LITMIR.BIZ

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Miss …?’ Dixons turned his attention to Maddy after acknowledging the other man.

      ‘Hart,’ Maddy said, blushing with embarrassment, remembering her hysterical actions the night before. ‘And I’m so sorry for being a pain last night.’

      ‘Think nothing of it. Your house was on fire. Most people don’t react too well to that, miss. Our boys take it all in a day’s work.’ When he smiled, creases around his eyes gathered. It was hard to tell his hair colouring under his white helmet, but his clean-shaven face was attractive enough. Age-wise, he had to be mid-forties, Maddy guessed. ‘This is Gary. He’s our fire investigation officer. He’s here to put a report together.’ Gary said a hello, tucking the clipboard under his arm and headed towards the back of Maddy’s house with a couple of the fire crew.

      ‘Can I see the damage?’ Maddy asked, wringing her hands and glancing over Dixons’ shoulder, watching the men enter her house.

      ‘Yes, but I need to let Gary take a look first with CSI – Crime Scene Investigation.’

      Maddy knew what it stood for. Sounded like the American TV show … was her house fire turning into a TV show? It all felt very surreal. And why were they treating it like a crime scene?

      To add to the dream – or Maddy’s worst nightmare –three vehicles pulled up, a dark Ford Focus and two vans with detailing down the side ‘Scientific Investigations’ and more men and women got out. The people who got out of the car were smartly dressed in suits. The people who emerged from the vans were dressed as police officers with black combat trousers and blue polo shirts with epaulettes and ‘FORENSICS’ printed on their back. They started to don red protective overalls and hard hats from the back of the vans. The narrow, quiet, and usually sleepy Annadale Close was full of people again. The small close felt even smaller crammed with vehicles. Neighbours twitched curtains or opened their front doors pretending to put their cat out. Maddy wanted to be whisked off by the wind, Mary Poppins’ style, and returned firmly back on her feet, once this was all over.

      Harry came out of his house with a tray of mugs, steam rising from them. He’d done the tea run. He handed Maddy the first mug. ‘I made you a fresh cup of coffee.’ His smile was so gentle and caring for a man she didn’t really know. Then, clearly noticing she needed some reassurance, he said, ‘Don’t worry, this is usual procedure when the fire looks suspect.’

      ‘Thank you,’ she said, taking the mug from him. ‘But why is it suspicious?’

      Harry shrugged and continued to give out the mugs of tea and coffee. Did he know more than he was letting on?

      Maddy remained static, frozen on the spot, whilst the world continued to spin, and she observed everything going on around her. As the team in red overalls dusted her front door for fingerprints, another took photos. Fire officers worked around the back of her house, securing her back door and kitchen window. Some of the plain clothed officers were knocking on doors, with notepads in hand. It looked like they were taking statements from neighbours.

       What will they all think? At least Harry was one of them. He could calm the neighbourhood gossip.

      ‘Hi, I’m Rachel,’ a woman in red overalls approached Maddy, shaking her out of her reverie as she stood motionless letting the earth rotate. ‘Are you the house owner?’

      ‘Y-yes.’

      ‘I need to take your fingerprints for elimination.’ Rachel waved a kit at Maddy. ‘Is there somewhere we can go?’

      ‘Yes, sure.’ Maddy gestured towards Harry’s house.

      In Harry’s dining room table, Rachel unrolled an A4 piece of paper and took Maddy’s prints using pre-inked flimsy plastic strips. Rolling each finger and thumb into its designated space, then turning the page over, she took a print of Maddy’s palms, too.

       I feel like a convict.

      Rachel left Maddy to scrub the inky mess off her hands. It was stubborn and took three attempts with washing-up liquid leaving her hands red and her skin feeling dry. She kept telling herself this was all procedure and she had nothing to worry about. However, she couldn’t help feeling confused by the whole situation. She’d expected to just be let into her house to assess the damage with the crew. Not be fingerprinted by forensics!

      Maddy shut Harry’s front door and joined the throng in the close once more, not exactly sure what she could do to help. She’d never felt so useless. She was met by two smartly dressed, plain-clothed officers, one female and the other male.

      ‘Miss Hart?’ said the male officer, flashing his badge – God, it really was like something out of Life On Mars, only without the flares. Would a gold Ford Granada appear and wake her from this nightmare? She’d only been watching some old episodes a couple of nights ago … was this her subconscious?

      If only she could wake and find out this was all a dream.

      ‘Yes. That’s me.’ Maddy’s heart chilled, goosebumps travelling down her arms. No, this was real. The sun was already warm; there was still the smell of old bonfires in the air.

      ‘I’m DC Adams, this is DC Stone, we’ve been asked to investigate the fire at your property. Is there somewhere we could go to ask you some questions?’ Both officers looked a similar age to Maddy, in their late twenties, yet their presence intimidated her, whether intentional or not. She hadn’t done anything wrong, yet guilt, dread and anxiety washed through her.

       I haven’t done anything wrong.

      ‘Officers, you can use my house.’ Harry had come along yet again to Maddy’s rescue.

      ‘Yes, yes, I’ll lead the way,’ Maddy said.

      She crossed the road, and welcomed them into Harry’s house offering teas and coffees. The three of them sat in Harry’s lounge, one making notes while the other officer talked. They asked what time she’d left the house, where she’d been all day, did she have a witness? Why did Maddy feel like a criminal? She had nothing to hide.

      ‘I didn’t do this!’ she blurted, unable to hold in her tears. Her chest had tightened, rising to her throat. ‘Why would anyone want to burn down their own home?’ The female DC pulled a packet of tissues from her jacket pocket and handed one to Maddy.

      ‘It’s okay to be upset,’ she said, smiling tenderly.

      ‘Miss, we have to ask these questions as a matter of procedure. To rule you out as a suspect,’ said DC Adams. His expression was sympathetic towards Maddy, putting her at ease. ‘Our team are making enquiries with the neighbours to see if anyone saw anything. And we’ll speak to,’ he flicked through his notes, ‘Mr Tudor, too.’

      ‘Yes,’ Maddy nodded, wiping her tears and then her nose with the tissue, ‘Harry.’

      ‘Miss Hart, do you know of anyone who would wish you harm?’

      Maddy shook her head. ‘No.’ She tried hard to hold in her tears, taking a deep breath to steady her fear.

      ‘Does anyone else have a key to your property?’

      She shook her head again. ‘No.’

      ‘Have you always lived at the property on your own?’ DC Adams asked, always keeping eye contact with Maddy while DC Stone continued scribbling notes.

      ‘No, I used to live there with my boyfriend, Connor.’

      ‘Did he used to have a key?’ DC Stone looked up from her notepad. Both officers suddenly focussed intently on Maddy.

      ‘Yes … of course, but he gave it back.’ Maddy frowned. Would Connor do something like this to her? And if so, why?

      ‘Even so, we’ll need to follow this up.’

      More notes were made as the officers took more information from Maddy, everything she could give them on Connor, and also Valerie’s contact details, so she could verify Maddy had

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