my dad isn’t around much, and they argue a lot when he is. I want to see my mum now, please; can you get her, and Bea?’
Squeezing her hand, he took a deep breath. ‘I have something terrible to tell you and it’s not easy to say.’
She blinked her eyes wide, staring at him.
‘You weren’t the only person found in the cellar, sweetheart, your dad and Beatrix were with you.’
‘Are they hurt, are they in hospital, where’s Mum?’
The air in the room was suffocating and Ben wanted to run out of there and into the car park as fast as he could. He couldn’t do this. He turned to look at Amy, who was shaking her head. He took a deep breath.
‘Your mum, dad and Beatrix—’ His voice broke and he couldn’t speak.
Bronte just stared at him waiting for him to finish.
‘I’m so sorry.’
‘No, what are you sorry for?’
‘I’m sorry to tell you that they’re all dead.’
The hoarse scream filled the room and spilled out into the rest of the unit. She began to try to get out of bed. The sister and two nurses came running over and Ben let go of her hand. A nurse pushed him out of the way, bending down to hold the hysterical girl. Turning her head, she mouthed ‘get out’. Amy grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the room. He let her drag him out, craning his neck around to see if Bronte was okay.
Once they were back inside the car, he looked at Amy. ‘That was horrendous.’
‘I thought you did okay, she had to know. Sooner or later someone was going to have to tell her; at least the nursing staff can blame you and Bronte won’t hate them for it.’
‘Glad to be of service. Seriously, Amy, I can’t even begin to imagine what she’s going through.’
‘It’s done.’
‘Yeah, you know what, sometimes this job sucks big time. Plus, all we know is that Barker was sleeping with and visiting Olivia a lot when her dad wasn’t around. I hope Taskforce have found some evidence at his house. I want to watch him squirm his way out of this one.’
They drove back in silence, Ben lost in a world of grief for Bronte Potter and her family.
Fifty
Morgan arrived at the Cumbrian News office. There was a big CLOSED sign taped to the front window. The scene had been released late last night after Claire Williams, the murder investigation team’s DCI, had visited and cleared it. She hoped to God that the specialist cleaning firm had been in first thing this morning to clean it up; surely they wouldn’t have left that blood everywhere. It was a business. Her stomach lurched just thinking about the smell. She was going to find out sooner or later. She wanted to help Ben and by speaking to the staff here, she thought she might find out if there was a link between Stone and Barker.
Knocking on the door, her stomach felt like it did whenever she went on a boat. She hated sailing and even on bigger boats she still got seasick. She knocked harder; eventually the sound of footsteps could be heard on the tiled floor.
The door opened a tiny bit.
‘We’re closed, can’t you read the sign?’
‘Police, I need to speak to you.’
The door opened wide enough for her to squeeze through. She stepped in, relieved to see a sparkling clean floor and walls. The only smell which hit her nostrils was that of fresh paint.
‘Mind that wall, it’s still wet.’
She followed the older woman down the hall to an office. ‘Take a seat. I’m Lana Wallis.’
Morgan did, and the woman sat behind the desk. ‘What do you need to know?’
She didn’t ask to see Morgan’s credentials, which surprised her, but she looked as if she’d been in the job a long time, so could probably tell a copper from a one-mile radius. It was amazing just how many people could.
‘I’m sorry for your loss. I need some background information about Jamie to help with the investigation.’
‘It’s sad, but he’s not my loss. Truth be told he wasn’t very well liked by anyone.’
‘Oh.’ Morgan was taken aback by her honesty; people normally loved to play grieving friends, lapping up the sympathy when someone died so brutally or unexpectedly.
‘That sounds awful of me, I know it does. I’m not callous, but he didn’t really care much about anyone here or his employees. He only cared about himself.’