‘Only he can tell us that. After the events this week I don’t even want to hazard a guess.’
Morgan did not know what was going on, but she’d never envisaged anything like this in her wildest dreams. She had expected her first few months to be a bit of an anti-climax after her time spent in company with Dan. He’d answered every immediate response job whenever they were on shift and every sudden death, to make sure she got plenty of experience. A feeling of overwhelming sadness filled her; how had it all gone so wrong between them? She thought they were friends and it hurt her that he had turned against her the way he had.
Feeling sorry for herself, she looked down at Harrison. Her fingers reaching out, she stroked his head. He was a teenage boy who should be thinking about nothing but having fun and what he was going to do with the rest of his life. Yet he was lying here on the ground of an empty house, lucky he was still breathing. His life would have been over before it began, just like Bea’s and Bronte’s. It made her so sad and even more determined to find out what had happened here. Maybe she could talk it through with Dan, tell him she hadn’t asked for the attachment in CID, that it had been pure luck she’d been in the right place. It wasn’t helping things that he’d been hoping for the opportunity for a long time.
They waited for what seemed like forever until finally a siren could be heard in the distance. Ben went to wait at the entrance to the drive to flag them down. The ambulance manoeuvred up the drive and parked behind Ben’s car. The two paramedics got out and raced across to where they were. She stood up to let them get near him and realised one of them was Luke.
‘What is it with this place? Hello again, I was here on Friday.’
She smiled. ‘I remember; hello, Luke. No idea, but I wouldn’t live here if they gave it to me for free.’
She stopped speaking, realising how bad it sounded. Stepping back, Morgan and Ben both watched the paramedics assess the boy. He murmured and groaned a little while they began to ask him questions and take his vital signs; the air was fraught with tension and sadness. Finally, they loaded him into the back of the ambulance.
‘Where’s he going?’
‘Westmorland General A & E is closed at the moment, so it will be RLI.’
Morgan wondered if he’d wanted to be close to Bronte. Had he done this because he wanted to be with her or had he done it because he had a guilty conscience? A patrol arrived, Dan got out and Ben began explaining the circumstances of what had happened to Harrison. Dan didn’t say much; he didn’t even look Morgan’s way. He couldn’t ignore Ben because he was his superior, but when she turned away from him she could feel his eyes burning into the back of her head. A couple of grunts later and he reversed out of the drive to let the ambulance out, then followed it. Morgan stared after him. He walked back to where she was standing, staring after Luke. Realising he was watching her, she snapped out of it.
‘Where’s he going?’
‘Hospital to keep an eye on Harrison. I’m not entirely convinced this was a serious attempt, although it wasn’t as if he knew anyone was coming this morning to rescue him. He was either very lucky that the branch snapped, and we turned up or…’
‘But he’s unconscious. Or what?’
‘Paramedic seemed to think he might be putting a little bit too much effort into acting as though he was. There’s only a slight reddening around his neck where the rope was.’
‘Oh, why would he do that?’
Ben shrugged. ‘Maybe he wanted some sympathy; at the moment everything is focusing on the Potters. He was the one who found Olivia and his girlfriend was beaten half to death; no one seems too bothered about him. Maybe he was getting a little jealous of the attention they were getting. We get people like this all the time, desperate for attention, you’ll see.’
Morgan stared at him. ‘What, you think he did this for attention? Not because he’s broken-hearted or maybe guilty.’
‘Now you’re thinking straight. Yes, he could quite easily have used a rope that he knew would snap. But maybe he is guilty, who knows?