Ava shrugged. ‘I don’t think so. How’s my dad?’
‘He’s okay, probably got an awful headache, but he’s awake and talking.’
Ava nodded; Sam led her down to the front office so she could get out of the building. Morgan watched the pair of them go down the stairs, thinking that at least Ava had a best friend she could confide in about the downward spiral her life had just taken, and she wasn’t alone.
Morgan’s radio began to vibrate signalling a private call. She had no idea who it was.
‘Hello.’
‘Hi, it’s Lisa, Col said to let you know the old lady who got stabbed earlier is out of surgery and in Intensive Care.’
‘How is she?’
‘Okay I think, they didn’t say anything bad at least.’
‘Amazing, thanks, Lisa, tell Col thanks too.’
The line went dead, and she felt a tiny spark of relief that at least something was looking up. If Maggie had survived the surgery there was a good chance she was going to be okay. She would go and speak to Wendy now, then feed the dog and take him for a quick walk. Once Heather was home, she could let Roley stop with them until Maggie was out of hospital, it was the least, she could do.
FORTY-THREE
Morgan was glad to see the CSI van still parked outside of the Riggs’ house. Cathy was standing talking to the joiner who was waiting for the all clear to board up the front window. She joined them and asked, ‘How’s Wendy getting on?’
‘Not long now I think, it’s only the broken window and the hallway to document and she’s almost finished in the hall.’
As if on cue Wendy appeared at the front door. She took one look at Morgan and pulled down her hood and mask.
‘I’m bloody sick of this street. If I have to come back again, I’ll scream. I thought this was the nice part of Rydal Falls; it’s got a worse crime rate than Barrow.’
Morgan grinned. ‘You’re right, have you had a full report yet from the fire department about the arson at the Lawsons’?’
‘Everything takes time, Morgan, not every emergency service has a Wendy or a Claire to jump to it and work God knows what hours to make sure everything is rushed through.’
‘I know, aren’t we the lucky ones? Thank you, Wendy, I love you.’
Her stern face broke into a wide grin as she laughed. ‘Cain is a bad influence on you, next you’ll be walking around hugging people.’
‘Only the people I like, I’m not really the hugging kind.’
‘I can give you Nigel’s number, if you want to speak to him. He might not be on duty or on call though, so don’t expect a miracle.’
‘That would be amazing, thank you. I have a couple of questions that’s all.’
She turned to Cathy. ‘Do we still have a key for the Lawsons’ house?’
Cathy patted the pocket on her body armour. ‘Aren’t you in luck? I forgot to hand it over to the duty sergeant before I came down here. You can have it and sign it back in. I’m as fed up with this place as Wendy. I’ve spent the last three days of my shift down here and each time I come back it’s worse than the day before.’
Rooting around in the pocket she pulled out around fifteen pens, a half-eaten packet of soft mints and finally a small, red plastic keyring. ‘There you go, knock yourself out.’
Morgan took it from her and smiled. ‘You’re a lifesaver too, thanks, Cathy. Make sure Ben buys you guys a takeaway as a thank you for all your hard work.’
Cathy laughed. ‘He’s going to kill you for suggesting that because now that you have, I won’t be able to let it go.’
She shrugged. ‘It’s the least he can do, a bit of appreciation and all that.’
Wendy, who was on the front lawn photographing the broken window, turned to look at her. ‘He can bloody buy me a pizza too after this week.’
‘He will, and if he doesn’t then I definitely will.’
