The remainder of the drive to the church had been in a stony silence. Talia refused to engage in any conversation around the situation and Morgan was too angry to even want to try and talk about anything else. Finally, they arrived and Talia left Morgan in the car to collect her mother and Father Reginald from inside the church. As she entered she was greeted loudly, just like last time, and her mother looked up in surprise from the flowers she was arranging on the side.
'Talia! What a lovely surprise! Father Reginald was just telling me you were in town for this awful business.' Maria Snow had somehow perfected the look of being pleased and sad at the same time.
'Mother.' Talia nodded with a small smile. 'I'm afraid I'm not here for pleasantries. As you said I'm here to work on the case. I'm going to need you both to come back to the station with me. We have reason to believe that it's Carolynn Stanford and neither of you are safe.'
While they were both surprised they came easily enough, realising the serious nature and the risk if it were indeed what was happening. As the two settled in the back of the car, having been quickly introduced to Morgan who simply nodded at the pair before turning forwards in his seat, Talia took a moment to close her eyes and breathe. Then she got back in the car and they pulled on to the road to return to the station.
While Morgan maintained a tense silence, Maria Snow certainly did not. She was extremely vocal from the back seats, expressing her severe displeasure and disgust that Carolynn had started 'that whole mess' again, and doing such awful things about it. 'The whole thing was her own fault anyway, if she hadn't told those terrible lies in the first place none of it would have happened. She could have carried on happily with her family, where she should have been, and focused more on the church. No, instead she had to go and not only ruin her own life, but try to destroy your reputation, Father, and now she's actually stooped so low as to kill people.' Maria finished with a horrified, yet self-righteous look on her face.
'Thank you so much, my dear, for your continued support. It means so much in such difficult times, just as it did when this all began.' Father Reginald shook his head sadly. 'I just wish I knew where I had gone wrong with Carolynn. She had been such a good child, and then all the lies began and I just don't know what I could have done differently. To help you understand. She just turned out so rotten – nothing like our lovely Tallulah of course'
'Oh no, Father. You can't blame yourself, you couldn't have done anything to change. You've always been so fantastic with the children!' Maria defended passionately, as Morgan began to clench his fists tightly in the front.
Father Reginald started talking then about how 'Tallulah' had always been his star, his favourite, how if only Carolynn had been more like her – his good girl. How he had been so proud of the 'Tallulah' and the girls when they had written those statements off their own backs, just to help him. To prove his innocence.
Morgan was ready to burst in the car, he was furious – that sick bastard! He was so angry that he didn't notice the tense look in his partner's eyes, the subtle wince every time the priest said her full name, when he spoke of how special she was to him – the white knuckle grip she had on the steering wheel. Father Reginald did though and every time she glanced in the rear view mirror he gave her a small smirk – he knew what she was thinking about, what she was remembering. He made one last comment about how Carolynn had always been a stupid little girl and that would never change and Morgan exploded – he turned around and began shouting at him.
'You disgust me! How dare you sit there talking that way about a poor young girl that you clearly took advantage of. Someone who lost everything because of you. Someone who is so disturbed by what you did to her, and then what this whole town did because of you, she's resorted to getting revenge by killing members of your community. Do you even care that this is entirely your fault?!' Morgan was bright red in the face and practically spitting the words at Father Reginald to the horror of Maria and to Talia's dismay. 'I'm so disappointed in the statute of limitations that stop anything from being done about your crimes to Carolynn all those years ago. But I hope the deaths of these women lie heavily on your heart for the rest of your pathetic little life.'
As he finished his rant, Talia pulled into the police station and Morgan immediately wrenched open his door and stormed away, refusing to look her way for even a second. She took a few calming breaths to keep the threat of tears at bay before turning to her passengers, apologising, and leading them into the station where they would be kept safe until Carolynn was caught. Leaving them in the capable hands of her team, Talia turned on her heel and walked out of the police station, ignoring the calls of her team as she got back into her car and left.