After the deputies leave in the morning I go back to work. Morgan has classes and will be getting up shortly for college. Steve takes off for his project in Aspen. He has many art projects going, but has found he can’t do them all with all of the stress surrounding what is happening. There is a complex project that keeps his mind busy, and he devotes himself to it – he calls it his “ship in a bottle” and while I don’t agree I can empathize with his need to just do one thing right now. Anything more would be far too much.
After Steve leaves I hear of the latest rumor in the neighborhood. After so many years of no rumors, we now seem to have a new one every week. The latest greatest is that Christina Harris (Brooke’s mom) is telling everyone that the sheriff’s know who the stalker is, and he is one of Morgan’s ex-boyfriends. What? This is news to me!
The rumor about Morgan having gone missing a while back upset me the most. Because there were implications that something would or was going to happen to Morgan, subtly veiled in it. The fear that had driven some of the lies in the neighborhood were predicated on people “disappearing” and precautions were taken to protect against this. Steve and I had no first hand knowledge, only the stories that had been shared with us. And true or not, they were quite frightening.
This rumor however was laughable. The basic problem with rumors and all kinds of lies is there has to be some behind-the-scenes knowledge, or there is the overwhelming risk that you will be all too quickly exposed as a liar. This was one of those. Morgan had only two ex-boyfriends. One presently lived along the east coast, and had for quite some time. The other lived in Australia, and had for quite some time. Stalkers by nature of their crime have to live in the relative proximity. A day or two travel away for each incident did not make for the ideal stalking situation, and the Garfield County detectives had long ago ruled those two out as possible culprits.
Morgan is fairly serious in her relationships and they tend to last for years, instead of just days or months. I do not really know if it is the influence of Steve and I, who have been happily married for 35 years, or it is just that it’s the way she has always been. But Morgan takes relationships seriously
I am tired of the nonstop rumors, and the lies that have become the new neighborhood gossip. Tomorrow I want to find out from the detectives how their “talk” with Keenan has gone, and I want an answer to these persistent rumors. They are, without doubt, always pointing to the innocence of Keenan. But it is not just that fact, it is the innocence of everyone associated with him. Morgan deserves an answer to a few simple questions, and I intend to get them.
Morgan leaves to go for a drive with friends and takes her puppy Wylah. I walk into her room after she leaves and I imagine what it is like for Morgan. Banging on her windows at any hour, detectors going off to signal trouble. Knowing someone is out their watching you. I look at her “panic button” firmly attached to her end table, and it hurts so much that this is her life. I want it to be over. I want her to have a normal life again. Her motion light goes off as I am standing there. I call for Steve and I tell him we have to end this. That I am reaching my limit.
Steve agrees and says we have to change this, whatever it takes. He wants me to call the detectives and have them over tomorrow night. He will tell tell them that enough is enough.
Today is October 29, 2012 – I am fielding calls from every angle possible. I am also sharing some of our evidence, as I have never done so before. Steve says why hold back, let everyone know just what is going on here. I field an answer from the Internet that is shocking, because it contains information that no one should know, except someone that was involved in Morgan’s murder. Who do I call? The sheriff has gone on TV and said he will never open this investigation again. Skipping over the small fact that there never was an investigation into her suspicious death in the first place, I truly wonder what a person does in a situation like this.
And then Steve says he thinks he has an answer. And I am thinking, I was so hoping you would say something like that. Now I go to see what this answer is – Morgan’s friends, Morgan’s true friends are all coming together to help and even if this has to go all the way to the White House – it won’t stop….we will get justice for Morgan….we will save other girls!