Chasing Morgan (26 page)

Morgan liked her immediately. She’d said just the right thing to get the girl’s attention and a chance for trust.

“Officer McCormick. I’m Morgan Standish.”

“There’s no introduction needed. We’ve all heard about you around here. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Morgan felt just as welcome, as if she’d been invited to dinner.

“This is”—she looked down at the girl in her arms and heard her say in her mind,
Leslie
—“Leslie.” Morgan looked into the girl’s eyes and waited for the questions to come. She asked one question. The most important one to Leslie.

Did God send you?

“Yes, he did, honey. I’m going to speak for you because you can’t speak for yourself. Understand?”

The little girl nodded.

Morgan looked at the three police officers standing by waiting. She noticed others had been informed she was in the building. They stared with curiosity. Apparently, the infamous psychic had arrived.

“What did she say?” Officer McCormick asked.

No one actually heard Leslie speak, but Morgan heard her just the same. “She asked if God sent me. I think my being here was certainly meant to be. Leslie needs help, and I’m here to make sure she gets it.”

“She will,” Officer McCormick agreed. “Let’s move into one of the rooms back here. They’re quiet, and we can talk.”

Officer McCormick led the way while Morgan and the girl walked behind her. Morgan never let go of the girl, and the girl never let go of Morgan. Though many people stared as they made their way to an interrogation room, no one said a word. They all made way for the psychic, who heard a little girl speak, even though she’d never said a word.

Chapter Twenty-Six

“M
ORGAN’S BEEN AT
the police station for nearly three hours,” Tyler said for the second time in ten minutes.

“She’s helping out one of the officers with a child. I’m sure she’s fine,” Sam assured Tyler.

“I don’t think she’s fine. You don’t think she’s fine.”

“Why do you say that?” Sam asked.

“Because you’re doing fifty in a thirty-five zone. You’re as anxious as I am.”

Sam didn’t deny it. Anxious, jumpy, they needed to get to Morgan and make sure she was okay. Stewart had been vague, avoiding Tyler’s pointed questions about why he’d kept Morgan at the station so long. Still, Stewart’s tone held an edge.

Tyler didn’t trust the bastard. Stewart left something out. Something he didn’t want them to know about Morgan and what was happening at the precinct.

They’d spent the last three hours directing the officers in a neighborhood canvas trying to find the murderer. Stewart managed to send them a copy of the sketch the police artist completed before Morgan assisted with the child. They’d been surprised to get one so quickly. Morgan had been right. The guy was ordinary. Nothing distinguished him from a thousand other men, although the sketch and her description were very good.

They parked, entered the precinct, and waded through the officers milling around the open lobby area. Many of them turned their interest to Tyler and Sam’s arrival.

“That woman is the most amazing thing I’ve ever witnessed.” The desk sergeant shook his head in disbelief, drawing their attention.

A strikingly beautiful woman, Morgan wouldn’t be missed in a crowd of models. Something ethereal radiated about her, in addition to her physical appearance. The sergeant spoke about more than her appearance, and by the stares they received from the officers waiting around the precinct, Tyler and Sam both knew Morgan was doing her thing to everyone’s amazement. They still didn’t know what she was doing and exchanged a this-isn’t-going-to-be-good look.

“What are you talking about? Where is she?”

“In interrogation room three. She’s been in there more than two hours. She hasn’t stopped talking for that girl. They’re saying it’s the worst case of child abuse they’ve ever come across. We never would have known if Morgan hadn’t come in here. I tell you, that girl has sat in this lobby more times than I can count and never said a word to anyone. Morgan takes one look at her and the girl wrapped herself around her and never let go. Even now, she’s in Morgan’s arms and just sits there while Morgan tells all the bad things that ever happened to her. It’s like listening to a horror movie that never ends.”

“Morgan knew about the abuse?” Tyler asked surprised.

“I’ve never seen so many black and blue marks on a person. Cigarette burns, too. You’d have never known just looking at her in her jeans and long sleeve shirt. I don’t want to even think about what else her clothes hid.”

“Morgan’s been in the interrogation room since then?” Fear for Morgan lanced through his gut.

The sergeant leaned back, apprehension and fear in his eyes as Tyler loomed over him. They could just imagine what happened to that little girl. They’d worked enough child cases to know what kind of horror monsters inflicted on a child. One case was too many in their book. To think Morgan was going through all those emotions and seeing all those horrors was bad enough, but Tyler and Sam also knew Morgan had been abused as a child herself.

“Yes. Everyone knows she’s here. They’ve been taking turns listening from the adjoining room and watching Morgan and Officer McCormick go through everything. It’s amazing and strange to watch. Morgan, she just keeps talking like she can’t stop the words anymore.”

The sergeant looked past them, anxious. “They’re bringing in the father. That’s what everyone is waiting to see. A couple of officers took him into custody earlier. He should arrive soon for questioning.”

That’s all Tyler and Sam needed to hear. They made their way through the doors adjoining the lobby past the many rows of cubicles. Most of the officers tried to look busy, but many of them stood, looking toward the interrogation rooms.

Tyler didn’t want to barge in on Morgan and the child. He didn’t want to scare her, or make her uncomfortable. He and Sam entered the adjoining room where people watched and listened through the two-way mirror. Tyler opened the door, surprised to see the room filled to capacity with officers. Stewart sat near the glass. He had a difficult time seeing into the other room because of all the people seated and standing in here.

Tyler didn’t waste any time. “Stewart, what the hell is going on? Why is Morgan in there working on a child abuse case when she’s supposed to be helping us with a serial killer?”

His tone and his question had the desired effect. Officers scrambled to get out of the room and back to their jobs. No one wanted to be in the path of Tyler’s wrath, not to mention on the bad side of the FBI and their psychic.

Once the room cleared out, only Detective Stewart and a lieutenant working the Special Victims Unit remained. Morgan’s voice droned on over the speaker in an ominous monotone recounting a terrible scene in which the girl had been beaten for not washing her dinner dish properly. She’d been dunked into an ice water bath and held down until her lungs felt like they’d burst. Tyler was afraid to look through the glass and see Morgan. Even he couldn’t have prepared himself for the sight of her. He and Sam both swore at the same time when they saw Morgan sitting in a chair behind a table facing the window. The officer in the room sat with her back to the mirror, but you could see most of her profile. She wrote out notes, along with the taping, holding a tissue and wiping her eyes constantly. Her devastated appearance got to them as much as Morgan’s sad voice.

The young girl, a teenager by her physical appearance, appeared small for her age, timid, nothing but a scared child. Sitting on Morgan’s lap with her head on her chest, her blank eyes stared into nothing. She didn’t speak as she held onto Morgan’s arm with both hands, as if Morgan were her life preserver in the middle of a hurricane at sea.

Tyler and Sam both growled out an expletive at the same time.

“This isn’t my doing,” Stewart said quickly. “She insisted the girl needed help. If you had seen the marks on that girl, you wouldn’t have argued either. She won’t stop. Look at her. I’ve watched her, I don’t know, wither away before my eyes. Officer McCormick can’t stop crying. Morgan just keeps talking. It’s one unspeakable act after another and it won’t stop. She won’t stop,” he said in a stunned monotone.

“Did you go in there and tell her to stop?”

“It’s like she can’t hear us. She just keeps talking. That girl won’t let go of her, and Morgan won’t let go of the girl. It’s the most amazing and strange thing I’ve ever witnessed. Then, there are the stories, one after another. She started when the girl’s mother died. She’s recounting every incident with the father from about age six. She’s almost finished, I think. She’s recounting things from last summer. I don’t want to listen anymore, but I can’t seem to stop.”

Tyler read Stewart’s concern and horror at the situation. He’d only been in the room for a few minutes and just listening to Morgan talking about the girl being hit or punched or burned made him sick. The sound of Morgan’s voice… No, wait. Not Morgan’s voice. Another voice, like in the psychic shop and at the restaurant.

“Sam, it’s like the restaurant. It looks like her, but it’s not. Can you hear the difference in her voice?”

“Yeah. She doesn’t look very good. She can’t keep this up much longer.” Sam stared through the glass.

“She told the girl she’d speak for her, since she couldn’t. It’s the only explanation any of us can come up with,” Stewart said. “She’s somehow talking for the girl. In the beginning, her voice was high and timid like a very young child. Eerie.”

“I need to stop this. She can’t keep this up. Look at her.” Tyler ran his fingers through his hair and tried to think of the best way to stop her.

Morgan had dark circles under her eyes and pale skin. Her eyes had turned the darkest blue and remained completely unfocused. Although she held on to the girl, her head wasn’t quite upright and every once in a while it bobbed like she was trying to stay awake.

“We’ve called the girl’s aunt. It’s one of the first things Morgan gave to us. The aunt lives in Tracy. She should be here by now. I guess with traffic and everything it’s taking a while. She’s the mother’s sister. After the mother died, her father refused to let the aunt visit. Once she gets here, we’ll turn the girl over to her.”

No one noticed Morgan stopped talking. She’d turned in her seat, holding the girl tightly in her arms with her back to the door shielding the girl from the entry. The commotion outside the room, a man yelling about his rights and his daughter being questioned without a lawyer present, drew all their attention. He demanded to see his daughter. The officer escorting him opened the door and the man pushed past. Morgan wrapped herself around the girl with her whole body to protect her.

It happened so fast. No one had time to react. The man grabbed Morgan’s hair with his shackled hand and yanked her back in the seat. The little girl held on to Morgan’s arm with all her might.

“That’s my daughter. Turn her loose. I won’t have you filling her head with lies.”

Officer McCormick rose out of her chair with her weapon drawn and inches from the man’s head.

“Let her go, or I will shoot you.” She meant it. For the first time in her career, she had her weapon drawn and wished the man would do something stupid, so she could pull the trigger. After three hours of listening to Morgan, she couldn’t take any more. This man deserved a slow and painful death. A bullet seemed like a gift, but she’d take the shot if it meant the little girl would forever be safe.

Silence fell in the room. Morgan wanted to let the blackness that had threatened for over an hour take her under. She wanted that deep sleep she’d had after the restaurant incident.

Tyler. Help me.

“I’m right here, honey,” Tyler assured her, his own gun held to the back of the man’s head. “Let her go. If you so much as pull one strand of hair from her head, I swear to God, I’ll kill you.”

“She’s my daughter,” the man said defiantly.

“You’re assaulting the woman I love, so you’ll take your hands off her before I forget the only thing stopping me from killing you is the badge I’m wearing. It says FBI, by the way. You’re under arrest for assault against Morgan, as well as a multitude of charges against your daughter beginning with child abuse.”

Sam smiled from behind Tyler. He said he loved her. About damn time. Morgan looked ready to pass out, and they needed to end this quick. The girl whimpered like a wounded animal. For the first time, tears fell from her eyes. Tyler had the situation and himself under control. Morgan might be in the shackled hands of this man, but Tyler wouldn’t do anything stupid. The guy couldn’t hurt Morgan seriously. He didn’t have a weapon, his hands were handcuffed in front of him. Tyler knew the score and had his emotions under control.

“I never touched her. I only want to take my daughter home.”

“You won’t go anywhere, if you don’t let go of her,” Tyler said with conviction. He nodded at Officer McCormick when she took a step closer, still with her gun raised at the man.

“Let Morgan go, and we’ll let you speak with your daughter. We’ll see what she has to say,” Officer McCormick tried bargaining.

Tyler, I’m going to pass out.

“No, you aren’t, honey. You’re going to focus on me.”

No more sadness and anger. I can’t take any more. I want to go.

He hated hearing her so down and sad. He hated even more that she sounded like she had nothing left. He didn’t want to talk to her out loud anymore. He could finally hear her in his mind and he didn’t want to lose the connection between them ever again.

Honey, I’m going to take you back to the ship. I promise you, I’ll keep you safe, and you can sleep. I need you to stay with me right now. Find something happy in me. There’s got to be something.

You said you love me.

Her words came as a soft whisper in his mind. “Yeah, honey, I do love you.”

He spoke the words out loud unsure if it was because he was losing her, or because she didn’t believe him. He’d never given the words to anyone else. He’d never felt like he did when he was with her, whether it was physically, or the way they’d been connected before and now. He only felt this way for her.