could hack everything he threw at her, and then some. She was, however, exhausted, and wanted to go home for a long soak in the bath with a very large alcoholic beverage of some kind.
‘I messed up big time yesterday, Declan.’
This statement from Ben brought her back to the present; he sounded disappointed with himself.
‘I took it on face value it was a straightforward suicide.’
‘And usually they are, Ben. How often have you come across something of this calibre? In Grasmere no less.’
Ben let out a heavy sigh. ‘Never.’
‘Exactly. You weren’t to know about the bruising around the neck. It was hidden by the rope. You had no way of knowing that the trauma to the back of the tongue had been caused until we did the PM, or even that the rest of her family were dead.’
Morgan kept quiet; none of this was anything to do with her. She wanted to say that not all of her family were dead, but she didn’t. Declan let them out and they walked to Ben’s car.
‘Should we go and check on Bronte while we’re here?’
He shook his head. ‘Not now, it’s been a long day and Amy texted me before the post-mortem to remind me about speaking to Harrison. I need to go back and see what he has to say for himself. He’s had a good few hours to stew now.’
‘Are you allowed to keep him that long when he’s not under arrest?’
‘Yes, because he hasn’t been detained. He’s free to go whenever he wants. For all I know he might have already walked out.’
‘But you don’t think he has.’
He shook his head. ‘Not if he’s got any common sense. His girlfriend is on life support and her family are dead. He discovered her mum’s body, so I should think he’ll want to cooperate fully unless he has something to hide.’
‘And do you think he does? I don’t know how I feel about him. He was so distraught yesterday when I arrived on scene. He looked genuinely shocked at discovering Olivia’s body. He’s an excellent actor if he is.’
‘I don’t know, usually there’s some connection between the victims and the killer. The way their faces were covered suggests it was someone who knew them, someone who didn’t want to look at them after they were dead. But if that’s the case, I just don’t know why they staged Olivia’s murder to look like a suicide.’
‘Maybe she came back later than the others and he panicked? Perhaps by hanging her the killer was trying to throw us off-guard, give themselves enough time to get their act together. Sort out an alibi, get rid of any evidence that could be linked to them?’
He nodded. ‘You’re pretty good for a rookie, you know. I think you’ll be okay at this.’
‘Cheers, I appreciate that vote of confidence, Sarge.’
By the time they arrived back at the station it was hours after Morgan’s shift had finished for the day. As they went inside, Ben looked at his watch: it was almost nine. It was also a good few hours after the end of his shift.
‘There’s not much for you to do now, so it’s up to you. If you want to go home you can, or you can see how the CCTV enquiries are going.’
Morgan wanted to go home; she was tired and every now and again she caught the awful, lingering smell of death, which seemed to have attached itself to her. She wanted a hot bath, but wasn’t sure if they’d think she was wimping out by leaving.
‘I’m okay for now. How long a shift do you normally work under these circumstances?’
‘Twenty-four, thirty-six, sometimes forty-eight hours with the odd kip and shower in between.’
‘Oh, then I’m good.’
He nodded. ‘You crack on with viewing CCTV then. There was an expensive camera around the Potters’ property. The hard drive should have been seized by the search team and booked in by now. If you go and see John in the video-imaging unit he’ll show you how to access them. For starters, I want to know everyone who came in and out of the property in the last forty-eight hours before they died. Then we’ll go back further.’
‘Fine.’
She left him and went in search of the video-imaging unit. She could do this.
John showed her to a small room with a monitor inside and how to work the equipment. Realising she needed something to eat first, she went to the canteen and got herself a coffee from the vending