Meet Me at Wisteria Cottage. Teresa Morgan F.
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wrong with the car?’
‘He’s run out of petrol. Thought he had enough to get to the next station.’
‘A holidaymaker?’
‘Yes.’ The amount of gear on the back seat in between the two child car seats gave it away. ‘I usually have a can of petrol for the lawnmower in the back of the truck. But it needs filling up.’
‘How very unprepared of you.’
‘I know.’ His grip tightened around the steering wheel. Even though he could tell by Maddy’s tone she was joking, it had frustrated Harry that he was unable to help the family more. He gave a wave to the man and his family as he drove past. Hopefully, they wouldn’t have too long to wait until the recovery services arrived.
‘Are you always this helpful?’ Maddy turned from the window and looked at him.
‘Must be the firefighter in me.’ Shouldn’t have said that. But it was true. It was in his blood to help people – however reluctantly recently. It’s what had driven him to become a fireman. He glanced at Maddy.
‘If you enjoy it so much, why did you give it up?’ she asked curiously.
Harry gave another fleeting look at her then turned his attention back to the road. ‘I’d really rather not discuss it, Maddy.’
There was a moment of silence, where Harry knew he’d killed the conversation. Just like at the coffee shop. But Maddy, in true female style – they usually know how to break the silence! – spoke up, ‘Well … I don’t think I’ll ever be able to thank you enough for noticing the fire at my house. I mean if it had burned for much longer, who knows how much worse the damage would be? It could even have spread next door.’
‘Luckily, due to the rain, I’d returned home early from work.’ Harry wasn’t sure he believed in fate, not when he thought about Karin, but it had certainly been lucky he’d still been around Annadale Close at the time. He’d had a number of jobs to do, but he’d been in the right place at the right time. ‘I was loading my pickup with some tools for another garden job the next day.’
He’d been considering digging over one of his regulars’ vegetable patch – a frail lady in her seventies who lived at the end of Annadale Close and who liked to feed him up with tea and biscuits every time he cut her lawn. In the summer sometimes he preferred doing some jobs in the evening, as it was a cooler time to work. The lighter evenings allowed him to do it too.
‘Well, my mum thinks you might have started the fire—’ Maddy’s hands shot to her mouth and her cheeks grew pinker. Her redhead’s complexion always gave her away. ‘Sorry. I have a way of speaking before engaging my brain.’
‘I know. I heard.’ Harry smiled, pretending not to notice her embarrassment. If he mentioned it, she’d probably turn even redder. ‘I mean about your mum, not about you speaking without thinking.’ He’d watched out the corner of his eye how Maddy had blushed while speaking on the phone to her mother on the journey to Truro – like she was doing right now. He’d found it highly amusing, and a good way to read Maddy. She certainly couldn’t keep secrets. ‘And I definitely didn’t do it, okay? I was trained to put out fires, not start them.’
‘I know. And helping me so much wouldn’t make sense if you’d wanted to burn my house down in the first place.’ Looking at her lap, Maddy twisted the gold ring on her middle finger. ‘Unless you just wanted me out of the neighbourhood …’
‘I wouldn’t have offered for you to stay at mine now, would I?’
‘No, true, I didn’t think of that. But we have had our differences.’
‘Differences aside, Maddy,’ Harry glanced at her sternly, his eyes fixed on hers for a moment, ‘I didn’t want to tell Collins this at first, on the night of the fire, because it could slow the process with the insurance company if it’s arson. But the fire brigade were already suspicious and informed the police, so I had to tell the police in the end. I saw someone on your driveway. He just appeared, as if he’d come out of your front door. I didn’t see if he had done that because I’d been in my garage. And then not long afterwards smoke was seeping out from your kitchen window.’ Because he’d been putting some tools on his truck at the time, he’d a clear view of her window, and her front door was on the side of the house like his. If what Dixons had said was true, whoever had started the fire, had lit it on the hob, and fuelled it with items from Maddy’s kitchen. It didn’t take long once a fire caught hold, and if accelerants had been used flames would lick at the cupboards and spread quickly.
‘Really? I know I didn’t leave the hob on … but a small part of me hoped it would be an accident, not arson.’
‘Smoke was escaping via the kitchen window. Fortunately, you’d left it slightly ajar—’
‘Yes, I usually leave it on the latch to let steam out while cooking, and it lets air in. It stops the house smelling stale.’
‘It’s how I caught the fire early. I could smell it. I’m sort of attuned to the scent you could say.’ Remembering the smell of Maddy’s house burning had sent the hairs up on the back of his arms and neck, setting off nightmares he hated reliving. He loathed the stench of burning now. It was why he could no longer be a fireman.
‘Maddy, does anyone else have a key to your property?’ Although evidence of any forced entry might well have been destroyed by the fire, and by the firemen gaining access to the house, it would complicate matters for the insurance company if they believed the fire to be deliberate. Maddy could lose everything if they thought she’d had anything to do with purposely causing the fire. He wouldn’t worry her with that bit of news yet, although she was probably well aware of this.
‘No.’ She frowned at him. ‘The police asked me the same thing. Connor used to.’
‘Who’s Connor?’
‘My ex-boyfriend …’ Maddy said. ‘But he gave the key back.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Yes. I did tell the police all this.’
‘He could have had another key cut without you knowing.’
‘No, he wouldn’t do such a thing. Why would he?’ Maddy frowned.
‘I don’t know. He’s your ex-boyfriend. I’ve never met him.’
‘We split up before you moved into the neighbourhood.’
Harry nodded. He certainly hadn’t recognised the man. ‘What does Connor look like?’
‘A controlling bastard.’
‘I need a bit more to go on than that.’
Maddy rolled her eyes. ‘Gosh, he’s about five-nine, brown hair.’
‘The guy I saw was wearing a baseball cap, with his head down so I couldn’t see his face.’ Harry grimaced but remembered one thing, though. ‘Does he smoke?’
‘Yes, yes he does. Much to my distaste.’
‘I did see the guy throw away a cigarette butt,’ Harry said, rubbing his chin. But this really wasn’t enough proof the man he’d seen was her ex-boyfriend. Lots of people smoked. Harry wished he’d taken a lot more notice of this guy. At the time it had seemed odd, but not important. He could have been delivering pamphlets, anything, so Harry had forgotten him and carried on with his own business. ‘Did he jointly own the house with you?’ There was no relevance to that question, only Harry was intrigued. But if he owned the house he could have a set of keys.
‘No – luckily. He had no money to invest in the property at the time, and deep down I think I knew our relationship wasn’t going anywhere. He lived with me, but it was my house.’
‘So … do you have anyone else who might wish you harm? Any enemies I should know about?’
‘No!’