The Burning (24 page)

It was an obvious question, but Jenny had to ask it: ‘Officer, how exactly did you interpret that message?’

‘We took it to mean that some time prior to writing it, Mr Morgan had disposed of his three-year-old son, Robbie, in some way, and that either just before or just after writing it, he set
fire to the house, intending to kill himself and his two stepdaughters. Subsequently, of course, gunshot wounds were found to all three bodies.’

‘We’ll get to those in a minute,’ Jenny said. ‘Tell me about the 999 call which tipped you off to this message. Do you have any idea who made it?’

‘No. All we know is that it was made from a call box that stands approximately fifty yards from the house close to the church. The report we were handed said the caller was an adult male.
No name.’

Jenny cast her mind back to her visits to Blackstone Ley and remembered an old red phone box, slightly on the lean, that was situated on the verge a short distance from the church.

‘Were any fingerprints taken or attempts made to identify the caller?’

‘No.’

‘What about the message on Mr Morgan’s Facebook page – have you established where it was written?’

‘At the foot of the message it says it was uploaded by mobile. We assume that mobile was Mr Morgan’s.’

Jenny turned to Alison, who was seated at a small table positioned at the side of the room. ‘Can you please show Mr Morgan exhibit AM-1.’

Alison picked up the evidence bag DI Ryan had handed to Jenny the previous week and carried it to Detective Sergeant Millard.

‘My inquiry was handed this phone last Thursday by one of your colleagues, Detective Inspector Ryan.’

‘So I understand.’

‘Can you tell us when and where it was found?’

‘It was discovered on the 2nd of January. I was part of a five-man team searching for Robbie Morgan in woodland approximately a quarter of a mile from Mr Morgan’s home. We were
examining a pile of felled timber and spotted the phone jammed into the end of the stack. We sent it for data retrieval later the same day, but apart from the final message, there was nothing of
interest.’

‘Do you have a record of Mr Morgan’s phone calls?’

‘I do.’ Millard reached into his folder and brought out a sheet of paper.

Alison took it from him and handed it to Jenny.

‘He only made a couple of calls a week, mostly to his partner. He seems to have led a quiet life.’

Jenny ran her eyes down the list of numbers he had dialled during the previous three months and had to agree with Detective Sergeant Millard. Ed Morgan seemed to have used his phone only under
sufferance. A glance at Kelly Hart told Jenny that she didn’t disagree.

‘How long would it take to walk from where the phone was found to the house?’ Jenny asked.

‘Five minutes. No more,’ Millard replied with certainty. ‘There was plenty of time for him to have left it there at 11.30 and gone back to the house to do what he
did.’

‘What do we know about his movements earlier in the evening?’ Jenny asked.

‘Ms Hart, his partner, left for work at approximately 5 p.m. She told us that she left Mr Morgan with the three children.’

‘So we can assume, can we, that whatever happened to Robbie, happened at some time between five o’clock and 11.30?’

‘Yes. But I’m afraid that as of yet we have no evidence confirming that Mr Morgan left the house, and no idea where he went. He had a pick-up truck, an old Ford Ranger, but it was
parked next to the house and too damaged by the fire to yield any forensics.’

‘Would you mind telling us what the current police theory is of what happened to Robbie Morgan?’

‘It was high tide in the estuary at 10 p.m. If a body had gone into the water shortly afterwards, it could easily have been swept out to sea. Morgan had lived in the area all his life. He
would have known that.’

‘He also worked at a meat rendering plant—’

Millard stepped in quickly as Jenny had suspected he would. ‘There is absolutely no evidence of Mr Morgan having visited the plant that evening. I can say that emphatically.’

Nevertheless, the jury had pricked up their ears, and several were now exchanging grim glances.

‘Thank you, officer,’ Jenny said, with what she intended as a disarming smile. She looked to the lawyers. ‘Do any of you have any questions?’

Katherine Palmer was first to her feet. With her girlish, slender features, at first glance she couldn’t have looked more unthreatening. But when she spoke, her tone was direct and
uncompromising.

‘There is absolutely no question, is there, Officer, that my client was anywhere in the vicinity of the house at the time the fire started?’

‘None at all,’ Millard said. ‘Ms Hart left her place of work shortly after 11.30. The security cameras at the pub confirmed that.’

‘In his final message, Mr Morgan describes my client as a “whore”. Have you found any evidence that she was being, or had been, unfaithful to him?’

‘No. We have not.’

‘Then do you have any idea why he wrote that?’

Millard hesitated. He was being asked for an opinion. He was only comfortable with facts. He looked across briefly at Kelly Hart, who had dipped her head, hands folded on her lap.
‘No,’ he answered simply.

‘Are you aware of the fact that most men who kill their families often do so having led unremarkable lives and without warning?’

‘I am.’

‘And that their acts of murder are often triggered by a threat, real or imagined, to their power or status as head of, and chief provider for, their family.’

‘So I understand.’

‘Then have you or your colleagues investigated this possibility?’

‘We have. Neither of Morgan’s jobs was particularly secure, but as far as we can tell he wasn’t under any immediate danger of being laid off.’

‘But the possibility might have been weighing on his mind?’

‘I honestly couldn’t say.’

‘No further questions.’ As she sat, Palmer smiled at the jury as if to say that her point had been proved entirely correct, and that Millard’s refusal to answer exactly as she
wished had merely been a misplaced display of tact on his part.

Robert Newland turned to Sam Lever, who gestured at him to go ahead. The QC stood and regarded Millard with a benign, patrician smile.

‘For the avoidance of doubt, Detective Sergeant, are the police looking for anyone else in connection with the fire and the events immediately leading up to it?’

‘No, we’re not.’

‘And you are continuing the search for Robbie Morgan?’

‘We are.’

‘And how far is the estuary from Blackstone Ley?’

‘Two miles across country.’

‘If I understand you correctly, Ed Morgan knew every corner of the surrounding country. He could have walked there and back in a little over an hour, even carrying the child’s
body.’

‘Probably so.’

‘One final question, officer – had Morgan ever come to the attention of the police before?’

‘No. There was nothing on our files.’

‘Thank you, officer.’ Newland gave a satisfied smile and sat.

Jenny was about to release the detective from the witness box and move on to Dr Kerr’s evidence when Sam Lever stood, checking a note he had made during Newland’s
cross-examination.

‘If I may, ma’am, I do have a question for the witness.’ In front of the jury, his manners were faultless.

‘Go ahead, Mr Lever.’

‘Officer, you were asked whether Mr Morgan had ever come to the attention of the police before. You said your files were empty.’

‘So I believe.’

‘But almost precisely ten years ago he was questioned in relation to the disappearance of a four-year-old child, Susie Ashton, who went missing from her home not 200 yards from Mr
Morgan’s front door.’

‘Every man in the area was questioned. There was no evidence against him.’

Jenny glanced nervously at Alison, hoping that she was managing to disguise any feelings she had on the issue. Thankfully she remained a picture of calm.

‘Mr Morgan was working for my client’s parents at the time – Mr and Mrs Grant of Blackstone House Farm. Approximately three weeks after Susie Ashton’s disappearance, Mr
Grant dismissed him for stealing red diesel from the farm tank.’

‘I’m afraid I know nothing about that.’

‘That’s odd, because Mr Grant reported the matter and was subsequently told in a phone call that there was insufficient evidence to proceed.’

‘We have no record of that,’ Millard answered defensively.

‘I’m told diesel burns far slower than petrol,’ Lever continued. ‘It’s waxy and viscous. Every farm worker knows that if you’ve got something awkward to burn
– a pile of damp brash or even an animal carcass – you would always choose to lace it with diesel to get a steady fire going.’

Jenny interjected: ‘And your point is, Mr Lever?’

Newland shot to his feet. ‘I do hope Mr Lever isn’t trying to make a connection between the present case and a completely unconnected incident from over ten years ago.’

‘I have no idea if there’s a connection or not,’ Lever said. ‘I’m simply making the point that Ed Morgan was a man who would have known more than a thing or two
about burning.’

Lever’s comment prompted a stifled sob from somewhere at the back of the hall. Jenny glanced up and saw that it had come from the frail figure of Clare Ashton, who was angled towards her
husband with her face buried in his shoulder.

‘Please be careful, Mr Lever,’ Jenny warned.

‘I will be extremely careful to interrogate the evidence, ma’am,’ Lever said defiantly, ‘no matter how uncomfortable for some that might be. That, I thought, was the
purpose of these proceedings.’ With a contemptuous glance at Detective Sergeant Millard, he dropped into his seat.

W
HILE
D
R
K
ERR REPLACED
M
ILLARD
in the witness box, Jenny made a note of the
theory which Palmer and Lever’s cross-examinations had inadvertently suggested to her, and which seemed eminently plausible: Ed Morgan had killed his family, fearing that evidence was about
to surface connecting him with Susie Ashton’s disappearance. But what evidence, and where might it have come from? And if fear of exposure was the reason, why not admit it in his final
message, rather than heap the blame on Kelly? The only explanation she could think of was that he had called her a whore in reference to what had occurred between her and Darren Brooks ten years
before. Maybe there had been a painful period of overlap when she hadn’t been fully committed to either of them? Distressing as it would be, these were questions that Kelly would have to
answer when her turn finally came to give evidence.

Looking uncomfortable in his suit and tie, Dr Kerr betrayed more than a hint of nervousness as he read the words of the oath. In the six years Jenny had known him, he had never learned how to
relax in front of a room full of people. He had once confessed to her that he would much rather be working alone in the mortuary at midnight than giving evidence in court.

Before leading him through his three post-mortem reports, Jenny addressed the hall at large, though her words were intended for only one set of ears. ‘Dr Kerr was the pathologist who
examined the remains of Ed Morgan, Layla Hart and Amanda Hart. His findings are distressing and I will of course be obliged to take him through them in some detail. If anyone would like to step
outside, please take this opportunity to do so.’

Her invitation was met with silence. She glanced at Kelly Hart and saw that she had no intention of leaving. Sitting upright and composed, she was determined to hear it all. She would feel she
had no choice.

Taking the lead, Jenny took Dr Kerr through his findings. He started with Ed Morgan, describing the total incineration of his body tissue and the gunshot wound fired from close range that had
left a six-centimetre hole in the back of his skull. At Jenny’s request, Alison produced a large clear polythene bag containing what remained of the shotgun retrieved from the rubble of the
house, and handed it to the jury. They passed it from one to another, some pausing to examine it, others barely able to give it a glance.

Next, Dr Kerr dealt with the damage to Ed Morgan’s mouth. The upper right canine incisor was missing and there were cracks to the two teeth situated to its right: the lateral incisor and
first premolar. The most likely cause of the trauma, he suggested, was the violent recoil from the gun as it discharged. He had managed to obtain dental records, but Ed Morgan hadn’t been for
a check-up for over five years. At the date of his last examination, the missing tooth had been present.

‘Is a shotgun recoil really strong enough to knock out a tooth?’ Jenny inquired.

‘Certainly. Especially if it was already weakened or compromised in some way.’

‘And your view is that this shot was fired by Mr Morgan himself.’

‘In view of all the circumstances, it seems the most likely explanation. The barrel was twenty-nine inches, or if you prefer, seventy-three and a half centimetres long. If he had placed
the end of the barrel inside his mouth, he would have been able to support the stock with his left hand and push the trigger back with the fingers or thumb of his right. And that leads me on to my
last finding.’ He was finally shedding his nerves. ‘The two bones in the right forearm – the ulnar and radius – were both broken at the same point, approximately eleven
centimetres from the wrist joint. Due to the fire damage it’s impossible for me to say how those fractures might have occurred. In all likelihood he was struck by falling debris after death
occurred, but I can’t rule out the possibility that they were broken before death. If that was the case, I would have to say that the most likely explanation is that it was a defensive
injury.’ He raised his forearm as if to shield his forehead. ‘If someone were to strike you with a blunt object, your reflex would be to absorb the impact just about here.’ He
gripped his forearm midway between elbow and wrist.

Jenny shot another glance at Kelly Hart. Her composure was holding, but only just.