Authors: Kerry Wilkinson
‘You do know that a grown man following around an eighteen-year-old and taking photos doesn’t look good, don’t you?’ Jessica asked.
Andrew said nothing but he continued to click. There were a handful of photos of the young woman with another female friend, before a selection that showed her in a fast-food restaurant.
‘Go slower,’ Jessica said.
‘That’s the one I saw her kissing,’ Andrew said as they reached a photograph of Sienna having her bottom squeezed by one of the males. Jessica nodded and said they would need a
copy of it. They had already interviewed some of the friends she had been out with but, with that picture, they might have a few more direct questions to ask the male in question. ‘There are
two others as well,’ Andrew added.
He continued to scroll through the images. Jessica noted one that showed a male appearing to whisper something and another showing a young man feeding Sienna chips while having his fingers
sucked.
‘She’s a popular girl,’ Jessica said, trying not to sound overly disapproving.
Andrew skimmed to the next photograph but Jessica was suddenly serious. ‘Go back one,’ she said. The man clicked forward before correcting himself and returning to the previous
image. ‘Can you zoom in?’ Jessica asked.
‘Hang on.’ Andrew struggled with the controls, first zooming in on Sienna’s chest, which Jessica managed to resist teasing him about and then eventually focusing on the two
people’s faces. Sienna was accepting a chip from one of the males with a grin on her face. ‘What is it?’ Andrew asked but Jessica didn’t reply. He turned around to face her.
‘Do you know him?’
‘Can you print it off for me?’ Jessica asked, ignoring his question. Andrew clicked the mouse and a printer under his desk whirred to life. He pulled out two pieces of paper, handing
them to her. ‘Print the other ones off too,’ she added.
Of the first ones she had been handed, one had the full photograph, while the other had the two people’s faces enlarged. Jessica put them down on the table, the zoomed-in picture on
top.
‘This is a very familiar face,’ she said quietly, partly to herself but mainly to let Andrew know she was on to something, even though she had no intention of telling him what it
was.
Andrew was holding onto the other printouts but, before he could say anything, Jessica felt her phone vibrating through the pocket of her jacket. A fraction of a second later the ringtone
sounded. Jessica took out the device, noting the call was from the station.
As she received the news she had been dreading, Jessica tried to keep a straight face. She hung up and reached into her other pocket, fumbling for car keys, but she could tell from
Andrew’s expression that he knew something was wrong.
‘What is it?’ he asked.
Jessica had to compose herself before replying. ‘There’s been a fire.’
As Jessica drove closer to the estate where Martin Chadwick’s house was situated, the air began to thicken, almost as if a cloud had dropped on top of the area. Although
it was evening, it felt to Jessica like a Manchester morning, where you woke up to see heavy mist outside your window and condensation clinging to the glass.
The difference was the smell.
Even with her car vents closed, the heavy burned aroma was apparent. Jessica parked at the bottom of Martin’s road. As soon as she opened the car door, the stench hit her.
She had attended her first fire scene when she was in uniform. From various television shows and training sessions, she had preconceptions of how things might unfold – but no one ever said
what the smell would be like. Jessica wasn’t sure she would be able to describe it fully to someone else who had not experienced it. Saying it was like burned toast but a lot worse was true
in some ways but far too simplistic. The combination of charred bricks, fried electrical cables, melted plastic and the fire itself created an almost overwhelming odour that could be sensed as much
through the mouth as the nose. Although it was evening, Jessica felt a strong sense of déjà vu from the previous time she had been called out to Martin’s house in the dark.
As she strode along towards the flashing blue lights, Jessica struggled not to gag on the taste of the fire. She could see residents lining the road, standing outside their own houses, looking
nervously in the direction of the fire engines and police cars. Some of them were holding tea towels in front of their mouths and she could see flecks of ash drifting in the haze of the street
lights.
A fire officer had erected a cordon around the house as she neared. Although there was still a haze of heat, she could not see any flames. On the ground, a pair of hoses snaked limply,
stretching from the pair of fire engines across the pavement towards Martin’s house. Knowing fire investigators weren’t always impressed with police officers trampling around their
scene, Jessica made sure she asked the officer on duty where he was happy for her to stand. If the fire had still been burning, she wouldn’t have been allowed anywhere near the house. She
walked around the first fire engine, noticing a small group standing in between that vehicle and another similar one. Most of them were fire officers, their heavy outfits making them appear
enormous in the distorted light from the street lamps.
She could see the outlines of Reynolds and Rowlands, as well as a smattering of uniformed officers and residents. An older woman exited the house opposite carrying a tray. Even from the distance
she was at, Jessica could hear the rattling of the teacups as the woman approached the fire crew and started handing out drinks. Jessica was still trying to ignore the almost overpowering smell
from the scene but couldn’t resist smiling to herself. She dealt with many types of characters through her job and sometimes it was easy to forget the other side of things, where little old
ladies with a tray of tea reminded you what most people were like.
Jessica turned to face what should have been Martin’s house. It was too dark to see everything but she could tell that much of the front of the property had collapsed or burned away. The
side wall where she had seen the graffiti was largely intact but she squinted to check where the top floor had collapsed onto the lower one.
‘What do you reckon?’
Jessica heard Rowlands’s voice from just behind her. From the hum of activity, she didn’t notice him approach but he appeared next to her and together they looked at the destroyed
property.
‘How long have you been here?’ Jessica asked, ignoring his question.
‘Maybe twenty minutes? I’m not sure. They had just finished putting the fire out when I arrived.’ As he finished, the constable let out a small cough. Jessica could feel
something building at the top of her lungs too, almost as if there was something tickling her that was out of reach.
‘Did Martin . . . ?’ Jessica had been putting off approaching the other officers because she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer.
‘He’s in an ambulance over there,’ Rowlands said, pointing towards the other side of a fire engine. ‘I think he’s okay but no one has really spoken to him
yet.’
‘What about Ryan?’
‘I don’t know. I haven’t seen him but I heard one of the fire guys shouting that everyone was out so he must be around somewhere. The neighbours are fine too.’
Jessica hadn’t noticed the attached property, largely because it was in a spot that fell between the two closest street lamps. She stepped forward, peering through the gloom. From the
outline, it looked as if the house next door was in a worse state than Martin’s. While the shell of the Chadwicks’ house seemed relatively intact, the neighbouring property had almost
imploded upon itself, as if someone had stood inside and sucked everything inwards. Charred silhouettes of debris were scattered across the ground in front of the house.
‘What on earth happened?’ Jessica said to herself more than anyone. She was afraid of what the answer might be. Rowlands sensed her discomfort, taking a step closer to her but not
replying. ‘Do you know how Martin is?’ Jessica asked.
‘No idea, sorry.’
‘Let’s go see.’ Jessica and the constable walked around the front of the fire engine towards an ambulance which was parked in such a way that the rear doors were facing the
other vehicle, shielding the inside from both the rest of the street and any overlooking properties. Jessica could see a paramedic standing next to the open doors talking to someone inside. As he
spotted her walking towards him, he motioned to wave her away but she could hear Martin’s voice from inside the vehicle.
‘Can I just . . . ?’ Jessica began before the paramedic cut her off.
‘He needs space, you’ll have to come back.’
Reluctantly Jessica halted but Martin’s voice called out. ‘Sergeant Daniel?’ She didn’t want to defy the medical worker, who looked inside the ambulance and then back to
Jessica before moving to one side.
Jessica and Rowlands approached the rear of the vehicle, where Martin was sitting on the end of a bed wrapped in a thick warm-looking blanket. On the bed next to him was an oxygen mask, which
his hand was twitching towards.
‘Are you okay?’ Jessica asked.
Almost as if on cue, the man launched into a guttural cough before picking up the mask and taking a deep breath. ‘We can leave you . . . ?’ Jessica added. Martin’s face had a
smudge of black on one of his cheeks, as if someone had tried colouring him in with a piece of charcoal. Even from where she was standing, Jessica could see the man’s eyes were painfully
bloodshot.
Martin shook his head rapidly and his ‘No, it’s fine’ came out as one hurried word.
Jessica took a few moments to understand what he had said. ‘Is Ryan okay?’
The man nodded. ‘He wasn’t in.’
She wanted to go easy on Martin, knowing full well he would have a proper interview at some point. There was only one question that seemed to matter. ‘What happened?’
Martin took another breath from the mask and, surprisingly, smiled gently. ‘I was watching TV and must have fallen asleep on the sofa in the living room. All of a sudden I heard this bang
from the letterbox. I was in a bit of a daze and thought it was just the postman being loud or something, so went out into the hallway. By then, the door was on fire. I’d only just woken up
so I wasn’t sure if I was dreaming but it was so hot and I was coughing. Then I thought that I couldn’t be dreaming if I was coughing.’
The man had obviously experienced fire in the past but Jessica couldn’t begin to imagine how terrifying it must be to be on the inside. Alfie Thompson popped into her mind and it was
impossible not to think about how he would have gone through something similar when Martin had set fire to the building he was in.
Could it really be his father who did this as some sort of revenge?
Jessica tried to push the thoughts of Alfie out of her mind. Regardless of the rights and wrongs of what had happened in the past, she knew she had to deal with what was in front of her.
‘How did you get out?’ she asked.
‘Out of the top window at the back. I had to jump.’
‘What about the back door?’ For the first time, his eyes widened in fear. ‘It was blocked,’ he said solemnly.
Jessica didn’t mean to sound so abrupt but the word just spilled out. ‘How?’
Martin spoke as quietly as before. ‘I only saw when I landed. Someone tied the door handle to the window handle, meaning neither of them could be pulled down.’
Jessica felt a chill run through her that didn’t relate to the temperature. Someone hadn’t just set fire to the house as a scare tactic, somebody had deliberately tried to burn it
down with Martin inside.
‘Are you okay?’ she repeated, rather feebly.
Chadwick nodded. ‘I landed on my ankle and I’ve got a bit of a cough but . . .’ Jessica didn’t hear the end of the sentence because of a man’s voice shouting from
somewhere near the front of the ambulance. The paramedic who had been standing behind her walked around but Ryan’s voice was distinctive and his anger obvious.
Jessica followed the medical worker to see Ryan stomping towards her, pointing furiously. The paramedic started to say something before Rowlands added a stern, ‘Listen, mate . . .’
Ryan shoved him aggressively to one side before moving to within a few inches of Jessica.
‘Where’s my dad?’ he stormed, spit flying from his mouth and landing on Jessica’s chin.
She winced in disgust but tried to stay calm. Ryan didn’t seem to notice. ‘He’s fine, Ryan. Can you . . .’ Jessica didn’t get a chance to add anything else as the
young man barged past her, his shoulder connecting painfully with hers as he stomped over to the rear of the ambulance.
Jessica looked up to see Rowlands staring at her, clearly stunned by what had happened.
‘Are you okay?’ he asked. She didn’t say anything but her eyes must have given her anger away because the constable followed it with a gentle, ‘Stay calm,
Jess.’
If she hadn’t been looking directly at him, there was every chance Jessica would have snapped but the constable’s gaze was composed and she knew he was right. She spun around,
returning to the rear of the ambulance where Ryan was sitting on the floor next to his father. He looked as if the fury in his dark eyes was helping to hold back tears that could begin at any
moment. His fists were balled and shaking. Martin was muttering something under his breath that Jessica didn’t catch but he stopped speaking as she neared.
Jessica caught Martin’s eye and he stared from her to his son. ‘Is everything all right?’ he asked.
‘A word,’ Jessica replied sternly, adjusting her eye line so she was glaring at Ryan. She could feel a dull thudding pain in her shoulder but didn’t want to let on.
The younger man looked up but didn’t move until Martin added a curious, ‘Ry?’
Clearly not wanting his father to be involved, Ryan clambered to his feet, finally unballing his fists. ‘I’ll be back in a minute,’ he said, not looking at either Jessica or
his father.
She walked backwards until she was on a clear piece of tarmac twenty metres away from the ambulance. No one could overhear them but Jessica could see that Rowlands was standing midway between
them and the emergency vehicle, watching nervously.