LITMIR.BIZ

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6

      ‘I’m popping over to Truro today,’ Harry said, placing a toasted cinnamon bagel dripping with melted butter and honey in front of Maddy. ‘Why don’t you come with me?’

      After a sleepless night, worrying about who would want to set fire to her house, Maddy wondered if the distraction would be a good idea. ‘Yeah, might do.’ She licked the sweet honey on her fingers.

      ‘It’s not like you’re allowed back in your house yet.’ Harry sipped a coffee, having had his breakfast earlier. Apparently, Sookie had woken him up – again.

      ‘True.’ CSI wanted to come back this morning and finish off and had told Maddy she still couldn’t enter her house.

      ‘Come with me, and you can get some items you need to tide you over. A bit of retail therapy may do you good.’

      ‘I need to call my insurance company first. Get the ball rolling there.’ She’d held off yesterday, fearing she’d burst into tears down the telephone to some poor agent. Today she was stronger. Or at least she hoped she was.

      ‘Of course. I’m in no rush.’

      ‘And I’d better call Valerie, to update her.’

      ‘OK, I’ve got to pop out for a bit to see a customer I missed yesterday. I’ll be back in an hour.’ Harry grabbed his truck’s keys hanging off a hook in the kitchen by his back door.

      After finishing her breakfast, Maddy made a call to Valerie who reassured her the gallery would be fine. It didn’t stop Maddy pacing around the living room while she spoke.

      ‘I’ve organized for Josie to be in all day today, and over the weekend,’ Valerie said. ‘You must have so much to do, so don’t worry about the gallery, I will manage it. The summer holidays don’t start for a couple of weeks yet. You get yourself sorted.’

      ‘Thanks, Val.’

      ‘Are you sure you don’t want to stay here?’

      ‘I’ll see what Harry says. Thank you so much for the offer.’

      ‘I’m here if you need me, Maddy. Please don’t forget that,’ Valerie said. The sincerity in her voice choked Maddy. She really didn’t want to blub down the phone, though, otherwise Valerie really would worry. ‘But you can do this, my dear. This is only another of those obstacles that life likes to throw in your way.’

      ‘Just when I thought everything was going along smoothly.’

      ‘I’m afraid, as you get older, you soon learn life was never meant to be easy. I’m sure these things are sent to test us. To weed out the weak from the strong.’

      ‘Which am I?’ Maddy asked.

      ‘You’ll come out the stronger – if you’re anything like your mother.’ Valerie laughed, and Maddy found it contagious and giggled with her. Valerie always had a positive influence on her. ‘Let’s face it; life would be dull if it was all plain sailing.’

      Next, notepad and pen in hand with her insurance documents in front of her, Maddy took a deep breath and called her home insurance company. She tried not to get frustrated with the automated messages directing her to the right department. ‘All I want to do is talk to a human being!’ she said to the automated voice, tapping the end of her pen against the pad.

      When she finally spoke to someone, some ten minutes later due to the high volume of calls – how many other people had had house fires, for God’s sake? – she found them extremely helpful, putting her mind at rest. They asked a lot of questions, possibly more because she’d confessed the police were involved, providing their details. They couldn’t arrange for a Loss Adjuster to inspect the damage until they’d received the reports from CID. Maddy put the phone down feeling a little less stressed – but it still meant she couldn’t really do anything with the house until sometime next week. Today was Friday.

      They’d asked her if she had somewhere to stay or if she would need rented accommodation. However, because of the situation, and the company needing to ensure she wasn’t the one who’d caused the house fire, she was made aware they would have to recover payments from the policyholder – i.e. her – if found negligent for starting the fire or allowing someone else to start it.

      The insurance company offered to put her up in Bodmin, and although it wasn’t far away, Maddy thought it too far for her. ‘I think I’m okay, I can stay with a friend, but I’ll call back if I need further assistance,’ she said. Worst case scenario, she could sleep at the gallery. The insurance company had said they paid a daily accommodation rate, so even if she stayed with a friend, she could give them compensation.

      Once the insurance company received the police and fire reports, they would be able to send out a Loss Adjuster, and the ball could get rolling in getting her back into her house. But this all depended on the police reports. Clearly, if they believed she’d set fire to her own house, the insurance company wouldn’t pay out.

      Harry was still out, so Maddy busied herself with the dishes in his kitchen, clearing away the breakfast things. She was generally a tidy person, and it appeared Harry was meticulous, too – which wasn’t a bad trait in a man – so she liked to keep everything straight, as if she wasn’t even here. She decided to let Sookie out who had been sitting by the front door and meowing noisily. She’d been looking very unimpressed at being stuck in Harry’s house yesterday. Maddy knew she liked to be outside if the sun was shining. She had a favourite place in the garden underneath a rose bush, where she would pretty much sleep all day. With her backdoor firmly sealed, Sookie couldn’t get into Maddy’s house and she would soon find her by the front or back door of her house when it was feeding time.

      ***

      When he returned, Harry found Maddy in her back garden, her strawberry-blonde hair tied back in a ponytail, swishing as her head moved. She stood in the sunshine, an easel before her, with a metal plate in one hand covered with blobs of different shades of blue paints, staring at a canvas.

      ‘Everything okay?’ he said, standing beside her and admiring her preliminary sketch for a new painting – the ocean and waves crashing against rocks. He recognised the beach as Tinners Bay.

      Maddy nodded, chewing on the end of the paintbrush. Once she’d removed it, she said, ‘As I wasn’t allowed in the house this morning, I thought I’d come out here and start on this painting. I don’t feel so bad not being at the gallery and at least I feel like I’m doing some work.’

      ‘It looks like they’ve gone now.’ There were no more vehicles parked in Annadale Close outside Maddy’s house.

      ‘Yes, yes, they handed my keys back about half an hour ago and said I’m allowed back in now. The first thing I did was grab some more washing.’ Maddy laughed. ‘Sad, aren’t I?’

      ‘Not at all, more like practical. What did the insurance company say?’

      ‘They can’t send a Loss Adjuster out until they’ve received the reports, but they can put me up in rented accommodation in Bodmin.’

      ‘Nonsense, you can still stay at mine,’ Harry said, before thinking through the implications. It would mean a few more nights on the sofa. But he knew it made sense. Maddy could keep an eye on her house this way. The sofa wouldn’t kill him.

       And he could keep an eye on Maddy.

       Where did that thought come from?

      ‘Are you sure?’ She looked up at him, squinting as the sun shone behind him. She raised her hand holding the brush to block the sun, but it didn’t stop the light brightening her green eyes, drawing Harry to her gaze. Their eyes locked briefly until suddenly, a scratching sound came from the fence and they both looked in the direction of the scrambling noise. Sookie’s head appeared, then she swiftly jumped over the garden fence and trotted over, weaving around their legs, purring. Maddy stroked her. ‘It would make it easier for Sookie, too. Less of an upheaval.’

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