Firestarter

Firestarter Page 18

by Collins, Patsy

  'Perhaps you'd better bring your boyfriend.'

  She couldn't as Hamish was on shift. She really should let someone know where she was going though. Her parents would worry and she didn't want to call Kate after their row and be accused of waking her up just because she distrusted Tony. She compromised by sending Kate a text and slipping a note under her neighbour Doris's door.

  When Alice drove her mum's car into the car park just minutes later, she saw another car next to Tony's and the building open with all the lights on. One of her colleagues must have come by as Miles had asked. Wondering why they'd gone inside, Alice headed for the entrance.

  As she stepped through the doorway Tony said, 'I'm so sorry, Alice.'

  Then something struck the back of her head, she felt her body sink to the floor and everything went dark.

  Chapter 18

  When she came round, Alice was soaking wet and in pain. She could hear a scratching noise and feel hot breath on her face. She fought to control her shivering and terror. They'd be OK, Devon would come soon to rescue them. She drifted away again.

  When she came to for the second time she was still wet, frightened and hurt, but she remembered she was at Tatisuz, not back in the past, trapped with Frodo on a building site. She wasn't cold this time, but she was trapped and she didn't have the comfort of her dog with her. Alice attempted to wriggle herself free.

  'Don't struggle. I'm trying to help you.' It was Tony.

  Alice tried to scream, but no sound came. She felt sick and her throat was as raw as if she already had been. Her eyes stung. Her head hurt so much. What had Tony done to her?

  'Alice? Alice can you hear me? There's a fire. We need to move.'

  A fire? Like she'd believe that. How many hoaxes had he made now? It was so hot and her head hurt. Alice could see flames, just like at the cottage with Hamish. She tried to drift back to sleep, but Tony threw water over her.

  'Alice, come on. I can't carry you. You've got to help me get you somewhere safe.'

  It wasn't Tony who hit her, she remembered. He was inside the building. Whoever hit her must have been waiting behind the door. The building was on fire!

  'We need to get out,' she croaked.

  'The doors are locked. We have to go up, it's our best chance.'

  She looked at him properly, her head swimming as she moved it. Even in the red smokey light she could see he was hurt; one arm dangled uselessly at his side and his head was bleeding. He staggered away from her. When he returned he had a washing up bowl which he emptied over her.

  'Stop doing that.'

  'There's petrol everywhere, Alice.'

  As soon as he said it she recognised the smell. It was that, as well as the smoke, which was stinging her eyes.

  'I've used all the extinguishers I could find and chucked water everywhere, but I couldn't put the fire out. If we get above the flames we might survive long enough for the fire brigade to rescue us.'

  'When did you call them?' They must be nearly there. She didn't have to move.

  'They took my mobile. Yours too, I checked. I couldn't find a phone.'

  'They're upstairs, all except one over there,' she pointed to the red glow.

  'Come on, then.'

  'You go. I'm tired.'

  'Alice, move, now!'

  With his help, she crawled up the stairs to the offices and they pulled the door shut behind them before collapsing. The air was fresher inside and Alice gradually felt a little better.

  'There's a fire escape up here.' She got herself over to the door and pushed the bar. It didn't budge. Alice grabbed it to help pull herself up, then threw her weight against it. Still nothing. She tried again without success. Tony had said the doors were locked. Whoever had knocked her out and started the fire must have blocked up the emergency escape too.

  Now what? The phone line was dead, as was the electricity supply. It wasn't totally dark though. Light from the fire at the other end of the building showed at the windows. Alice located the extinguishers and pulled them over to where Tony was sprawled just inside the doorway.

  'Tony? Tony are you awake?'

  He opened his eyes. 'Alice? Are you OK?'

  'I will be, we both will.' Good, he was conscious, but only just. Alice dragged him further into the room, then set all the extinguishers off, coating the walls and door with foam and soaking the floor with water in the hope of keeping the fire away.

  Inch by inch she pulled Tony to the wall furthest away from the fire. She was gasping for breath. Just exhaustion or was the fire using up the available oxygen? Tony's breathing came in rapid little pants. Should she try to open a window? They had bars to keep thieves out, so doing that wouldn't allow them to jump clear and she knew fires needed oxygen. But so did they. After a struggle she forced open the nearest window and gulped in the fresh air.

  'Is that better?' she asked Tony.

  She couldn't make out his reply. His head was cut and arm damaged, maybe she should take a look? She tugged his jacket back and ripped his shirt to expose a gaping wound which was bleeding heavily. The cut on his head didn't seem too bad. Thankfully the first aid kit was nearby. She tipped everything onto the floor and tore open the packs of bandages. She covered his head injury, taping the dressing into place. She wadded up the triangular bandages into a pad and bound that over the deep gash in his shoulder. It wouldn't help much, there wasn't enough padding and she'd not managed to work the bandages round him well enough to keep them tight.

  Pressure. You had to apply pressure to the wound and elevate it. Somehow she pulled Tony into what was almost a sitting position. This had to be hurting him, but he'd not so much as grunted. She could hear him breathing though, so placed the flat of her hand against the covering to his wound and allowed herself to slump forward so some of her weight was on it. Already she could feel blood soaking through.

  There was nothing more she could do but wait and hope. She seemed to do that for a very long time. Someone would see the fire surely? They were a long way from the road, but at night the flames must be visible and the alarms might have triggered.

  'Sirens,' Alice whispered. 'Tony, can you hear them?'

  He didn't reply.

  The sirens grew louder until she was certain they really were coming for them. The red light through the window was interspersed with flashes of blue. Alice hauled herself up to the window. She couldn't shout and waving wouldn't help, not yet as they were at the back of the building. She collapsed with one arm dangling out.

  When she came to again Alice knew she was in hospital and remembered most of what had happened before the fire engine arrived. Her mum was there, holding her hand.

  'Hi, Mum.'

  'Alice.' She kissed her cheek with tears of relief running down her face. 'She's back with us, Peter.'

  Her dad kissed her too and Kate squeezed her other hand.

  'You're all right, love. Going to be at any rate,' he said.

  'And Tony?'

  'They're operating, love.'

  A nurse shone lights in Alice's eyes, checked her blood pressure, asked her questions and told her to rest.

  As soon as she was gone, Alice asked, 'What happened? Do you know?'

  'Not much of it,' Kate said. 'I rang to complain your text woke me and didn't get any reply, so I tried Tony's number. Can't even remember why I had it, but I knew he used it for work so didn't think he'd have changed it. When he didn't answer either I suddenly felt like something bad had happened.'

  'That's probably just when I got hit on the head.'

  'Oh! Oh, that's spooky. Anyway, I came out to look for you, saw the fire and called 999.'

  'Did Hamish rescue me?'

  'No. He'd been called out to your flats. Another hoax.'

  'Another one? That makes no sense.'

  'No, it doesn't.'

  'Hamish came to see you,' Alice's mum said. 'I told him to go home and sleep and we'd let him know when you came round.'

  Kate went out to call him, then suggested h
er parents also go home and come back later with clothes and other things Alice would need. 'I'll stay with her.'

  Alice watched her sister fall asleep in a chair, then slept herself.

  When she woke, Kate told her Hamish had been there for a couple of hours. 'I had to practically force him to go home and sleep. I thought you'd rather see him when you weren't both fighting to keep your eyes open.'

  Although she wished he was still by her side, she could see Kate had acted for the best.

  'Mum brought you loads of stuff. Hopefully you'll be out before you need half of it.'

  'Is there any more news of Tony and what happened?'

  'They've had to pin his shoulder and give him transfusions, but he's OK,' Kate said.

  'Did you see him?'

  'No. The police are questioning him. Asking him questions, I mean. They're not treating him as a suspect.'

  'No, he saved me, Kate. He was badly hurt, but it was him who brought me round and got me up the stairs away from the fire. I think I'd have just given up, but he wouldn't let me and wouldn't leave me.'

  A nurse came to test her responses again. 'You're doing fine,' she assured Alice.

  'I am, but you must be exhausted, Kate. Go home and sleep.'

  'I don't like to leave you.'

  'I'm safe here and Hamish will be in later.'

  Kate shrugged. 'All right. It's not as though you damaged anything important, just your head.'

  That did more to reassure Alice she wasn't seriously hurt, than the nurse's words had. 'Go away, Kate.'

  Hamish had been watching over her as she slept. He'd come back soon. Alice smiled and slipped into a dream of him carrying her somewhere safe. She woke to find Hamish leaning over her.

  He kissed her cheek. 'Hello, sleeping beauty.'

  'Hello.'

  He sat on her bed. 'Jeff's going to be disappointed. He said if you were in one of those hospital gowns which don't do up he'd come and visit you.'

  She shuddered.

  'No brain damage then. If you'd taken that calmly I'd have been worried.'

  'I'm going to be fine, apparently.'

  'Good.' He kissed her. 'Don't give me another scare like that.'

  'Now you know how I feel when you're on duty and I hear a siren or news report of a fire.'

  'You're going to have to get used to that, my love.'

  'Am I indeed?' She couldn't make herself sound indignant.

  'Do you want to tell me about it, or would you rather not?'

  'I'll tell you. It might help me make sense of it.'

  When she had he said, 'You did brilliantly and it seems Tony's not so bad after all.'

  'No. Just not right for me. I suppose he'll be cleared of any connection with the hoaxes now?'

  'Did you know there was another one last night?'

  'Yes, to the flats.'

  'It was made from Tony's phone.'

  'No! But...'

  'The call was recorded. They'll be able to tell it wasn't him.'

  'They'll find whoever is doing this, won't they?'

  'Yes. Yes they will.' He tried to talk of more cheerful subjects, but the conversation drifted back to the fire and he told her how worried he'd been when Doris, evacuated again from the flats, had read the note Alice left. She'd wondered aloud why Alice had gone to work in the middle of the night. Just moments later he'd learned there was a fire there.

  'If I didn't already know how I felt about you, that would have told me.'

  'And how do you feel?'

  'I... oh to hell with the taking it easy and not rushing you, I love you. I want to marry you and spend the rest of my life with you.'

  'I love you too.' Alice reached up to pull him close for a proper kiss.

  Another wretched nurse chose that moment to come in and do her stuff with the torch and blood pressure cuff. Alice almost forgave her though when she said, 'You'll most likely be able to go home in the morning.'

  When she'd gone, Hamish said, 'You'd be welcome to come and stay at mine, but I know your parents want to look after you for a bit and I think that might be best.'

  'I think so too.'

  He told her about the way Kate had insisted on staying by her side.

  'Proper big sister, bossy but looking out for you. She reminds me of my brother.'

  'Ah yes. I'm looking forward to meeting Dastardly Donald.'

  'I don't remember telling you he's dastardly.'

  'He's your big brother, stands to reason.'

  When her parents came to collect her, Alice asked to see Tony first. They found him propped up in bed with Rachel by his side.

  'I've come to thank you. You saved my life,' Alice said.

  'And you saved mine. Those thugs stopped beating me up when you arrived. When I saw them knock you out, I pretended I was unconscious too. I wasn't far off to be honest, but I was in a better state than if they'd hit me again. And then when I really did pass out you bandaged me up.'

  'I'm not sure that did anything much.'

  'It did. I was told that if I'd lost any more blood I wouldn't have made it and your first aid efforts made the difference.'

  'Did you recognise them, the people who hit you?'

  'No. I think I would now though. And I know... Oh! I'd forgotten. I saw their car. It was a Fiesta not an Audi, but I wrote down the registration. It's in my glove box. Rachel, will you get it and give it to the police?'

  'No problem. Glad you're all right, Alice.'

  When she'd gone, Alice kissed Tony's cheek. 'Thanks again. Are you going to be all right yourself?'

  'They're letting me out tomorrow I think. Rachel's going to stay and help me.'

  'Are you and her...?'

  He didn't meet her gaze. 'Er, maybe. I think so.'

  'I'm glad, Tony.'

  Over the next few days, Hamish visited Alice regularly at her parents' home. He was kind, sweet and funny but didn't tell her again that he loved her. She'd been awake when he said those words, hadn't she? Alice had almost been killed, saved by her ex-boyfriend and the hoaxer was still making calls. Except he wasn't a hoaxer as the fire had been real... or was that started by someone else? It was hard to know what had been real and what hadn't.

  Both Kate's and then Alice's birthday celebrations were unusually low key. As they were born two years and two days apart, the sisters had frequently competed to hold the best parties. This time though, Kate opted for a restaurant meal with just Alice, her parents, Pete and his mum and dad and Hamish. Alice found even that tiring, so asked for tea and cake at home with the same group of people.

  She did justice to her mum's fabulous baking, especially the chocolate, beetroot and cinnamon birthday cake. Alice was confident she'd soon be able to put her birthday gifts to good use. Her parents gave her a three in one walking coat, which could transform from something close to a continental quilt into a light rainproof jacket by undoing a few zips and discarding sections. Hamish gave her a set of binoculars and a bird identification book. He'd put a marker in the page for choughs.

  The present she was particularly looking forward to trying out was Kate's offering. She'd used her garish wellington boots as wrapping for a set of very nice underwear. The expression on Hamish's face suggested he approved. Her dad pretended to, or maybe really did, think it was a lacy blouse.

  Her mum fussed over Alice constantly. When she started to find it overpowering, she knew she was recovering.

  'Save me from her, Hamish,' she begged.

  'As I didn't get to rescue you from the fire, that's the least I can do. Where do you want to go?'

  'Somewhere peaceful.'

  'The sanctuary? You could hide in a hide.'

  'Sounds perfect.'

  Since her ordeal Alice had been either lying or sitting down and the walk to the hide was far more tiring than she'd expected. Even sitting up properly on the bench so she could watch the oyster catchers seemed like hard work.

  'Hello,' Louise's loud whisper reached them through the door.

&nb
sp; 'We're in here,' Hamish told her.

  'I thought Alice might need coffee. It's not that warm today.' She produced a flask and packet of biscuits.

  'Oh, thank you, Louise. That's kind,' Alice said.

  'Glad to see you're out and about,' Louise said, then left. A moment later she put her head back in. 'The coffee shouldn't be too bitter. The state you're in I didn't think I'd need much poison.' Then she really was gone.

  Alice burst into tears.

  Hamish held her. 'Hey, come on. You're OK and you do know she was kidding?'

  'I know and she was being nice.' Alice blew her nose. 'Sorry. I think it's having to be cheerful in front of Mum. I just needed to feel sorry for myself for a minute.'

  'I feel sorry for you too.'

  'Oh?' Is that why he'd said he loved her? Alice wanted to cry again.

  'Yes, life with Jeff is a horrible thought.'

  'Jeff?'

  'Yes. I know you and Tony did most of the actual saving part, but it was Jeff who put you over his shoulder and carried you down the ladder out of the fire.'

  'I don't even remember.' It was almost funny; her fantasy had come true but not only couldn't she remember it happening, she didn't want to; and Jeff being involved was the least worst part.

  'Don't worry, he'll remind you. Constantly.'

  'You mean I'm going to have to be grateful to Jeff?'

  'Afraid so. Though maybe if you were unconscious at the time it won't count and you won't have to marry him?'

  'I am not marrying Jeff!'

  'Tony then? It really was him...'

  'Don't be silly. I don't love Tony, I don't think I ever did and I definitely don't love Jeff. How could you think such an idiotic thing?'

  'But he's a fireman and he saved you...'

  'What's that got to do with anything? Oh, Hamish, my fantasy is just that. It never did stand up to reality. OK yes, you being a fireman didn't exactly discourage me, but if that was the only thing I liked about you I wouldn't have kept seeing you. Can you honestly see me lasting as much as one date with Jeff?'

  'No. No I really can't. I was a bit worried though to start with. That kind of thing has happened to me before and you could have been on the rebound.'

  She kissed him. 'I admit I wasn't entirely sure either to start with. Sounds like we were both holding back a bit.'

 

‹ Prev Next ›