‘Who’s asking?’
‘Detective Constable Morgan Brookes, can I have a word with you? Are your parents home?’
‘Let me see your badge.’
Morgan tugged it out from underneath her jacket, holding it up for Ava to read. She was impressed, obviously the security over here was much better than at Maggie’s.
‘Hang on. Dad, there’s a copper here, should I let her in?’
Heavy footsteps came towards the door.
‘What have I told you, Ava? You’re not to answer the door to anyone we don’t know.’
‘I looked on the Ring app, she doesn’t look like a homicidal maniac.’ Ava turned and walked away.
The door opened wide, and Luke Rigg shrugged at her. ‘Oh, it’s you. Sorry, we’re a little on edge about what happened.’
‘That’s good, I think it’s far better to be vigilant, Ava’s a bright girl.’
‘She is when she wants to be, come on in, it’s Morgan, isn’t it?’
She smiled at him. ‘It is. I wanted to have a chat with Ava, if that’s okay. Did the PCSOs check your doorbell camera coverage?’
‘I did myself, I’m sorry to say that before the fire I only had it covering the start of our drive; I’d turned it off ages ago from covering the street. I couldn’t keep up with the notifications every time Maggie walked that dog past. I’ve reset it now and changed the parameters, so it does cover anyone walking past, just in case.’
‘Thank you, that’s probably wise.’
‘You haven’t caught the bastard yet then?’
She shook her head. ‘Unfortunately not, but we’re getting close.’ She didn’t want to tell him they had no idea who it was, he looked so on edge.
‘Come in, I’ll get Ava to come back down, she’s with her friend.’
He led her into the same lounge that she’d been in the night of the fire. She sat on the chair leaving the sofa free for Ava and her dad to sit on. He disappeared, moments later returning with the teenager, who had a look of annoyance on her face.
‘Hello again, Ava, can we have a little chat?’
She rolled her eyes in Morgan’s direction but nodded.
‘Your dad told me you and Tim were good friends, I’m sorry for your loss, this must have come as a terrible shock for you.’
‘Wewere, yes. I feel sick every time I look out of my bedroom window at his house. I can’t believe he’s dead, I mean who would do that?’
Suddenly Ava didn’t look quite as grown up as she had when she’d answered the door. Luke reached out his hand and patted her back, but she shrugged him off.
‘I know, it’s horrible to think someone would hurt him, which is why I need your help. I need to find this person and lock him up where he can’t hurt anyone else.’
Ava’s eyes opened wide. ‘You think he’s going to do it again?’
Morgan could have kicked herself; she didn’t want to be frightening the girl. ‘No, at least I hope not, but we’d rather have him in prison to make sure that he can’t.’
The girl nodded.
‘You said you and Tim were good friends, what happened, did you fall out?’
‘Not exactly, we used to always walk to school and back, hang around together at lunchtime, break time that kind of thing. Stick up for each other when we needed it.’
Morgan thought back to her school days, they were tough, but she’d had Brad, he had always been a good friend to her when she needed it.
