Nothing but Trouble (22 page)

She shook her head. ‘God knows. I woke up and the whole place was on fire. Apparently the guy across the hall raised the alarm.’

A nurse, a small blonde girl, came over and looked up at Harry. ‘She’s lucky to be alive. I was talking to one of the crew
who brought her in, and they said that if it had been another five minutes—’

‘Well, it wasn’t,’ Jess interrupted swiftly. ‘And I’m fine. I didn’t even lose consciousness. The doctor says I’m okay, so
I may as well get off.’

‘What the doctor said was that he’d like to keep you under observation for twenty-four hours.’

‘There’s no point,’ Jess replied wearily. ‘I haven’t got any dizziness or nausea. And if I do start to feel ill I can always
come back. No offence, but all I want to do is get out of here.’

‘Well, you can’t leave like that,’ the nurse said, glancing down at Jess’s bare feet. ‘You can’t walk through the hospital
without any shoes on.’

Harry, who could see that Jess was adamant about leaving, flashed a smile at the nurse. ‘Perhaps you have a pair we could
borrow, just until she’s in the car, then I’ll bring them straight back.’

‘I’m not sure if—’

‘Five minutes,’ Harry said. ‘And I’ll take good care of her, I promise. Like she said, we can always come back if she starts
to feel unwell.’

The nurse put her hands on her hips and thought about it for a moment. Then, with the kind of sigh that suggested that she
wasn’t going to waste any further breath on trying to prevent the inevitable, she said, ‘Okay, if you’re absolutely sure.
Wait here and I’ll see what I can find.’

‘Thanks,’ Jess said to Harry as soon as the nurse had gone.

‘Are you sure you shouldn’t hang on for a while?’

She gave him a look. ‘Oh please, not you as well. I’m fine. Anyway, the NHS is supposed to be short of beds. They should be
glad to get rid of me.’

‘I don’t think it quite works like that. Still, if you’ve made up your mind …’

‘I have.’

Harry took off his jacket and passed it over to her. ‘Then you’d better put this on. It’s chilly outside.’

‘You’re a gent,’ she said, taking off the gown and shrugging on the jacket over the smoke-stained T-shirt.

After a couple of minutes the nurse returned with a pair of yellow plastic shower shoes. ‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘This was all
I could find.’

‘No problem,’ Jess said, quickly standing up and slipping her feet into them. ‘Thanks. I appreciate it.’

‘You can drop them off at the main desk,’ the nurse said to Harry. ‘There’s no need to come all the way back.’

‘Thanks for your help. I’ll do that.’

When they got to the car, Harry opened the passenger door for Jess and then switched on the engine and the heat before nipping
back through the main doors of the hospital. On his return he opened the boot and rummaged around in his sports bag until
he came up with a pair of white socks.

‘Here,’ he said, as he got in behind the wheel and handed the socks to her. ‘And don’t worry, they’re clean.’

‘Now you’re spoiling me,’ Jess said.

‘Yeah, that’s true, but I’m a sucker for a damsel in distress.’ He drove out of the car park and headed for the main road.
‘I’ll take you back to my place and you can get your head down for a few hours.’

‘I haven’t got time to sleep,’ she said. ‘There’s too much to do. I need to get to the bank, and call the insurance company.
I have to pick up my car and buy some new clothes and sort out a computer and …’ As the full impact of what she had lost began
to sink in, Jess leaned back and groaned. ‘Jesus, everything’s gone. I haven’t even got a phone.’

‘All of which we can sort out,’ Harry said. ‘After you’ve had a shower and a sleep. It’s still early. There’s nothing you
can do yet.’

Jess thought about this for a moment and then turned to look at him. ‘Are you trying to tell me I smell, Mr Lind?’

He admired her attempt at levity, even if the lightness didn’t quite reach her eyes. ‘Eau de Smoke,’ he said. ‘Personally,
I find it very appealing, but I’m not sure if it would be to everyone’s taste.’

‘You certainly know how to make a girl feel better when she’s just lost all her worldly possessions.’

‘I pride myself on it.’ Harry gave her a wry smile. ‘Look, all
that really matters is that you’re alive. All that other business … well, they’re just things, and most of them can be replaced.
I can help you with that. It’s just practical stuff. From what that nurse was saying, you’re lucky to still be with us.’

‘I think she may have been exaggerating.’

‘Do you?’

Jess gave a light shrug. ‘Always look on the bright side, right?’

‘I wasn’t being dismissive,’ he said. ‘I know it must be a complete nightmare. But it could have been a damn sight worse.
All I’m trying to say in my cack-handed way is that you
can
deal with this.’

‘Let’s hope so,’ she said softly.

She was quiet for a while, and Harry left her to her thoughts. The traffic was light, and it wasn’t long before they were
approaching Kellston. When they reached the high street, he glanced at her and asked, ‘So, have you any idea how it happened?’

‘Not a clue. Like I said, I woke up and the flat was on fire.’ She paused, and when she spoke again her voice wavered a little.
‘I … I tried to get the window open but it wouldn’t budge. There’s a grille across it and that was locked and I couldn’t remember
where I’d put the key. Then I tried to break the glass with a chair leg but it wouldn’t break and by then the smoke was pouring
into the bedroom.’ She ran her fingers through her hair and groaned. ‘I still don’t understand why the window wouldn’t open.
That
wasn’t locked. I thought I could at least yell for help, try and raise the alarm, but …’

‘Try not to think about it too much.’

Jess shuddered, huddling into the corner of her seat. She was silent again for a while, then she said, very softly, ‘Do you
think it could have been deliberate?’

Until this moment the thought hadn’t even crossed Harry’s mind. ‘What makes you say that? It could have been anything,
faulty electrics, something that was left on. You can’t even be sure that it started in your flat.’

Her eyebrows shifted up a disbelieving fraction. ‘I suppose.’

He suddenly knew what she was thinking: that Lynda Choi was dead, that David Choi and Sam Kendall had both been threatened
– and that she had been next on the list. ‘There’ll be an investigation. Let’s wait until we see the results before we go
jumping to any conclusions.’

It was raining hard by the time Harry got back to Station Road. He pulled in by the newsagent’s, turned off the engine and
gazed out through the windscreen. Dawn had properly broken by now, but the sky remained dark and gloomy, laden with thick
plum-coloured clouds. Although it was still early, there were more people around than when he’d left. Most of them were walking
quickly with their shoulders hunched and their umbrellas raised above their heads.

‘So much for spring.’ Harry glanced down at Jess’s feet. ‘Will you be okay without any shoes? I’ve got some trainers in the
boot. They’ll be kind of big for you, but at least they’ll keep you dry.’

She unclipped her seat belt and shook her head. ‘It’s okay. I’ll be fine.’

He could hear the tiredness in her voice and knew that she just wanted to get inside, to be somewhere safe and secure where
she could order her thoughts and work out what to do next. He wished that he could think of something reassuring to say, something
that might help, but nothing came to mind.

They got out of the car and ran for it, splashing through the puddles that had gathered on the uneven pavement. Harry slipped
the key into the lock, opened the door and stood aside to let Jess in. As they climbed the stairs he said, ‘The place is a
bit of a mess, I’m afraid. I’m in the middle of decorating.’

‘I wouldn’t worry,’ she replied drily. ‘It can’t look any worse than mine.’

A couple of minutes later they were inside the flat. The furniture was still covered with dust sheets and the distinctive
smell of paint lingered in the air. He dragged the sheet off the leather sofa and flung it into a corner. ‘Grab a seat,’ he
said. ‘I’ll put the kettle on.’ As he went through to the kitchen, he pondered on why the typically British response to any
crisis was to make a cup of tea. Was it a subconscious desire to maintain an air of normality, or simply the need to be
doing
something?

While the water was boiling he nipped into the bedroom and took his dark blue towelling dressing gown off the peg.

‘This isn’t a bad space,’ Jess said as he came back into the living room. She’d forgone the offer of the sofa and was sitting
by the window with her elbows on the table and her chin cupped in her hands. ‘It’ll look good when it’s finished.’

Harry glanced around, wondering how he’d ever find the time. ‘
When
being the operative word.’ He gave her the dressing gown. ‘Here, put this on. It’ll keep you warm.’

‘Thanks,’ she said. ‘And for the loan of this,’ she added, taking off his jacket and handing it back to him.

‘You’d better take off those socks too. They must be soaked.’

Jess peeled off the wet socks, holding them up with the tips of her fingers. ‘I’ll give them a wash later.’

‘That’s okay. I’ll sling them in the machine.’ He took the socks through to the kitchen, dropped them in the wash basket and
then made the tea. He carried the two mugs back into the living room and sat down opposite her. ‘Are you hungry? I could make
some breakfast, eggs, toast?’

‘No thanks. I’m not hungry.’

‘Well, help yourself when you get up. There’s plenty of food in the fridge.’

‘Okay,’ she said. She took a quick sip of tea, her grey eyes gazing solemnly at him over the rim of the mug. ‘And don’t worry,
I won’t be in your hair for long. I’m sure the last thing you need is an unexpected house guest. I’ll get something else sorted
by the end of the day. I’m sure I can find a sofa to kip on, or I can always book into a hotel until Neil gets back.’

‘Don’t be crazy,’ he said. ‘You’re more than welcome to stay as long as you need. I’ve got a spare room going begging. Why
waste money on hotels?’ He was about to add that she would need every penny she had at the moment, but wisely held his tongue.
That fact, he was sure, was something she didn’t need reminding of. Instead he said, ‘That’s if you can stand the colour scheme.
It’s not what you’d call restful.’

Jess hesitated, her hands clamped tightly around the mug. ‘I don’t want to impose.’

‘You won’t be,’ he insisted. ‘I’m hardly here anyway. I spend most of my time either downstairs in the office or out on the
road. And I’m on surveillance all this week, the late shift over at the Locke place, so you’ll even have the place to yourself
in the evenings.’

‘How’s that going?’ she asked. ‘Have you observed any frolicking yet?’

Harry smiled. ‘No frolicking to date, but it’s early days. I’m going to Selene’s tomorrow. Why don’t you come with me?’ He
thought it might be a distraction for her, a temporary escape from all her troubles.

‘Maybe. I’ll see how things go.’

‘Well, the offer’s open if you fancy a night out. I might even throw in some chips. That’s the casino rather than the potato
kind.’

Jess put her mug to one side, most of the tea still remaining. ‘And is that offer of a shower still open too?’

‘Of course it is. There’s plenty of hot water and you’ll find
clean towels in the cupboard. And there’s a new toothbrush in the cabinet.’ He gestured towards the hallway. ‘The bathroom’s
second on the left and the spare room is next door. Try and get a few hours’ sleep after. You’ve got a lot to do, and you’ll
do it better if you’re not dog tired.’

Jess rose slowly to her feet as if every movement was an effort. Her eyelids looked droopingly heavy. ‘Thanks again,’ she
said. ‘You’re a mate.’

While Jess was in the shower, Harry went through to the spare room and made up the bed. He put a fresh sheet over the bare
mattress and threw on a duvet and a couple of pillows. The room was small but clean, and sparsely furnished with a single
bed, a chest of drawers and a bedside table. The sunshine-yellow walls – reminiscent of the plastic shoes from the hospital
– were overly bright, but didn’t seem quite as startling once the curtains were pulled across and the lamp was turned on.
Finally, realising that she would need something to sleep in, he dug out one of his T-shirts and left it on the bed.

Returning to the living room, Harry picked up a notepad and pen and pulled out a chair at the table. If he was going to keep
his word about helping her, there were things to be done and lists to be made. He scribbled
car, phone, laptop, clothes, cash
before pausing to look out of the window. The rain was still bucketing down, the water streaming along the gutters of Station
Road. He thought of Jess trying to smash the window in her own flat, of the fear she must have felt, the gut-wrenching panic.
And he remembered the question she had asked about whether the fire could have been arson. He had been cautious in his response,
not wanting to add to her anxiety. But what if her suspicions were spot on?

He tapped the end of the pen lightly against his teeth. It was already clear that her intended article about the Minnie Bright
case had ruffled some feathers. People weren’t happy, they
weren’t happy at all. Threats had been made, anonymous messages sent, damage inflicted. Maybe someone had decided to sort
out the problem once and for all, to go straight for the roots instead of the branches. He didn’t want to believe it, and
yet he couldn’t dismiss it. His forehead crunched into a frown. It was not beyond the bounds of possibility that someone
had
tried to shut her up for ever.

Connolly’s is warm and steamy, smelling of fried bacon, coffee and damp coats. He’s certain now that he has no tail, but while
he waits at the counter, he remains alert to everyone who walks in through the door. There is no such thing as being too careful.
He asks for a mug of tea and chooses a table near the wall. All the window seats are taken, but there is nothing to see anyway.
The rain is falling hard, thrashing against the panes, and the view of the street is obscured.