Chasing Morgan

by Jennifer Ryan

  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.

  Her eyes rolled back and glassed over. If she passed out, he didn’t know what the man would do, or the girl clinging to her as a lifeline.

  I do love you.

  That’s good because I love you, too. I have for a long time. Hurry, Tyler, I can’t hold on much longer. There’s still more to do.

  “Last chance. Let go now,” Tyler warned. If he had to, he’d clock the guy in the head with the butt of his gun.

  The man let her go with a shove. Morgan’s head whipped forward and she almost toppled along with the girl out of the chair. She managed to hold on to the girl and keep her seat while officers grabbed the man and shoved him into another chair. The small room filled to capacity with officers, the man, Tyler, Sam, and the three women.

  He glared at Tyler, “Why the hell do you keep talking to her like she’s talking to you?”

  “She is talking to me,” Tyler said and walked past the disgruntled man.

  “You can hear her again?” Sam asked.

  “Yeah, I can hear her.” Tyler smiled at his partner and went to Morgan’s side and kneeled down. He brushed his hand down Morgan’s hair and kissed her on the temple.

  “Thank God,” Sam said, happy they’d finally found their way back to each other.

  “Are you okay, sweetheart?” Tyler asked softly.

  “Fine,” she said and leaned her head against his chin.

  “You’re not fine. I’m going to take you back to the ship.” He put his hand on her cheek and held her to him. It felt good to touch her, though her cool skin worried him. One more reason to get her out of there.

  “No. Not yet.” She barely managed to get the words out.

  Sam agreed with Tyler. “Morgan, you’re wiped out. You can’t keep this up.”

  “Not yet. We have to finish this. I promised her I’d help.”

  “There’s only one more thing we need,” Officer McCormick said, and her lieutenant nodded in agreement and handed over the forms that had fallen from the table. “Leslie, is this the man who hurt you? You have to tell us. You have to say the words.”

  Morgan could feel the girl’s reluctance and fear to speak in the chilled tremble that rattled through both of them.

  “She won’t say anything ’cause there’s nothing to say. She’s my daughter, and whatever lies she’s told you, I’ll deal with when we get home.”

  “That is never going to happen. The bruises and burns on her back are enough for us to call Child Protective Services. Her statement will allow us to charge you with multiple crimes.”

  “She’s lying!”

  Morgan sat the girl up on her lap, so they were face-to-face. She just looked at her for the longest time. Not even Tyler heard the words that passed from Morgan to the girl as they sat silently looking at each other.

  I will keep you safe. Your aunt is on her way and will take very good care of you. I will be at the trial, and whenever you need me. I promise you, from this day forward you will have a life filled with happiness and love from your aunt. If I knew all the rest, don’t I know that, too?

  Unsure she’d gotten through to Leslie without her cooperation and her own words, the case would move forward, but make things more difficult for the prosecutor. She’d have to find the strength to speak the unspeakable. Morgan had given voice to those acts already. The next time, Leslie would have to do it on her own.

  She told her all of that and ended how she began, I will help you.I opened the door, and now all you have to do is go through.

  Speak the words, and they’ll set you free. You’ll go with your aunt. You’ll be safe. I promise.

  Everyone, including Morgan, held a collective breath waiting to see what the girl would do.

  Morgan didn’t know what to expect, but the girl didn’t disappoint. Hearing her first words made the last three hours worth it.

  She spoke directly to Morgan. She knew they’d all hear, but she trusted Morgan, and so she spoke the words to her.

  “That is my father. He hurt me. Everything you said is true. Those are my words. That is what happened to me. He did it, and I won’t let him do it again.”

  “It’s not your fault, sweetheart,” Morgan said and knew Leslie believed her.

  “God heard my prayer. He sent me you.” She hugged Morgan.

  The officers led her father out of the room. He’d been so stunned by his daughter’s words, he didn’t start declaring his innocence until halfway across the outer office. No one paid attention to him. They only had eyes for Morgan and the girl in her arms.

  Officer McCormick cleared her throat. “Leslie, I’ll need you to sign this statement. You have a long road ahead. You’ll have to speak with the prosecutor, who’s assigned to
your case. There’ll be a Child Protective Services representative assigned to you, and a whole lot more. I’ll take you over to the hospital, so a doctor can look at your injuries. I’ll make sure it’s a female doctor, and your aunt and I will be with you the whole time.”

  Officer McCormick didn’t know what else to say. After all those hours, she’d finally spoken and confirmed everything Morgan told them. They didn’t need any further proof to confirm Morgan was the real deal. Morgan looked wiped out. Officer McCormick could only imagine what it had taken for her to do what she’d done. Completely whipped, she wanted to go home crawl into a hot bath and wash away this day.

  “Sam, would you please go and get Leslie’s aunt?” Morgan asked. “She’s just now coming in the precinct. She’s anxious to see Leslie and doesn’t need to run into her brother-in-law.”

  “I’m on my way.” Sam headed out the door as quickly as he could without running over the five people standing in the doorway looking in at Morgan. She’d become a celebrity in the precinct and everyone wanted to meet the psychic.

  “Could I have a minute alone with Leslie?”

  Tyler nodded for everyone to leave. He kneeled next to Morgan again. “I’ll be right outside. I’ll take you to the ship when you’re done.” He kissed her, holding his mouth to hers, letting her know in some small way he loved her, was proud of her, and needed her to be okay.

  She reached up and touched her fingertips to his lips and nodded her agreement, too tired to do anything else.

  When they were alone, she made Leslie take the chair next to her. They sat face-to-face and Leslie took on her usual posture of looking down at her hands in her lap. Leslie pulled away, afraid Morgan would leave her.

  “Leslie, look at me.”

  Leslie met her gaze. “You don’t look so good.”

  “Thanks,” Morgan said and smiled. “I want you to listen to me. I’m going to make you a promise. I want you to see I mean what I say. I promise I will be with you every step of the way. I will be sitting behind you in court when they bring your father to trial. I will be the one you look at when you sit on the stand and tell your story. I don’t want you to be afraid anymore. You know how I knew all those things about you?” Leslie nodded. “Then believe me when I say your aunt loves you and has waited a long time to see you again. Don’t blame her. She tried to get you away from him. She tried more times than you realize. She’ll be the mother you lost, and she’ll keep you safe. Do you believe me?”