FIRE ON THE FENS a gripping crime thriller filled with stunning twists

by Joy Ellis

  Nearly all of them were intended as an assault on property. It was rare to find a case of murder by arson. But that was what had happened in Mud Town. From the information he and Rory Wilkinson had provided, Nikki Galena would have a nearly perfect picture of what happened in that caravan, and how. This time, however, John wanted to help her discover why. He felt oddly responsible. Although he had reported his suspicions to Cam Walker, he should not have procrastinated as he had, he should have mentioned his concerns sooner. After only the second small fire, he had known they were dealing with a beginner who aspired to bigger things. Now a man was dead because he, John, had held back.

  Well, there was nothing to be gained by sitting around and feeling guilty. The best he could do now was to see if there was something about this fire that only he could discover, some small factor that might help trace the arsonist.

  John gathered up his papers and notes and pushed them into his old briefcase. He would go back to the scene of the crime.

  * * *

  While Nikki reported to Superintendent Cameron Walker, Joseph continued a search he had begun the day before. He couldn’t believe there were satanists in Greenborough, but there might well be a criminal group operating. He had come across secret societies before, and they usually meant trouble.

  ‘You look deep in thought, Sarge.’ Ben was leaning on the doorframe at the entrance to Joseph’s tiny office.

  ‘I’m thinking about secret societies.’

  Ben grinned. ‘My favourite subject. Ever read Foucault’s Pendulum?’

  ‘I have. Did you enjoy it?’

  ‘Loved it, even more than The Name of the Rose.’ Ben came in, and in the absence of another chair, perched on the edge of the desk. ‘So what are you thinking? Something sinister lurking down our back streets?’

  ‘It appears to be operating from one of the more upmarket areas actually.’

  Ben frowned. ‘You’re saying this is for real?’

  ‘Maybe. Or I could be allowing my overactive imagination to run riot. Whatever, I’m pretty sure the group aren’t satanists, whatever people say.’

  ‘Unlikely.’ Ben looked thoughtful, ‘Although there are a lot of weird groups springing up these days. Must be the times we’re living in. Hey! Maybe we have an underground sector of the Illuminati!’

  Joseph looked at Ben with interest. ‘You seem to have a rather worryingly good knowledge of secret societies, my friend. Who are the Illuminati anyway?’

  ‘No one knows if they even exist, but they’re supposed to be overlords, controlling world affairs — world leaders, politicians, religious leaders. There are videos on YouTube all about it.’ Ben paused. ‘In my opinion, people are so disenchanted with the politicians and, despite our so-called democracy, having no control over their lives that they buy into the conspiracy theories.’

  ‘I see,’ Joseph said. ‘Well, I’m not suggesting we are hosting some cult that belongs in a Dan Brown thriller, not a known group anyway. But I do wonder if this religious cult thing might be a cover for something else. There have been several cases reported recently around the country, where a collection of powerful business people have used that kind of cover to manipulate money illegally.’

  ‘Want me to check it out?’ asked Ben eagerly.

  ‘Niall has Yvonne Collins making some enquiries, but you can follow up whatever she comes back with, if you’d like to. Tracing the arsonist comes first, of course.’

  ‘Will do, Sarge.’ He looked less excited. ‘That’s what I came to see you about. I’m afraid we’ve run into a brick wall with Ronnie’s past history.’

  Joseph sighed. ‘That doesn’t surprise me. I’m wondering if there is anything to find.’

  Ben shifted on the edge of the desk. ‘The evidence doesn’t point to a random attack, Sarge. It was definitely premeditated.’

  ‘Oh yes, but was Ronnie Tyrrell chosen simply because he was a loner living among people who don’t particularly welcome strangers or the police?’

  ‘You mean, was he just a pawn? The arsonist was just going for a more advanced level of arson attack? One that involved a human victim?’ Ben frowned.

  ‘It’s a possibility, isn’t it?’

  Ben puffed out his cheeks. ‘It is, I suppose. Though I don’t quite go along with that. I don’t know why either, especially when we haven’t found any reason for it in Ronnie’s life. But I’m pretty sure he was targeted for who he was.’

  ‘That’s what the boss feels too,’ Joseph said. ‘I’m just playing devil’s advocate.’

  ‘Sarge?’

  Both men looked up to see Cat in the doorway, looking worried.

  ‘Fire and rescue have just notified us. There’s another fire. This time it’s on a small industrial estate. One of the units has gone up.’

  Joseph jumped up. ‘Where?’

  ‘It’s about two miles outside town on the old Wash Road. The Fenlander Enterprise Park.’

  ‘I know it. Cat, go get Nikki. She’s with the super. We need to check this out ourselves.’ He snatched up his jacket from the back of his chair, and added, ‘Any report of fatalities?’

  ‘We have very little yet, Sarge.’ Cat ran her hand through her spiky hair. ‘It’s only just been reported.’

  ‘Do we know what kind of unit it is?’ Joseph asked, aware of the highly flammable stuff used in some small industrial businesses.

  ‘Something to do with greetings cards, I think,’ called back Cat, on her way to the super’s office.

  Joseph groaned. Paper and card. Not good. But at least it wasn’t the welding shop that worked out of the Fenlander Park. With their oxyacetylene welding kits, it could be catastrophic. He just hoped that this unit was some distance from there. ‘Ben, you and Cat hold the fort here and we’ll keep you informed of what we find. Tell Nikki I’ll be in the car!’

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  They didn’t need directions. The tall plume of smoke was visible for miles across the flat land.

  Joseph swept into the car park and brought the car to a halt as near as he could get to one of the fire appliances. They jumped out.

  Even though they were some way away from the burning unit, the heat and fumes hit them. All around was the sound of roaring and crackling. Nikki looked out for the incident commander, but instead saw the tall silhouette of John Carson, staring at the flames as they climbed hungrily into the sky.

  ‘Is he telepathic?’ she murmured to Joseph.

  ‘He has contacts, Nikki. He told me. Friends at the fire station.’

  ‘Or he listens in to our emergency radio wavelengths.’ She pulled at Joseph’s arm and they hurried across to where he stood.

  ‘John! Do we have another one? Is it our guy again?’ Nikki called out.

  He turned, startled, and then looked back to where the fire crew were running in another hose. ‘Oh, without a doubt. They’ve got a fight on their hands with the gusty wind. The units around have all been evacuated, but they are struggling to stop it spreading.’ He glanced at Nikki. ‘And we should get further back ourselves. If the wind changes direction, we could be in trouble.’

  Back nearer the vehicles, Joseph asked, ‘Have they told you anything yet?’

  ‘They reckon it’s really lucky that no one was working there today. It was all locked up. The people from the next door unit said the owner’s gone to a trade fair in Birmingham.’

  ‘Thank heavens for that.’ Nikki sighed. ‘But why are you so sure it’s the work of our arsonist, John?’

  ‘I’ve been asking around. Someone saw a stranger coming from around the back of the unit earlier this morning. There’s no access or exits from there, it’s just a fenced-in yard. No one would have had any business there, and with the unit closed today, it sounds suspicious.’ He looked at her rather sadly. ‘And I know this was started deliberately. There was nothing highly combustible in there. No fuels, gases, nothing like that. Paper and card cause what we call class A fires. They’re organic material and water extinguishes them eas
ily. The speed this fire took hold, plus the fact that witnesses said it seemed to have had two separate points of origin, lead me to believe an accelerant was used.’

  Before Nikki could answer, Joseph touched her arm and pointed.

  Several of the fire crew were shouting. Suddenly fire officers were running towards the blazing unit.

  Nikki held her breath. Then she heard the fateful words, ‘They’ve found someone inside!’

  Joseph closed his eyes, and his grip tightened on her arm.

  ‘Oh Lord! Not another one,’ she said. ‘No one could have survived that, could they?’

  ‘Poor devil.’ John shook his head.

  ‘I thought it was closed and the owner away,’ she whispered.

  ‘That’s probably true,’ Joseph said. ‘We don’t know who the victim is, do we? They may be completely unconnected to the business. We’ll have to wait till the fire’s brought under control and the investigators and forensics can get in.’

  Nikki drew in a long breath. ‘Then we should go and talk to some of the other people who work here. Find out all we can about this company.’

  ‘Right.’ Joseph looked across to where a crowd of people had gathered behind a cordon. ‘And I suggest we call for some assistance. There are a lot of small businesses operating from here. We could do with some help.’

  ‘Ring in now. I’ll go make a start. John? Want to come?’

  John shook his head. ‘I’ll stay here for now. I’ll have a chat with the incident commander later. I’ll find out all I can that might help you.’

  ‘Okay. Oh, and John, did you get the name of the person who saw that stranger leaving the scene?’

  John took a folded sheet of paper from his pocket. ‘Jack Pontin. He works over at the Solway windows and conservatory unit opposite. Ah, that’s him.’ He pointed towards the crowd. ‘The man in the orange sweatshirt.’

  Nikki walked over to where Jack Pontin stood staring in horrified disbelief at what remained of the little greeting card factory.

  ‘I can’t believe it! Mel and Dev are the nicest couple. They’ll be devastated when they get back from Birmingham.’

  ‘What are their full names, sir? And the name of the company?’

  ‘Melissa and Devlin Daley, Officer. They’re locals, live on the London Road, but I don’t know the number. Their business is called “Melissa’s Wishes.” They make specialist personalised greeting cards. It’s a mail order company.’ He paused and grimaced. ‘Or was.’

  ‘But they were away today? Do they often close on a week day?’

  ‘It was only because of the trade fair in Birmingham. They’re usually here all hours.’

  ‘What about staff? Do they employ many people?’

  Jack Pontin shook his head. ‘It’s a family business. Just them, and sometimes Melissa’s sister Clary helps out. She’s an artist, pretty good too.’

  ‘But she wasn’t working either?’

  ‘The place was closed when I came in this morning, and I haven’t seen anyone go in all day. I see a lot from here, and although I have had customers, I reckon I’d have seen Clary. She has long ginger hair, really striking.’

  ‘And the man you saw coming from the back of the unit? When was that?’

  ‘About fifteen minutes before we noticed smoke coming from under the doors.’ He looked at her apologetically. ‘And my description won’t help much, because I was doing some calculations at the time and barely noticed him. It wasn’t till later that I wondered what anyone could have been doing around the back.’

  ‘What do you remember about him?’ asked Nikki.

  ‘He was average height, indigo denim jeans and a black padded jacket.’

  ‘Hair colour?’

  ‘Brownish, I think, and I suppose he was around my age, that’s late twenties.’

  Could describe half the male population of the Fens, thought Nikki. ‘Better than nothing, sir. At least you did notice him. That could be very important indeed.’

  The man looked slightly relieved. He asked, ‘I heard someone say they found a body inside? Is that true?’

  Nikki was noncommittal. ‘Nothing is confirmed, sir. It’ll be a while before anyone can get in there to tell us.’

  ‘But if it’s true, who is it?’

  Nikki was asking herself the same question. ‘We’re going to need a statement from you, sir, if that’s alright?’

  ‘For what it’s worth, sure.’ His eyes had never left the burning building. ‘They put everything they had into that place. Now look at it.’

  A woman suddenly pushed her way through the crowd. ‘Are you the police?’ she asked Nikki bluntly. She looked very pale.

  ‘I’m DI Nikki Galena. Can I help you?’

  The woman bit anxiously on her bottom lip. ‘Everyone’s saying that the Daleys are both in Birmingham, but I swear I saw Melissa here earlier.’

  An icy finger traced a path down Nikki’s spine.

  Jack Pontin stared at the woman. ‘But Dev told me they were going to the trade fair, first thing this morning.’

  ‘I know! He told me that too, and that Clary was going with them, but I saw Mel. I know I did.’

  ‘Hold on. Who are you?’ Nikki asked. ‘When did you think you saw her?’

  ‘I’m Helen Hawker, and I work in the Cane Furniture Company unit, close to the entrance. Mel and I are friends, have been since school days.’

  ‘Okay, Helen. When and where did you see her?’ Nikki hoped she was wrong.

  ‘I was on the phone to one of our clients. It must have been about two hours ago, I suppose. She was hurrying in on foot, almost running. I’d have gone after her, in case something was wrong, but I was taking an important order and got tied up.’ She pushed her hair from her face. ‘I went down a bit later but it was all locked up, so I thought maybe she’d called back to pick something up, and had gone again.’ She wrung her hands. ‘You don’t think she was . . . was still in there, do you?’

  ‘Helen, we know nothing yet, so please don’t get too upset.’ She touched the woman’s arm. ‘Can you tell me what number their house is in London Road?’

  ‘201. But they’re saying there’s a body!’ Her voice rose to a wail. ‘If it’s Melissa, I’ll never forgive myself!’

  Nikki turned to Jack Pontin. ‘Can you look after Helen for me? I need to talk to my colleagues.’ She touched Helen’s arm. ‘It’s not your fault, okay? As you said, Melissa probably just called in and went out again. Let’s not assume the worst.’

  Nikki didn’t believe a word of it, but she had to say something.

  She ran to where Joseph stood talking to one of the fire crew.

  ‘There is a body,’ he said in a low voice.

  ‘A woman?’

  ‘Too badly burnt to tell,’ the young fireman said. ‘And I mean badly damaged. One of the nastiest I’ve seen since I joined Blue Watch.’

  ‘How about the fire? Is it under control?’ she asked.

  ‘Yep. At last. But it’ll burn for a good while yet. Luckily we managed to contain it to the one building, with just a bit of minor damage to the unit next door — superficial smoke damage, nothing structural.’

  Nikki thanked him and drew Joseph away to a quiet corner of the car park. ‘Someone saw the owner, Melissa Daley, hurrying towards the unit about two hours ago. They didn’t see her leave.’

  ‘Are they sure?’ Joseph said. ‘Everyone I’ve spoken to said she and her husband were in Birmingham.’

  ‘We need to get a mobile number for Devlin Daley, but we can’t tell him what’s happened and then let him drive back. I suggest we get the West Midland Police to help out. He needs to be told before he hears about it on the news, and we need to know if his wife and sister-in-law are with him.’

  ‘I’ll get Ben to sort that straight away.’ Joseph pulled out his mobile. ‘Cat can do a search on their address and get round to their house and check it out. We can leave an officer there, in case they come back early for any reason.’

  �
�They live in London Road. The woman said it was number 201. I’ll go back and see if she has a contact number for Melissa. She said they were old friends.’

  Joseph nodded. While he spoke to Ben, Nikki hurried back to find Helen Hawker.

  Having procured the mobile number for Melissa, Nikki now had to deal with it. It was always difficult, but this time it seemed particularly hard. After a moment or two of deliberation, she made up her mind and called.

  Nikki was taken aback when a woman answered, sounding suspicious. ‘Yes? Who is this?’

  ‘Melissa Daley? This is DI Nikki Galena, Fenland Constabulary.’

  ‘The police?’

  ‘Mrs Daley, can I ask where you are, please? And are you alone?’

  There was a pause, then Melissa, sounding shaky, said, ‘Has something happened?’

  ‘Mrs Daley, please just tell me, are you at home? And are you alone?’

  ‘I’m at home, yes.’

  ‘Now listen to me carefully. There will be someone with you very shortly, but can you confirm where Mr Daley is today? It’s most important.’

  ‘Oh God! Dev! He’s had an accident, hasn’t he?’

  Nikki was starting to wish she’d gone about this differently. ‘No, no, not at all. Just tell me, is he in Birmingham today?’

  ‘Yes! Why, is he alright? Has something terrible happened there? Oh, is it terrorist attack? Please God, no!’

  ‘Mrs Devlin, nothing has happened in Birmingham, I assure you. There’s been a fire on the industrial estate and we want to know that you and your husband are safe.’

  Nikki heard a long drawn out sigh. ‘Oh, yes, yes, I’m safe. Dev left early this morning and he rang me to say he’d arrived safely. I had a migraine and couldn’t face the journey. But the unit? Is it badly damaged?’

  Nikki heaved a sigh of relief. This was not the time to tell this woman of the complete destruction of her place of work, or about the body. ‘We don’t have full details yet, Mrs Daley, but we’ll keep you informed.’