‘You didn’t. You made a beeline for him.’
‘I’m his senior officer. I needed to make sure I appointed someone as scene guard.’
‘You could have chosen someone else.’
‘No. He was the only one free.’
‘Bollocks.’
He stabbed his index finger onto the start button and the engine roared to life with a little more pressure than necessary on the accelerator.
‘It isn’t bollocks.’
‘You rub each other up the wrong way. End of story.’
‘He’s a cocky…’
‘Twat.’
As Mason broke the tension, Jenna’s laughter hooted out as he steered the car along the single track.
A fine drizzle settled on the windscreen as Mason turned onto the main road back towards Ironbridge and the windscreen wipers took a lazy swipe across the screen to streak it in grease.
Jenna sucked air in through her teeth as the beam of light from the headlights picked out the wet settling on the tarmac road. Hopeful, she cupped her hands around the dog’s face and spoke directly to her, rather than Mason. ‘This could be good. It may help put out the fire.’
‘Unless the roof gives way, then any forensic evidence will be washed away.’
‘Let’s hope that won’t happen. We need SOCO in there as soon as feasible to find out what the hell went on. Was it an accident? Was it deliberate? Where the hell are the family?’
Mason let out a robust yawn and flexed his shoulders against the seatback. ‘Nothing we can do now.’
‘You’re right. We’ll slip into the station, debrief what we have so far.’ She checked the time. Already almost 5:05 a.m. She slipped her fingers under the dog’s chin and gave her a gentle scratch until the dog’s muscles went to liquid and she closed her eyes and fell asleep in the snug nest Jenna had made for her in the front of her coat.
Jenna scanned the horizon as she settled back and relaxed as the miles flew past, no longer a solid black blanket interspersed with tiny pinpricks of white, but a hazy bluish grey curtain, heavy with rain giving a slow lift from the bottom to tease her with the promise of dawn breaking and the sun rising on a day she could only hope would get better.
She checked the time again. ‘Right. With the full shift we worked yesterday and another one almost over, let’s work until midday. That’s twelve hours straight again. I’ll do a handover, then we’ll get ourselves off home, get our heads down and start fresh tomorrow at 6:00 a.m. How does that sound to you?’ She glanced over at Mason, hands relaxed on the steering wheel, gazing straight ahead on the long and winding road, his snit with Lee Gardner already forgotten.
‘It was supposed to be our day off. I promised Fliss Sunday lunch out at The Woodbridge. I booked it for 1:00 p.m. We’d planned to walk Domino beforehand and take him in with us.’
‘Nice. Make sure he doesn’t snatch your beef off your plate.’ Mason was definitely a beef guy.
He tucked his chin down, his bottom lip poking out. ‘I’ll be bloody bad company and too knackered to move.’
‘Change the time. They serve all day, don’t they?’
He tilted his head to squint at her. ‘They do, but they’re popular.’ He turned into Malinsgate police station car park and reversed the car into a space. He killed the engine, flipped open his phone and tapped with some urgency at his screen. He slumped back. ‘They have a 5:30 p.m. slot.’
‘Great, take it. Fliss will understand, she’s used to my schedule constantly changing and you may not get much of a chance once the court case starts.’ The lucky guy, to have a girlfriend already accustomed to police hours.
Jenna considered her own situation and pulled out her phone to make a quick online reservation at Clays of Broseley, surprised she’d managed to grab a slot at 7:00 p.m., for what must have been a cancellation. As far as dovetailing was concerned, she’d give it a go.
She shot Adrian a brief invitation.
A fast slide of delight warmed her at his immediate response. She smoothed her fingers over his message. Not sloppy, not romantic. Just thoughtful and welcome.
‘Right then. We have a plan.’ She’d learnt over the last couple of cases how important it was to have a plan. To take care of her own health and well-being to enable her to work her most effective. ‘Take your downtime while you can. There’ll be more than enough to keep us busy once the fire service and SOCO get into that house.’ She let the silence hang for several minutes before she spoke again. ‘This is going to be messy, Mason.’
She raised her gaze to meet his grim one.
14
Sunday 19 April 0525 hours
Mesmerised, he melted into the shadows of the tall pine trees that formed the boundary to Kimble Hall and avoided the swathe of headlights flooding from the vehicle as it passed by his viewpoint.
The corners of his mouth twitched up into a bitter smile as he surveyed the whole scene, lit up before him to highlight every last detail.
Interesting. The house had erupted into an inferno that the fire service had been unable to contain. Wind conditions whipped up to perfection. Luck and good planning were both on his side.
He leaned his shoulder against the nearest tree while he scanned the area below him, noting the position of the police officers, the fire crew, the observers.
When the old couple had turned up, he’d had a moment to wonder if they could ruin things. But it hadn’t made a difference. It was too late, the fire too intense.
He turned his head to watch the taillights of the retreating car disappear around the bend and squinted into the distance as the pale hues lightened the rain filled sky.
Time to go. He shouldn’t have stayed as long, but the temptation had been too much.
Satisfied, he pushed away from the tree, turned his back and walked away.
A successful night’s work.
15
Sunday 19 April 1030 hours
Boom!
Poppy jerked upright, the breath jamming somewhere between her chest and throat as heat flooded her face. She slapped a hand to her ribs as she gasped in air, desperate to breathe as red-hot pokers seared through her. The echo of shotgun reverberated around her head and made her question whether it was real or imagined.
She flopped back onto the straw, her heart hammering so hard she thought it might burst from her chest. A nightmare. It was just a nightmare.
She closed her eyes and tried to level off her breathing only it wasn’t just a nightmare, it was her living nightmare.
Fire burned over a side so stiff she thought her skin would split in two if she moved. But she had to move. There was no choice unless she lay there and died. And she wasn’t willing to die.
Pained grunts fluttered from her dried lips as she pushed herself, one-handed, back into a sitting position as beads of sweat popped out across her forehead and upper lip.
Bright sunlight streamed through the narrow gaps between the wooden slatted barn door to cast an eerie light all around as dust bunnies danced on the air. The irony of the beauty of it didn’t escape her. The most romantic setting, soft sunlight and dust bunnies. She gazed around while she tried to shake off the wild spinning of her head.