Possessing Morgan:
A Matter of Conviction
by Aurelia
Part 5
See Part 1 for Disclaimers
Chapter 5
Andrea glanced around the darkened surroundings of Monkeyshines and decided she liked the place. It was warm, friendly and intimate, and most of all, free of the New York City Police fraternity. They found a small booth at the back and waited patiently for their drinks to arrive. Perusing the lunch menu, Andrea couldn’t help but study the enigma sitting in front of her.
“So tell me, why all this sudden interest in me?” It was obvious that the counselor’s directness took the redhead by surprise. Morgan was beginning to turn a lovely shade of pink.
“Ohhhh, okayyyy.”
“Well, you asked.” Morgan whispered. “Don’t worry about it. Nothing is gonna happen.”
“Why?” Andrea didn’t even notice the squeak in her voice. She didn’t know whether to be thankful or offended.
“Why?” Morgan couldn’t help but smile at that reaction. Was she disappointed? “Because you are engaged.”
“Engaged?”
“You know, ring on the finger right before you get married?” The tall detective giggled inside, seeing the turmoil written on the young counselor’s face. “To a man?”
“Who?” Andrea mind scrambled to find that particular piece of information. She lowered her eyes, unable to hold the contact any longer. Instantly her mind cleared. “Oh yeah… Joel.” At that moment the drinks arrived and they placed their orders. Andrea had to know. “If you weren’t going to make a move on me why are you taking me out to lunch?”
“Well, as my learned partner back there pointed out, someone’s gotta be your friend, and he felt that you should have a... ahhhh... girlfriend…” Morgan cleared her throat at the word, “… to talk about girl stuff.” Andrea laughed at the thought. Morgan? Girl stuff? She would have a better chance at talking about girl stuff with Henry.
Morgan leaned over the table towards Andrea and whispered conspiratorially, “Between you and me, I think he’s still trying to be a matchmaker.”
Andrea’s jaw dropped a little at the thought, but when she saw Morgan’s reaction she straightened up, answering that statement with one of her own. “Well, I suppose he’s only thinking of your welfare. You’re quite the lone wolf, Morgan O’Callaghan. Why is that?” Instinctively, the redhead’s face hardened at the question. “Maybe this confiding in a girlfriend works both ways… Mo.” Andrea tried out the word on her tongue, studying the redhead in front of her. “Mo? Hmm. No, I like Morgan better.” Andrea deliberately drew out the name, letting her Southern drawl caress it. She was pleased to see a slight shudder run down the long frame. Why was she getting such perverse pleasure out of tormenting the woman? Dare she say, even exciting her?
So, two can play at that game. “Andrea…” Morgan let her voice drop to a deep, agonized whisper, pleased to see the young woman react to her. She watched those dark eyes narrow and a pink tongue pop out to moisten dry lips. Her thoughts frantically moved in a hundred different directions, all clamoring for her attention. No, her mind whispered, she’s not for you.
“Let’s stop this right now, Counselor. Teasing me like this is not playing fair. Besides, you’re not interested in women, so why play the game?”
“True, Detective, so true. My apologies.” But Andrea’s interest had been piqued, and her mind kept wandering back to that particular question while they ate lunch.
Over coffee Morgan’s cell phone chirped. “O’Callaghan. Hodges? Thanks for getting back to me.” She listened intently to the head of the crime lab, his report confirming what she already suspected. “Good, thanks. Can you send me a copy of the report once it’s up? You’re the man, Hodges.”
Andrea looked at her inquiringly. “It’s the Vaughan case. There was a water glass next to Vaughan’s bed and I asked forensics to test it. It seems it had been tampered with.”
“How did you know that?”
“Just a hunch. Vaughan was really out of it when we arrived, like he was stoned out of his mind. Either he was in shock or he had been drugged. I just decided to check out the second option as well.”
“So what’s happening with the case?”
“I’m sure you will be brought in soon. After all, you are the ADA.” Morgan smiled as Andrea straightened in her seat. “You like the sound of that, huh?”
“Yeah.” She gently smiled. “Yeah I do. I always thought I would have my own practice, but this is great.”
“Give it a couple of years and you’ll probably change your mind.”
“Oh, I dunno. A couple of years of this may not be so bad.”
“Andrea, you don’t know what pressure is until you’ve worked in the New York City’s DA’s office. I’ve seem them come and I’ve seen them go… in rapid succession. Two years seems to be the limit.”
“Don’t say that! This is my second day on the job and you’re telling me I have a shelf life?”
“Just giving you a friendly warning.”
Andrea leaned back in her seat, not sure whether the tall woman was joking or not. She seemed to have a dry sense of humor at times and she had not yet been able to read it. “Just like the friendly warning about you?”
“Yep. Enter at your own risk.” Morgan’s dimples appeared as she smiled gleefully at her lunch companion, amused at finally putting the counselor in her place. Try to flirt with me, woman! “Not that I am expecting you to enter at all.”
“So…,” Andrea cleared her voice, “…fill me in on the case.” She could feel the start of her own blush. Was it getting hot in here?
“Back to business, huh?” Not that Morgan blamed her. Coming face to face with someone of the same sex who was interested in you was probably new to the counselor.
“Well, that’s what you keep telling me, Detective. All work and no play…” Andrea smiled cheekily at Morgan.
“…makes Andrea a dull girl,” Morgan completed. “I get the point. Now, to business. Ah, this morning, the maid of the Vaughans was found dead in the kitchen with a gunshot wound to the chest.”
A pale eyebrow rose in confusion.
“Oh, Arthur Vaughan, old money, Wall Streeter, CEO for a stock management company. Okay? Okay. Ah, where was I....oh, the maid, dead, with Arthur Vaughan on the floor next to her and the murder weapon in his hand. A delivery boy made the 911 call. Mrs. Constance Vaughan, a home girl who definitely got lucky, was upstairs first phoning for her attorney, then 911.” Morgan could see the look of query on the small woman’s face. “Yeah, that's what I thought too.”
“What else do you think?”
"I think that everything is laid out just so perfectly... like an open and shut case... but… I dunno… nothing at all feels right. My gut is really turning on this one and I’ve learned in the past never to ignore my gut feeling.”
“What about Vaughan?”
“I’ve held off arresting him for now.” Morgan didn’t dare look at Andrea. “Don’t look at me like that! I just couldn’t, it didn't feel...right...alright? Something is up. I just gotta figure out what.”
“Maybe you should just…”
“No! No. Just trust me on this, okay? I know it’s against the rule book, but I’m playing their game for the moment. Sooner or later they’re gonna mess up and I’m gonna be there to clean it up.”
That was a lot of trust to put in someone she had known only a few days, but somehow Andrea couldn’t stop herself from doing just that. “Alright, I’ll hold off for now. I’ll expect regular updates on this case, Detective.” Andrea’s voice hardened and her Southern accent all but disappeared. The new legal shark that the District Attorney's Office had hired just made a sudden appearance. Hmmm.
“Yes, ma’am,” Morgan muttered. “Alright, I’ll keep you in the loop.”
“I should hope so.” Andrea could see that the detective was taking her authority a bit lightly, igniting her indignation. That shark had emerged but the look in those eyes melted her resolve. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to come on so strong.”
“No… no, you were right. I’ve got to start treating you like an ADA and I wasn’t. It was rude of me not to show you the proper respect. After all, I would expect nothing less of you.”
“You do, huh? I must remember that.” The small blonde quietly giggled, enjoying Morgan’s company immensely.
Morgan looked at her watch. “Sorry to cut this short, Counselor, but I’ve got an appointment with Vaughan at the hospital at two. I will get back to you later with the details.”
She was disappointed that Morgan had to leave so soon, just as they were establishing an easy rapport. Andrea looked at her own watch. “You’re right. I can’t afford to be caught sneaking back late my first week on the job. Should we do this again tomorrow? Strictly business, of course.”
“Of course,” Morgan replied sarcastically. “I’d like that but I’m busy tomorrow. Henry and I usually go to the gym so that I can beat the hell outta him.” Andrea’s mortified look made her laugh. “No, really, he usually ends up winning, but it doesn’t stop me from trying.”
“There’s a gym nearby?” The two women emerged from the pub to be hit by a hot summer breeze. The heat, paired with the pleasantly filling lunch, sapped their energy reserves and laid a blanket of lethargy across both of them.
“About a block away. Why? You interested in going?”
“Well, I haven’t been for quite a while.” Andrea patted her stomach. “And if I keep eating like that I’m gonna blow up like a balloon.” Morgan looked at the lithe figure next to her and seriously doubted that the Counselor would ever get out of shape. But if the woman wanted to follow her to the gym, who was she to complain?
“The gym mainly caters to men, you know, boxing and weights. But there is a smaller section that the women use.”
“And what do you use, Morgan?”
“Me? Well, I like using the punching bag right before Henry and I assault each other.”
“Assault? That sounds rather Neanderthal.”
“Primitive? I suppose it is.” Morgan studied the cracked sidewalk as they made their way back to the precinct. ”But considering my line of work, fighting certainly comes in handy.” Impishly, she looked over to her companion. “Maybe you should learn a move or two, Counselor. New York isn’t as safe as your Charleston.”
“Hmmm. Maybe I will.”
“But you’ll need something a bit more… informal… than what you’re wearing at present, Andrea.”
The short blonde felt a shiver up her spine at the sound of her name. She looked over at Morgan, who smiled back, dimples winking at her and taunting her senses. “Well, I was expecting to be in court, not a gym, Detective. I'd be a little underdressed in my underwear.”
It took a few moments for the tall detective to reply as that visual image fleetingly crossed her mind’s eye. “Tell you what, how about you and I go shopping for gym clothes after work?”
Well, well, well. Andrea couldn’t have been more surprised if Morgan had grown bunny ears and a fluffy tail. What an image… Andrea’s mind couldn’t help but conjure a naked bunny-like Morgan. Maybe a Playboy bunny… “Errr, yes. I’d love that, Morgan. I’m in court until about four. Come and find me when you’re done for the day.”
They walked sluggishly up the staircase, feeling the intense heat of the cement right through the soles of their shoes. Entering the station house they parted in the corridor to go their separate ways. “Until then… Counselor.”
“Until then… Detective.” Andrea graced the tall redhead with a dazzling smile before she left.
“So…” A low voice murmured in her ear. “… How did lunch go?”
“Jesus! Will you stop doing that?” A startled Morgan looked over her shoulder into her partner’s sparkling eyes. “Fine. It was just fine, okay?”
“And… ?”
“And what?”
“Well, come on. Tell me what happened.”
“It’s none of your damned business.” His grin widened at her obvious avoidance of the subject. “Okay, you asked for it. I threw her down on the table and we had wild monkey sex in front all the customers. It was quite a sight. I don’t think we’ll be allowed back there anytime soon.”
She returned his stunned look with a grin of her own. “Oh, for crying out loud! Nothing happened. She was very interested as to why I was taking her to lunch though.”
“So what did you tell her?”
“That you made me do it.” Henry clicked his tongue in disappointment. “Well, you did. Stop it! It’s not my fault!”
“So, are you seeing her again?”
“Henry, stop it! It’s not a date.” She sighed deeply, secretly wishing it was, in fact, a date. The more she came in contact with the counselor, the more her resolve was slipping away from her. If she had any sense at all she would stop seeing her altogether, but she may as well cut her arm off for all the good that would do.
“When are you seeing her again?” Henry could see that it was not going to end at a lunch date and he was eager to keep this particular ball rolling.
“She wants to come with us to the gym tomorrow.”
“Andy? To the gym?” To Henry, that seemed a contradiction in terms. Here was a society Southern Belle wanting to go to a smelly, sweaty New York City gym. He grinned again. There was only one reason why she was going to that gym, and it wasn’t to exercise.
Morgan watched her partner’s face and knew exactly what he was thinking. “I’m not gonna talk to you anymore about this…,” she muttered, “… until you grow up and get your mind out of the gutter.” Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Her own mind was slowly washing down the sidewalk into that same gutter. None of it made sense, especially considering that the hotel in which Andrea was staying in all likelihood had a gym of its own.
He zipped his lips with a flourish, crossed his heart and held up his hand. “I’m taking her shopping for gym gear this afternoon after work,” she continued. His lips twitched, quivering from the mighty effort it took not to smile. Morgan pointed a long finger at him. “Not another word out of you mister or I’ll let her use you as the punching bag tomorrow.” Both of his hands came up to ward off the curse, knowing very well that it was an idle threat. “Now, before gym day comes one day early, go get the car and let’s go see Vaughan.”
While Henry went to sign out a car, Morgan stuck her head in the captain’s office, tapping gently on the frosted glass. “Captain? We’re heading off to the hospital to interview Vaughan. Do you have anything to add?”
“No, it’s just a preliminary statement in any case. Come and find me when you get back. I’m just reading the wife’s and daughter’s statements. It’s pretty much as you said it would be.”
“Oh, I asked forensics to check out the bedside water glass. It seems that Vaughan’s water was spiked. They’re still trying to determine the contaminant, but I asked Hodges to send us their report as soon as it’s done.”
“Good work, Sergeant.” Okkayyy…. She was still concerned at this show of leniency by the captain. Usually he barked and she jumped. What the hell was going on? “Now get outta here.”
Morgan got into the car in a bit of a daze. “What’s wrong?” She turned to see the concerned look of Henry.
“What day is it?”
“June 17th. Why?”
“Nope, not my birthday,” she muttered. “The captain is acting really weird. Basically patted me on the head and sent me on my way without a single order.”
“I keep telling you Red, you’re the engineer of this choo-choo.”
“Nah, that’s not it. There’s something else…” Swiftly, her mind sorted through the last few days for some sign of a change in the captain’s behavior.
“Will you stop it! You are quite capable of running this investigation, despite what that brain of yours is telling you. He’s fine, and as far as I have heard, his family is fine too. Just accept it as an opportunity you can’t afford to pass up.”
She turned her attention to the passing scenery, watching the natives go about their everyday business. Maybe it was just her natural suspiciousness that made her wary. C’mon Morgan, this is the chance you have been waiting for. Grab onto it with both hands, woman!
* * *
Henry drove at a leisurely pace toward the hospital, this time not feeling the need to drive like a maniac, much to Morgan’s relief. It looked like their little talk had done some good after all and curbed his enthusiasm to wrap them around a telephone pole. Maybe she should suggest he take up racing on the weekends, thereby reducing the need for speed during work time, but Suzie may have something to say about that.
While they had arrived at the hospital with time to spare, the endless patrolling for a parking spot, even an illegal one, quickly ate up precious minutes. As a last resort, Henry dropped Morgan at the front door while he continued the search for that elusive empty fifteen feet, finally deciding it was probably easier to stay with the car. The front doors whisked open silently and the wall of cool air hit her as she stepped over the threshold. Morgan approached the front desk, flashing her badge at the receptionist.
“Arthur Vaughan. He was admitted this morning for observation. There should be two uniformed officers with him.”
“Second floor, room 203.” The middle-aged woman said flatly, instantly dismissing her after dispersing the information.
“Thank you,” she mumbled as the woman moved away. “Geez…”
As she stepped out of the elevator the detective looked at the clock on the wall in front of her. Two minutes to spare. Who would have thought? She hadn’t been on time since… since… was it the Christmas party last year?
“Ah, Detective, there you are…”
“Mr…” Morgan pretended to search her memory for the attorney’s name.
“Marks.” He looked less than impressed that she didn’t remember.
“Ah yes, Mr. Marks.”
The lawyer pursed his lips. “Then let’s not keep Mr. Vaughan waiting, shall we?”
“No, let’s not,” she replied sarcastically. She so wanted to make the anally-retentive attorney wait, something she suspected the man rarely endured. She was determined to let them have things their way until the evidence had Vaughan firing the gun then his ass was hers.
The two of them walked into Vaughan’s room, finding him sitting up in bed in considerably better condition than he had been that morning. Color had returned to his face, and except for the heart monitor leads stuck to his chest, he looked fit as a fiddle.
“Hello, Detective.”
“Mr. Vaughan.” She looked around the room to see Connie and Chelsea Vaughan, both seated, looking for a moment almost bored before the masks of concerned relatives slipped back in place. “Mrs. Vaughan, Miss Vaughan.” Morgan received merely a small nod in acknowledgement back. Bitches… her mind muttered in disgust.
“Mr. Vaughan, I won’t keep you long. I just need a statement from about what happened this morning.” He nodded. Out of the corner of her eye, Morgan saw the lawyer shaking his head in the negative.
“Of course, Detective.” A quiet snort could be heard over the silence, and Morgan was hard pressed not to respond to it.
She took out a small tape recorder, pushing the record button and placing it on the bed. “This is a record of interview of statement taken from Arthur Vaughan in reference to the death of Rose McManus dated 17th June 2005 at 2:05 pm by Detective Sergeant Morgan O’Callaghan, badge number 44015.”
Morgan looked up at the gentleman sitting in bed, finally getting a chance to study the person suspected of committing the crime. Aged perhaps in his mid-sixties, he had graying hair and a gentle demeanor. She looked into those blue eyes again, trying to gain some feel for him, and she saw only see confusion and apprehension, tinged with horror.
“Mr. Vaughan, can you tell me, in your own words, what happened this morning?”
“Ummm, I woke up about… what was it, Connie… about seven a.m.? I got up, went to the bathroom, got a drink of water, then I came back to bed. I had the day off today. Connie and I were supposed to go to some charity luncheon today, but obviously we didn’t make it…” He sighed at the thought of missing a commitment. “Something must have woken me up at… at… I’m not sure, but I think it was around eight. I can’t remember. It all seems so foggy to me. There was a loud noise downstairs and Connie nudged me out of bed to go and investigate. It was really hard to get out of bed, I don’t know why, but I felt like I was moving in slow motion. Then there was another loud noise and I could hear voices.” Morgan took all this in, somehow knowing where this was going to lead.
“The cook was out grocery shopping, as she always does today, so there shouldn’t have been anyone else downstairs besides Rose. I grabbed the gun out of the side table and went down to check things out, but every step I took got harder and harder.” He faltered, not sure what to say next.
“I’m sorry, Detective. I’m not quite sure what happened. It’s like a dream, where everything was in slow motion. I didn’t know what was real any more. The next thing I was vaguely aware of I was sitting on the floor with the gun in my hand and Rose on the floor… dead. I have no earthly idea if I did it or not. Rose was shot dead and I had the gun. Maybe I did do it. I just don’t remember.” Vaughan’s voice broke on the last sentence.
“Detective O’Callaghan, Mr. Vaughan is in distress here. Can we continue this interview at another time?” Marks jumped in quickly to end the conversation.
“Thank you, Mr. Vaughan. This is only a preliminary statement, sir. We will require a further interview once you have been released from the hospital. The statement should be ready soon and I’ll send over an officer with the paperwork for your signature. We already have your fingerprints, gunshot residue report, slippers, pajamas and robe, so that will be all for now.”
“Thank you, Detective. You have been most considerate.”
“Not a problem. We will be in contact in due course. In the meantime, you and your family are required to stay within the city limits. If you have any business dealings in the next few weeks that may require travel I would highly recommend that you make alternative arrangements.”
“Now hang on there, Detective…”
“Mr. Marks, let’s not push this issue.” She was getting angry now. “Anyone else would be spending their time cooling their heels in jail.” She turned to Vaughan. “I hope that you will comply with these conditions Mr. Vaughan, otherwise I will be forced to confine you. In exchange, I expect that you, or anyone involved with you, will not speak to the media and keep this matter as quiet as possible.”
She reached for the recorder. “The interview of Arthur Vaughan ends at 2:12 pm.” With that final statement she switched off the recorder. Morgan prepared to leave but was halted by a voice behind her.
“Detective, please, one moment of your time.” Everyone in the room went on alert. “Can you leave us alone…” Vaughan directed to his family and attorney. Anxious looks flew around the room like wraiths, wondering what he was going to say to the police. “If you will excuse us… now!” Reluctantly one by one they left, Marks hesitating before Vaughan waved him out.
“Arthur, this is not wise…”
“Clifford, please, just indulge me.”
“I cannot, in all good conscience, agree to this Arthur. You’ve had a nasty shock. This is a serious matter and I strongly advise you to have your legal representative present at all times.”
“Are you saying that I’m not of sound mind, Clifford? Is that what you’re saying?” Vaughan let a little anger seep to the surface, showing Morgan a glimpse of the business side of the gentle man.
“No!” The attorney mentally took a step back. “But…”
“What I want to say is between me and the detective here, Clifford. Just go.”
“Detective, please keep in mind that he is not a well man and that anything he reveals to you is under duress…”
“I understand that, Counselor. But it is his decision, not yours.” Morgan smiled triumphantly as Marks left the room, banished from the conversation for the moment. She suspected that he was hovering near the closed door, trying to hear what was going on.
“Yes?” Morgan was certainly perplexed at this action. Was he going to confess?
“Detective...?” He motioned his hand for her name.
“Morgan O’Callaghan.”
“May I call you Morgan?” Highly unusual, but the pleading look in his eye found her nodding at his request. “Morgan, please sit.” The tall detective stretched out her long legs in front of her, glad to finally be able to sit down. “Just what is going on here?”
“Excuse me?”
“By all rights I should be in custody, should I not? And yet you seem to be going out of your way to keep me out of it.”
“True. I am probably breaking every rule in the book, Mr. Vaughan.”
“Then why?”
Why, indeed? She seemed to be breaking a lot of rules these days, both in her job and in her life. She thought for a moment, trying to marshal her arguments. “Circumstantial evidence would be enough to arrest you but somehow it’s just too easy. You know what I mean? You were found...there...with the gun in your hand.”
“But that’s explaining your doubts, Morgan, not why I’m not being locked up. Why is that?” Bright green eyes shot up to look deep into ageing blue ones.
“Jail is not a nice place, Mr. Vaughan, especially for someone of your age and… station in life. Lots of nasty things can happen in there. I’m just trying to spare you from possible… injury.” A wrinkled hand rested on her own, gently patting it in thanks. “But if I find that you are in fact guilty, your ass will be in there so quick you’ll be scratching yourself at opposite ends of the city.”
“I have to admit that you have stunned me, Morgan. You’re not like any police officer I have ever known.”
“Oh no, I bleed real cop’s blood, sir. I am the ‘real deal’. But not everything adds up here and until I get to the bottom of it you are just another suspect. You’re not out of the woods yet, Mr. Vaughan.”
Arthur Vaughan smiled gently at the tall redhead, instantly liking the young woman. She was someone who was prepared to put faith in her own instincts and not summarily accept the circumstantial evidence. Someone worthy of his respect. “Then I will do my very best not to let you down.” He hesitated “Perhaps I better start with a secret, something that not even my family knows, but it will give me a solid reason why I couldn’t kill Rose.”
Morgan shifted her chair, drawing it closer to the bed. The mention of a secret instinctively made her draw near like he would whisper it to her. “I know my wife thinks that Rose and I… well, you know. In fact, Rose was my daughter.” Tawny eyebrows rose in disbelief.
“It was way, way before I met Connie. Connie and I have only been married five years… and I know what you’re thinking Morgan.” He laughed as she lifted a hand to her forehead. “No, it’s not written there.”
“I know that Connie married me for my money. Chances for someone of my age and...station in life... to find real love are pretty slim, so one is forced to compromise. Do you know how good it feels to have a beautiful woman on your arm when you go out, even if it is an ‘arrangement’? I get a little companionship and she gets a whole heap of money.”
“Anyway, back to the story. I met Rose’s mother, Bridget, about 25 years ago, while I was still married to my first wife. It was a whirlwind affair and over before I had realized it had begun. But, oh my, she was a beautiful woman. She disappeared from my life as quickly as she appeared and I lost contact with her. It wasn’t until an obituary in the paper caught my eye and alerted me to her funeral that I even found out that she had had a child.”
He continued, “Before you ask, I checked out Rose and her birth occurred nine months after our fling. She’s mine alright. So I took her in and gave her work. I wanted to make sure she was looked after, Morgan.”
“Why didn’t you just tell her?”
“I couldn’t. To see that look of abandonment, wondering where I had been all those years when she had no father. No, it was better for everyone for me to help her where I could and let sleeping dogs lie.” He sighed deeply. “So, you see, I couldn’t possibly kill my own daughter.”
“People have killed for less, Mr. Vaughan.”
“Morgan please, Arthur.”
“No... I just... I can’t.”
“Please… for me.”
“You really want me to lose my job, don’t you?”
“Arthur.”
“Dammit… Arthur.” He smiled at her compromise. “But only when we’re alone. Outside you are Mr. Vaughan and I am Detective O’Callaghan. Is that understood?”
“Understood, Detective.”
“I must be losing my mind…,” she muttered.
“Probably,” he muttered back.
“But understand this, Arthur. This is all the help you get from me. There will be no interference from me. I am here to discover the truth and if it leads to you, then you will fall. All I am doing is saving you from getting hurt inside. I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to you that could have been avoided.”
“Understood, Morgan. I appreciate your candor.” It was better than he could have hoped for.
“But be warned, this could change at a moment’s notice. If I am taken off the case, you will probably be incarcerated immediately and I will not be able to help you.”
“I’ll take my chances.”
“I would suggest that you lay low, Arthur. If at all possible, cancel your appointments and just rest easy at home. There will also be an unmarked police car sitting outside your house until further notice. Now I better leave before your lawyer pops an aneurism.”
“Leave him to me, Detective.” He smiled gently at her. Morgan stood to leave, reaching for the handle of the door. “One final thing. What made you decide to grant me this concession? My innocence?”
“Your eyes, Arthur. Your eyes.”
Feedback is always appreciated. You can contact me at aurelia_fan@yahoo.com.au