‘But what about Isaiah and the person who came home on the CCTV with Tim? They were much smaller than Luke; in fact they were around the same size as Heather. Maybe she was the one who went home with him.’
Amy turned around holding her hand in the air. ‘Morgan, stop it, please, for the love of God let’s do what we’ve been sent here to do. Let’s play nice, do what the boss has asked, tick some boxes and then if it doesn’t work out, we can all look into your theory.’
Morgan nodded; she was annoyed with Amy, but she knew she was right. They would either find more evidence to incriminate Luke or to prove his innocence. She wasn’t giving up on her theory though; she wasn’t convinced that Heather Rigg was as innocent as she was making out.
THIRTY-FIVE
The search wielded nothing useful. No meat cleaver, no more photographs of Sally Lawson. Unless Luke had them stored on his laptop, which was a possibility. Morgan had expected Luke to have a desktop computer, he didn’t, just a laptop, which they seized and bagged up to be sent off to the tech unit. They’d finished the office and bedroom when Wendy arrived. Now that she had arrived, they could look in the most important place – the freezer.
Morgan smiled at her, then turned to Heather. ‘Is it okay if we search your freezer?’
Heather looked confused. ‘Why on earth do you want to search that?’
‘We found some vital evidence inside the Lawsons’ freezer, and we need to check to see if there is anything similar inside yours.’
‘Help yourself.’
All four women walked into the kitchen. Wendy photographed the kitchen, then the fridge freezer. It wasn’t as huge as the one in the Lawsons’ kitchen. Tugging open the door with her gloved hand she opened each drawer, removing the contents and looking inside bags that were open, feeling the ones that were closed.
‘What the hell are you looking for? Human body parts?’ Heather began to laugh, then realised no one else was and her face became serious. ‘Jesus Christ, you think that the Lawsons’ hands are in my freezer.’
Amy glanced at Morgan, who nodded. ‘How did you know about the missing hands?’
‘How do you think? Luke, he couldn’t stop talking about how awful it was and why someone would want to chop off a person’s hand. Oh, you think that he did it, he chopped off their hands and put them in the freezer. I’m going to be sick.’ She was shaking her head. ‘He’s too much of a wimp to do something like that, he really is, he doesn’t even like chopping up the chicken breasts when it’s his turn to cook.’
Morgan stared at Heather. ‘You don’t mind doing that though, do you?’
‘What do you mean by that? I don’t particularly enjoy it, but no, it doesn’t bother me especially if we want to eat a wholesome meal.’
‘Luke said that you worked in the butchers on the high street.’
‘Oh, he did, did he? Seems like he was as keen to talk about me as I am about him. Yes, I did but I didn’t even last a month, I couldn’t stand it, the smell was just awful.’
Wendy continued checking every item in the freezer, then turned to Morgan and shook her head.
‘Well, thanks for letting us in, Heather, we haven’t taken much, just his laptop. Do you want to go and pack him a suitcase?’
Heather didn’t speak, her face solemn, her eyes downcast. She nodded and left them whilst she went upstairs to pack him some clothes.
Wendy whispered, ‘Well, that was awkward, she’s a bit of a weird woman, isn’t she?’
Amy whispered back, ‘It takes all sorts.’
They heard her opening and slamming drawers, banging wardrobe doors then the sound of her footsteps stomping along the hallway and down the stairs. She appeared red-faced and out of breath.
‘Just so you know, I’d never hurt a fly let alone do something like that. In case you’re wondering, I couldn’t even if I wanted to, and I didn’t want to not one little bit. Sally was my friend until he ruined it.’
She thrust the cabin-sized suitcase at Morgan, who grabbed it from her.
‘Thank you, we’ll pass this on to Luke.’
All three women walked out of the Riggs’ house, breathing a sigh of relief to be out of the awkward atmosphere and into the fresh air.
THIRTY-SIX
By the time Luke Rigg had been booked into custody, had his DNA and fingerprints taken, and his upper body checked for any scratches, his solicitor had arrived. He was taken into an interview room where Lucy O’Gara was waiting for him. She looked at Ben and smiled. ‘Thank you, but I’d like to speak with my client alone first.’
Ben nodded and left them to it, going to stand at the custody desk with Jo, the on-duty sergeant. Cain was already there sitting on a chair, feet up looking comfortable.
