Meet Me at Wisteria Cottage. Teresa Morgan F.
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be something suspicious, and Collins had pretty much confirmed it, too – but maybe Harry shouldn’t worry Maddy with that detail yet? She was going to find it hard to sleep as it was. ‘But at least you’re on site so you can talk to them tomorrow.’
‘I hope I don’t get burgled now. That would be just my luck.’
‘There’s a police car parked outside. They’ll watch the house all night.’ Did he confess to her tonight that they were treating it like a crime scene?
‘Really, they do that?’
‘Yeah, sometimes.’ Harry’s guilt increased. But Maddy would need to try and sleep. She’d been through enough this evening.
Maddy took another gulp of her drink. ‘Thank you, you’ve been really kind. I’m sorry I was such a mess earlier. I’m not usually violent.’
‘I might have a few bruises to show for my heroic actions.’
‘I am so sorry.’ Maddy wouldn’t meet his eye, and silence fell between them. As if on cue, Sookie emerged from the kitchen licking her lips. Tail raised, she trotted over to Maddy, who timidly smiled and stroked the top of her head.
‘Do you feel better now, girl?’ Maddy cooed. The cat jumped into her lap, and whilst purring, licked her paws and then set about routinely cleaning herself. Maddy sat back a little deeper into Harry’s sofa and looked almost comfortable.
‘Well, at least you know your cat is safe,’ Harry said, finding it hard to know what to say. The woman’s house had been set on fire – possibly deliberately. He started thinking about how much damage smoke could do. He wouldn’t worry Maddy unnecessarily. No point until they knew what they were facing. No one had died, so that was always a positive in his line of work — when it had been his line of work, that is. Now he only had to worry about plants dying. But lifting Maddy into that carry had given him a buzz. Seeing the action unfold as the fire engines had arrived, sirens blaring, blue lights flashing; a part of him missed his firefighting days, missed the adrenalin rush. However, he knew he was no good to his colleagues in the field. One bad day, and he’d freeze, flashbacks would paralyse him, and he’d be no good to anyone. In fact, he’d be a danger to himself and others.
Karin’s death would always haunt him.
Maddy glanced at her watch. It was nearly eleven. The night’s events were closing in on her, fogging her brain and making her eyes heavy. She yawned, and sipped her third large vodka. The heat from the spirit sent warmth from the back of her throat down to her stomach. Harry had insisted on another drink.
‘It’ll help you sleep,’ he’d said as he’d poured it out for her.
It probably would, that’s why she was feeling tired, because she felt drunk. Not hammered and out of control drunk but the giggly, light boned-feeling drunk – if only she felt giggly. Far from it. In fact, if she weren’t careful she would burst into tears. She wouldn’t stop worrying until she knew the extent of the damage to her house, and to her paintings. The house could be redecorated – although the thought of the task plagued her with worry – but the paintings were her income. It was a large commission and she didn’t want to screw it up by delivering it late. She wouldn’t have time to repaint the two pieces she was supplying – they’d taken a month to complete. They were ready and framed, due to be delivered this weekend, in time for the opening of a new restaurant in Padstow. The owner had asked for a couple of pieces and was happy to pay generously. She hadn’t refused. If they were damaged, there would be no way she’d have them ready by the weekend.
‘I’m sorry, Harry, my head is a mess.’
‘Hey, it’s totally understandable. Only this morning you were cursing me, so it probably feels a bit strange to be sitting in my house right now.’
‘Well, you still have a monstrous truck.’ Maddy looked at him, smiling to show she was teasing and he gave a hearty chuckle. Then Maddy yawned again, just about getting her hand to her mouth remembering her manners. Not attractive.
‘I think it’s time we went to bed,’ Harry said, standing up.
Maddy’s heart raced. Did he think she was going to sleep with him? He must have caught her worried expression because he took her empty glass out of her hand and laughed. ‘Don’t panic, you can have my bed, and I’ll kip on the sofa tonight.’
‘You don’t have a spare room?’
‘No, not yet.’
‘Oh, I thought when you said I could stay I assumed you had a spare bedroom.’ He did have a three-bedroom house exactly like hers.
‘One’s a gym and the other is the dumping ground for all my crap. I’ll eventually get around to clearing it out. You know what it’s like when you move house, takes a while to empty all the boxes.’
Maddy smiled wanly at him. ‘Yes, I remember. I still have boxes in my garage I haven’t opened yet,’ she said, her voice still hoarse from her hysterics earlier. ‘I’ve been in my house barely over a year.’ She started to cry, silent tears.
‘Don’t cry,’ Harry approached Maddy, ‘it’ll be all right, you’ll see. I think most of the damage was in the kitchen.’ His strong hand squeezed her shoulder, sending an unexpected ripple of delight through her body. She felt safe. She caught his scent; a mixture of a day’s work and a spicy Lynx deodorant. It wasn’t unpleasant. ‘Maybe we should hit the sack. It’s been a long day.’
Maddy nodded at him.
‘Come upstairs, and I’ll show you where everything is.’
Exhausted emotionally and physically, Maddy was relieved to follow Harry up the stairs. Whether she would sleep would be another thing, but she knew she needed to lie down. He gestured towards the bathroom which was the first door on the right, at the top of the stairs. Of course she knew this, it was her house, only decorated differently.
‘I haven’t had a chance to decorate yet,’ Harry said, as if reading her mind. The bathroom was very pink and floral, reminding her of the old couple who had lived in the house previously.
Maybe the tiredness made her smirk. ‘At least the suite is white, so it’s a case of just a lick of paint.’
‘And changing those hideous tiles,’ Harry said, shuddering.
Maddy giggled briefly. ‘Oh, I thought the flowers were so you.’
‘What with being a landscape gardener?’
‘Absolutely.’
Harry gave her a speculative look, as if appreciating her teasing, and opened the bathroom cabinet above the sink. ‘I think I have a new toothbrush in here. Hope you can cope with it being blue.’
‘Blue’s fine. Might have been a different story if I was eight.’ Maddy’s eyes widened as she stared inside the cabinet. ‘Wow. There’s enough drugs in there to open a pharmacy.’ Too late – she’d opened her mouth and said the first thing that had entered her head.
Harry slammed the door shut. ‘Here you go.’ He handed Maddy the new toothbrush still in its packaging.
She gulped and started fiddling with the toothbrush packaging. It was none of her business why he had so many tablets hoarded away, although if he was a complete psychopath, and she was staying under his roof for one night, maybe she needed to know. Was she safe? Now you are being overdramatic. He probably has a very good reason for the tablets. Maddy struggled with the packaging trying to take out the toothbrush, which was an impossible task even when sober. The perforated card would never tear.
Ignoring Maddy’s comment about the prescribed drugs in his cabinet, Harry took the toothbrush and ripped it out from the plastic wrapper with ease.
‘Sorry,