‘Hell, no.’
She dug her fingertips into her brow, and then grabbed the door handle of the car, swung it open and slumped into the seat.
‘Ignore him.’ Mason shot her a fast grin as he plopped into the seat beside her and made the car rock. ‘He’s a wanker.’
‘So you say. But he’s more than that. He’s a loose cannon.’
‘Yeah. A dangerous wanker.’
‘He has no respect for rank and he’s quite blatantly sexist. You shouldn’t have had to step in, Mason.’ The heat in her face blazed as her anger grew. ‘He’ll get his comeuppance and it’s going to be sooner rather than later.’
From the silence in the back of the car, neither men wanted to interfere in her conflict with PC Lee Gardner. It was best they kept out. It was about to turn ugly.
With a shake of her head, Jenna yanked her seat belt around her, hit the start button, slammed the vehicle into first gear and shot forwards out of the parking space in a bid to make up for lost time dealing with the arrogant tosser that was PC Gardner.
She powered the vehicle out of the car park at a speed more conducive to a fast-response vehicle on an emergency.
Adrian slapped his hands on the back of her seat as he slipped across the black leather seats in the rear of the car to crunch into Ryan. His low grunt only topped by Ryan’s desperate whimper as he was slammed into the side of the rear door.
Keen to get there before NILO packed up and made their own way back to the station, Jenna kept her foot firm on the accelerator. She wanted to see them in situ, have a look around the site to experience the scene herself, not just have information thrown at her in a clinical, washed fashion.
She hit the Queensway dual carriageway and pressed down harder to take them over the speed limit. Speed always satisfied her. Steadied her. Gave her those precious few minutes of concentration to purge herself of her annoyance.
Pretty straightforward route, all the way along the Queensway to the end, over the roundabout with a cast-iron mineshaft. She throttled back as she navigated the new roundabout which accommodated the addition of the stretch of road to the overpopulated new houses with their single-drive homes, double-car families.
She slipped past the next roundabout, bypassing the narrow curving road that was Jiggers Bank, which would have taken her to Ironbridge. She followed the wide sweeping curve along Buildwas Road and turned left over the small bridge to take the winding bends to Farley and Kimble Hall.
As they bumped along the track, she scanned the scene in daylight. More organised than the night of the incident, the scene guard had evidently planned the parking. She squinted around through the thin tendrils of smoke still wisping skywards to disappear into the ether. It was all that was left of the fire.
She drew the car up next to one of the tenders.
All four of them stepped out of the vehicle at the same time, but it was Jenna who spotted Charlie Cartwright and made straight for him.
‘Hey, Charlie, back on again?’ His shifts had probably been as long as hers. She offered her hand for a quick, firm shake.
‘Jenna. Yeah, I’m due off in about an hour. ‘What about you? Did anyone claim the little dog?’
‘No. Not yet.’ At the twitch of Adrian’s lips, she expanded. ‘She’s at my house with my sister’s Dalmatian.’ Jenna gave a self-conscious shrug. They were going to know just how soft she was. ‘She took over sleeping rights of his bed.’
Charlie’s face creased into a wide smile. ‘Let’s hope he doesn’t eat her by the time you get back.’
It had never occurred to her. The thought circled in her mind. ‘Nah, he wouldn’t.’ He gaze caught Adrian’s warm one again as he twitched his eyebrows at her.
Charlie’s gaze drifted across and Jenna held out her hand palm upwards as she introduced them. ‘You met DC Mason Ellis the other night. This is DC Ryan Downey.’ She circled her hand around to include Adrian. ‘And this is Adrian Hall, Chief Crown Prosecutor.’
Charlie’s eyebrows flicked up, but he said nothing, just held his hand out to each of them in turn.
He rubbed a finger over his top lip. ‘We’re just about finished here. There’s no chance anything else is going to set alight again. We’re doing a tidy-up job. Until this morning, everything was still hot, but we have a handle on it. I’ve sent the other tenders away. There’s no need for them.’ He kicked his boot into the ash-layered dirt and placed his hands on his hips while he squinted up at the stone building blackened with the fire. Grey smoke curled in ringlets up to the clear blue sky. His face showed the strain of the past two days and his voice dropped low. ‘It was a bad one.’
They’d all felt it. The heavy weight of heartache pressed down on Jenna’s chest making it difficult to breathe. The updates the previous day from the safe distance of Malinsgate police station had hit her hard, but there was no comparison to being back on scene. The taste, the smell, the black cloud of despair. The dark oppressiveness begged her attention as she skimmed her gaze over the vast burnt-out building. Thick, black soot layered every surface and ash hung heavy on the air, so her nostrils burnt with the scent of it. Piles of dampened-down rubble steamed in protest. She’d attended housefires before but never on such a vast scale, nor had she witnessed a ferocity that compared to this one.
She skimmed her gaze over the area. Quiet and calm in contrast to the last time she’d been there. An eerie cloud dampened the sound. Fire officers wandered, kicking over piles of wood to ensure every last flame had been smothered. A group of people stood at the farthest point, in front of the burnt-out shell of the house, backs to them. Instead of PPE one of them wore the simple high visibility jacket over the top of his suit.
‘Is that the NILO?’
Charlie tossed a look over his shoulder. ‘Yeah. Roger Ayman. We’re about to have another update with him.’
As the man turned, she recognised him from the day before. Windswept and not so slick looking. Face strained.
‘Oh yeah. Excellent.’ She nodded. Out of respect, Jenna asked the question, but she was about to anyhow. ‘Can we come over and join you?’
‘Sure.’ Charlie cast a quick look at the other three who stood like sentinels on either side of her. ‘Come on over.’
As they approached, Roger Ayman turned, clipboard in hand, dark grey eyes serious.
Jenna offered her hand. ‘Hi, I'm DS Jenna Morgan. This is DC Mason Ellis, DC Ryan Downey. I was at your debrief yesterday. This is Chief Crown Prosecutor Adrian Hall.’
Again, a quick flicker of surprise crossed Ayman’s face as he introduced himself and Jenna considered that having the Chief Crown Prosecutor along wasn’t considered normal. It didn't deter her or detract from the situation. She was there to find information and Adrian tucked his hands into his jacket pocket and let her take the lead.
She smiled at Ayman and got straight to the point. She no longer had time to twiddle her thumbs while she waited for information. ‘Roger, Adrian’s come to us today with information that may be linked to the fire. I appreciate we’ve needed to wait for the site to cool down, but things are starting to move fast and we need to get cracking with some answers.’
With a quick flicker of surprise at her directness, Ayman gave a nod. ‘Right then.’ He clapped his hands together and turned to Adrian. ‘What information have you got?’ Just as direct as Jenna, his eyebrows winged up with the question.