond belief and eager to get back to work.
Inside the station she crept up the back stairs, avoiding the parade room and the officers in it. She reached the office which she’d been given and pushed the heavy wooden door open. Flipping the switch, a small ‘Oh’ escaped her lips. The desk and computer she’d been given were gone, along with the case notes. The realisation that she’d been moved out of Ben’s team so fast stung. She leaned against the door frame; at least she could hold her head up high when she re-joined her shift downstairs. Even if she said so herself, she’d done a pretty respectable job in the short time she’d been up here. Two killers had been remanded and were behind bars thanks to her. An overwhelming feeling of sadness for the life she could have led overcame her; realising she’d been so dispensable hurt a lot more than the injuries she’d suffered. Not once when Ben had visited had he told her she was no longer needed, and she’d thought they were friends.
Determined not to let anyone see how devastated she was, she strode along the corridor. Pushing open the door that led into the CID office, about to tell him where he could shove his attachment, her mouth fell open. There in the corner on the desk she’d used a couple of times was her stuff; a foil banner was draped across the desk, the words ‘Welcome Home’ emblazoned across it. A bunch of blue helium balloons hovered above