Mentally tired, Alex bowed her head. ‘But she didn’t have to be thinking of getting out, did she?’
‘No,’ Hugh said shortly. ‘Why don’t we get out of here? It isn’t helping a thing.’
‘Without finding Annie?’
‘Of course not. We need to call her.’
‘Darn, why didn’t I think of that immediately?’ She waited a moment but Hugh made no attempt to use his own mobile. As they walked back around to the front of the house, Alex took out her own phone and found Annie’s number.
Five rings and a cut off with no message.
‘Nothing. Now what?’
‘I don’t get it,’ Hugh said and started to run. ‘Let’s check her car again and call the police … damn it.’
When they reached the driveway there was no sign of the red-and-white Mini.
Rubbing the back of his neck, Hugh walked to look down the driveway.
‘Something’s wrong,’ Alex called after him. ‘Does Annie know you got the Subaru? She’d have recognized it – and she couldn’t have driven behind the house or we would have seen her.’
‘I don’t think she has any reason to know what car I drive – other than the Nash.’
He jogged back, opened her door and ran around to hop into the driver’s seat without waiting for her. Alex made it inside the vehicle seconds before he drove away, spitting gravel as she went. ‘She can’t have gone far.’ And to emphasize his hurry, Hugh floored the accelerator. After the slightest slowdown, he shot into the lane and downhill. When they reached the bottom there was no Mini in sight to left or right.
‘Let’s try her phone again,’ Alex said, phone in hand. He turned the corner, pulled over and switched off the engine – and took the phone from her. Alex continued, ‘I don’t know what we should do or say first. What if she was embarrassed for us to know she’d been at Green Friday? The only reason would be to go over the places where she and Elyan were happy, or she’s now convinced herself they were.’
The ringing of the cell phone startled them both.
Hugh held up a hand and answered. ‘Annie? It’s Hugh. Where are you?’ He looked at Alex. ‘No, nothing wrong. I haven’t seen you today and wondered what you’re up to. You know I like to be sure you’re all right.’ He raised his eyebrows.
For a short while he listened, a frown deepening. ‘In Bourton-on-the-Water shopping?’ He stuffed the fingers of his free hand into his hair. ‘Well that’s great. Good for you to get out a bit farther afield. Alex and I took a few hours off to catch our breath, too. Have you given any thought to finding a more permanent place to live?’ He grimaced as if he regretted the question. ‘OK, we’ll talk about it later. Alex will have some ideas.’ He put the phone on the console between them.
Alex raised her palms in question. She glanced behind them to make sure they weren’t holding up any traffic.
‘Supposedly she’s shopping in Bourton-on-the-Water. Says she needs new Cotswold threads; whatever that means.’
‘But …’ She shook her head.
‘The answer is, I don’t know,’ Hugh said, cutting her off. ‘I’m fond of Annie – you know that – but it doesn’t mean I understand her.’
‘And I shouldn’t wonder what her car was doing at your place? It wasn’t a mirage. I don’t believe she’s where she says she is.’
‘Shoot. I’m going to forget it. If she made a getaway while we were looking around the grounds and she doesn’t want to talk about it, so what?’
Sirens sounded, growing closer until a fire engine roared and shrieked on the road behind them, lights flashing, and turned up Trap Lane.
Alex watched in the side mirror while two other vehicles screeched past.
‘What the hell?’ Hugh said, craning to look over his shoulder again.
‘We’d better go back and check,’ Alex said.
‘It’s been hot,’ Hugh said. ‘Everything’s very dry. Could be there’s a flash fire in the hills.’
Alex drummed her fingers on her knee. Hugh pulled a U-turn and drove back the way they’d come through the still churning dust thrown up by the emergency vehicles. She didn’t speak again and neither did Hugh.
Following the rigs, they passed the driveway to Green Friday, pulled up on the verge. ‘Oh, no,’ Alex said. ‘They’ve gone to Radhika’s house. What on earth’s happened?’ Fire crackled and smoke billowed into the sky. With Hugh, she ran up the driveway in the wake of the emergency trucks. Alex dragged in breaths as she went, her heart beating so hard it hurt.
It was Hugh who stopped her from going all the way to the house. He pulled her back and wrapped his arms around her. ‘Hush,’ he said. ‘Just …’ But he didn’t tell her what she should just do.
‘Radhika could be in there?’ she said, struggling free. She held her mobile already and called Radhika who answered immediately. ‘Where are you?’ Alex said, scarcely able to breathe.
‘On my way to Trap Lane,’ she said. ‘My house is on fire. Don’t worry, please. The responders are already there. I will talk to you later. Goodbye.’
Alex massaged her temples and looked at the scene ahead. Flames shot out of an upper window on one side of the house – and they engulfed not only the walls, but the roof of the tower.
TWENTY
Doc James stopped Lily from heading for the kitchen and steered her into one of his living-room armchairs. He tugged off his own shoes and tossed them aside. ‘Sit down all of you. Let me catch my breath and I’ll get us all something to make us feel better.’
That, Tony thought, would have to be some magic elixir. He felt like hell and looking around at Alex and Hugh, he doubted if they had any more faith than he did in anything Doc might have on offer.
‘Would that be crack or some good opioids?’ Hugh said flatly, surprising Tony.
‘I doubt if you’ve got anything to ameliorate this disaster,’ Alex said. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. ‘What a god-awful mess. I’m saying my prayers Bill doesn’t show up on the doorstep with a bucket load of fresh questions. And I don’t know what to say to Radhika. She was shocked – who wouldn’t be?’
‘At least no one’s been hurt,’ Lily said. ‘It’s a setback, a huge setback, but Radhika will rebuild.’
‘I don’t get why Bill said you could leave the scene – just like that,’ Doc said. ‘It’s not like him.’
‘Don’t look at me,’ Tony said. ‘All I know is what you know. Hugh and Alex showed up at the Black Dog looking as if they’d been to a hanging – or barely escaped going to a hanging.’ And he sure as hell wanted to know a whole lot more but knew better than to push until Alex was ready to talk.
‘They wouldn’t have told us to leave if they’d known—’
‘Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,’ Hugh cut in, shutting off whatever Alex had intended to say.
She looked at him and her tired face hardened. ‘That’s enough covering up,’ she said shortly. ‘We couldn’t get any more in the way than we already were up there, but we have information the police need – and the fire department come to that. Annie must be brought into this. The sooner the better. Waiting will only make things worse.’
‘Agreed.’ Tony thought better of adding that he had wanted to go to Bill since yesterday.
Hugh stood up and paced. He shook his head, no, to the whiskey Doc offered him. ‘First we have to think it through,’ he said. ‘I told you what she said on the phone. We can’t drop her in it by telling the police her car was at Green Friday.’
‘At Green Friday how long before we left – ten minutes max?’ Alex said. ‘No fire was visible at Radhika’s when we got into your car to leave. We were in such a hurry to try and catch up with Annie’s Mini, we didn’t even look back at the houses again. She couldn’t have been where she said she was when you finally got her on the phone. That was no more than another ten minutes before we knew there was a fire at Radhika’s.’
‘There has to be another explanation,’ Hugh said.
Alex g
ot up and stood in front of Hugh. She poked him in the chest. ‘I listened to you up there when you asked me to leave it to you to explain to Bill. You didn’t say a word, Hugh. What was that about? What aren’t you saying?’
‘This is all very interesting,’ Doc said. ‘Would you mind filling us in on what you’re talking about? Where does Annie come into this latest disaster?’
Turning away from Hugh, Alex faced the rest of them. ‘When we got to Green Friday, the red-and-white Mini Annie drives was parked in the driveway. That’s the car Elyan used to drive. There was no sign of Annie. We couldn’t find her on the property and when we got ready to leave, the Mini was gone. When we finally got hold of Annie she said she was shopping in Bourton-on-the-Water. She couldn’t have been. There was no way she …’ She met Tony’s eyes and he raised his brows. ‘We should have asked how she got there. She didn’t have to be the one driving the Mini this afternoon.’
‘So call her again and ask her,’ Tony said. He threw up his hands. ‘I don’t mean just ask her flat out. We can come up with a way to get to it, can’t we? Ask her to pick something up in Bourton-on-the-Water? Ask if she has room for it in the Mini? Hell, I don’t know.’ He did know they had to do something and fast before a few Folly inhabitants got hauled up on obstruction charges.
‘Like what?’ Hugh asked. ‘A refrigerator? An elephant?’
‘Give us a better idea, then,’ Tony shot back. He’d had it with Hugh lately. Here they all were talking through theories with the one person who seemed a possible, if not likely, candidate for involvement in serious crimes.
‘The police would check CCTV for sightings of her car where she says she’s been,’ Alex said. Always the down-to-earth one. ‘They would already be on it if they knew. I want to call Bill now.’
Hugh produced his phone. ‘Let me call Annie first,’ he said. ‘I know what I’ll say.’ His mobile rang before he could use it. ‘Hello, Annie.’
‘Glad you found your mobile,’ Alex muttered.
‘Be quiet, please,’ Hugh said, ignoring Alex. He listened to the mobile for long enough to make Tony expect him to hang up. He half-turned away from them. ‘Well, isn’t that lovely,’ he said, not sounding his usual cool self. ‘Enjoy yourself. I wanted to remind you about getting the air in your tires checked? Did you do that? I told you the left rear looked low.’
Alex shook her head with frustration.
‘Well, I did mention it,’ Hugh said. ‘Where are you now?’
Tony tried to signal that he wanted to add something about needing proof. He got no acknowledgement from Hugh who was frowning. ‘Still? Well – stop at the petrol station and check your tires. Right, see you whenever you get back.’
‘What did she say?’ Doc said.
Hugh snapped his fingers and looked at Lily. ‘Before I forget. Any problems telling Perry and Neve we don’t have room for them anymore?’
‘I haven’t reached them, but I will,’ Lily said, displaying irritation – like the rest of them. ‘Annie, Hugh?’
‘Says she’s still in Bourton – with a friend she met. They’re going to have dinner. She’ll check the tires on the Mini before driving back. That’s likely to be late tonight, if at all.’
TWENTY-ONE
‘What do you think Radhika will want to do?’ Dan asked Bill. He had given Dr Wolf the slip, or rather he’d called LeJuan with instructions to inform the good doctor that personal business would prevent Dan from returning to work before tomorrow.
Bill had been quiet on the drive from Gloucester to Broadway and the Crown and Trumpet on Church Street. He was still quiet.
‘Bill,’ Dan prompted him. ‘You OK?’
‘Sure. Great. If I knew what Radhika was thinking I might really be great.’
‘The fire was only today,’ Dan said. ‘There’s a fair amount of damage, true, but it’ll all get put back together and it may not take as long as you think once the investigation is completed and they get started.’
Bill looked into his glass and didn’t respond.
‘Do you feel like expanding on what you’re thinking?’ Dan persisted.
‘She doesn’t want to keep staying at Tony’s clinic,’ Bill said. ‘Even though there’s a whole unused flat upstairs and Tony’s told her it’s great to have her there and checking on things. Radhika still thinks she’s taking advantage. She’s shocked, of course, and probably frightened though she’d never admit that.’
The man was deeply troubled and for once he was letting it show. ‘Is she frightened because there’s talk of arson?’
‘What do you think?’ Bill drank some cider and smiled a little. ‘Hairy Ferret. With a name like that, it’s as well it’s damn good cider. She thinks – again she hasn’t said it – but she thinks someone wanted to hurt her. I’m sure of that.’
‘I don’t believe that was it.’ Dan thought he knew what was bothering Bill and it wasn’t only the manor house damage. ‘If it was arson, and I think it was, the fire was set in the tower but it was obvious she wasn’t there. All the fire chief has told us is that he thinks it started on that spiral stone staircase. Probably went slowly at first, then worked upward. There’s an attic opening to the rest of the house from those stairs and if it went through there, that’s what caused fire to spread across. It was only in the first upper rooms of the house.’
‘So you think what they wanted most was to burn down the tower?’
‘We’ll have to leave that to fire investigators,’ Bill said. He sipped his cider. ‘Do you want to share what else is on your mind?’
A bartender called out Dan’s name and he went to pick up two plates of haddock in deep golden batter, and chips.
The pub was old, seventeenth century, the cozy, open bars running from one to another. Spindle chairs clustered among dark polished tables and high-backed settles with upholstered cushions. The arrangement gave customers intimate spaces although there were only scattered early diners and drinkers on this Sunday evening.
He put down the plates and sat again. They would nurse their drinks. It looked bad when plods got stopped for drink driving.
‘Tuck into that,’ he told Bill, trying to sound more cheerful than he felt.
They ate in silence for a few moments.
‘It’s good,’ Bill said. ‘I’ve always liked this place.’
‘Are you settled in that new flat?’ Not subtle, Dan. ‘I’m thinking of moving but I’ll see how Calum reacts to the idea. Kids get attached to homes – not that it is his home now he’s in Ireland with his mother.’
Bill put down his knife and fork and tented his hands. ‘Do you ever think about marrying again?’
Bingo! He thought about his answer. ‘I might like to. Sometimes I’d definitely like to. No prospects on the horizon, though.’ These days he tried not to think about Alex too deeply. He couldn’t change her feelings, or become the man she wanted to be with.
‘I’m damned if I know what I want to do,’ Bill said and took a hefty pull on his cider. ‘That’s a lie. I think I know but I don’t want to rock any boats, not now. Not ever.’
‘Don’t let the boat sail,’ Dan said and immediately regretted it. ‘I only mean that sometimes you can put something off until it’s not possible anymore … hell, I hope you know what I mean.’
‘Yes, I do. Radhika and I have talked about where we go from here but only around the edges. I know there’s love there, and everything else we need to be together, but what if …’ He shook his head slowly from side to side. ‘Timing will be everything. I don’t want her to think I’m only interested in getting her to live with me and using the fire as an excuse.’ He blushed, not something Dan ever remembered seeing before.
Smart Alec comments were usually a bad idea, definitely at this moment. ‘You’ll sort it out, Bill. I’m no advertisement for relationship success but I may be wiser than I used to be about some things. Talk to me whenever you feel like it. Just unload. That can help.’
‘Right,’ Bill said but Dan doubte
d the man would voluntarily pour out his guts again anytime soon.
‘Nothing from the diver up at the pond so far,’ he said.
‘He’d hardly been in the water when the fire at Radhika’s started,’ Bill said. ‘They heard the calls, and saw smoke, and had the diver come back up. All he’d reached was what they say looks like the first radio made – and fossilized. Junk. The thing is really deep. They knocked off for an hour or so when the fire at Radhika’s was reported. Already being so close like that, they wanted to stand by in case they were needed, but they’re going back at it. I expect to hear they’re either through for the night or just through, period. Looks like they’ll have to go back tomorrow. Bloody waste of time and money.’
‘Evening, sir – guv.’ LeJuan arrived and slid to sit in a chair opposite Dan and Bill. He gave one of his famous grins. ‘Thought you might be glad to see me.’
‘Do we look that hard up?’ Bill said, deadpan.
LeJuan put a manila envelope on the table and turned to look at the counter. ‘Can I interest anyone else in a drink – another drink?’
When he got no takers, he went to the bar and returned with a glass of what looked like pale ale, and a bag of crisps. The latter he opened and crunched down rapidly while Bill continued eating and Dan stared at the envelope.
‘Interested?’ Crumpling the empty crisp bag with one hand, LeJuan pushed the thick packet back and forth on the table with one long forefinger.
Dan shrugged. ‘You’ll tell us about it if you want to. Won’t he, Bill?’
‘Get on with it!’ Bill made a move toward LeJuan’s prize, but he whipped it up.
‘If you insist.’ LeJuan revealed a sheet of notes and photographs of different sizes kept separated by their own clear sleeves. ‘This is all better on a screen but you’ll get the idea. The original,’ he said, producing the fuzzy photo that had accompanied the one of Hugh found on a bed at Green Friday.
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