Wishing on a Star Page 6

  Another thought suddenly occurred to her. She turned to her mother. ‘If the problem at work was so easily solved, how come you were away so long?’

  Her mother stared at her in surprise. ‘What do you mean, so long? I’ve only been gone half an hour. I think I should have bought you a new watch for Christmas. What time do you think it is?’

  Lauren hadn’t actually checked her watch before. She glanced at it now, staring in disbelief at the hands on the dial. For a moment she thought it had stopped. Then she saw the second hand moving regularly round the dial. No, it hadn’t stopped, and her mother was quite right. It had only been half an hour or so since her mother had left the house. But everything that had happened couldn’t have taken place in so short a time, surely? That was impossible.

  Slowly, reluctantly, mother and daughter began to walk down the street, towards where the engines had come to rest. They had only gone a few paces when another siren warned them of the approach of another emergency vehicle. Almost as soon as they heard it, a gaudily painted estate car, lights flashing, hurtled past. Its brake lights came on, and as it slowed, they had time to read the sign on the back. ‘Ambulance responder,’ Lauren’s mother said, ‘that’s bad news for someone. I hope we’re not going to have a repetition of last year’s tragedy.’

  Her sentiments were being echoed inside the vehicle. ‘I can’t believe we’re having a call out to another Christmas Eve fire so close to where the other one was,’ the paramedic who was driving told his passenger. ‘Makes you wonder if it’s the same sick bastard. I know what I’d do with him if I caught him.’

  Paula Morton remembered the story. ‘That was the mother and two children, wasn’t it? I heard about it at the planning meeting. Was that fire around here as well?’

  ‘A couple of streets away, Doc. I don’t think anyone involved in the operation had a happy Christmas last year. Perils of the job, I suppose.’

  They were slowing to a halt when Morton noticed the woman and girl walking alongside them. She wondered briefly if they might be neighbours, or even worse, if it was their house she and her colleague had been called to.

  Lauren and her mother followed in the wake of the car, their thoughts beginning to darken as they passed house after house. The fog lifted briefly, and Lauren’s mother glimpsed the vague shadows of the firemen. ‘Lauren! It’s our house. Look!’

  As the fog lifted a little more, the horrified pair saw firemen busy unreeling and deploying the hoses, while closer at hand, a police officer was setting up an exclusion zone using incident tape. He stepped into their path to prevent them getting any closer.

  ‘That’s our house!’ Lauren’s mother told him, her voice reflecting the panic both she and Lauren felt.

  ‘Hang on.’ He turned and shouted to one of the firemen. ‘Jim, householder is here.’

  The man who had been directing operations hurried over. ‘Is anyone inside the building?’ he asked.

  Prompted by her mother, Lauren responded. ‘There are three men in there.’

  ‘Are they all mobile?’

  Lauren was confused, thinking of phones, then she understood. ‘Yes, yes, they can all move about OK, although two of them could be drunk.’

  ‘What about entrances? Are they all clear?’

  ‘The front door is locked and bolted,’ Lauren added. ‘I heard the man lock and bolt it as I was leaving to meet my mum.’

  ‘And the back door won’t open,’ Lauren’s mother told him. ‘The wood’s warped and swollen from all the damp weather.’

  ‘It’ll open for us,’ he replied grimly. ‘Right, thanks.’ The fireman swung round and moved smartly away, issuing a volley of commands to two men already dressed in breathing apparatus. ‘You two, round the back. Take sledges and axes, you’ll need to break the door down.’ Almost as an afterthought, he looked back and asked Lauren, ‘Where were they? Whereabouts in the house?’

  ‘In the lounge. At least, that was where two of them were. The other one, he was in the hallway.’

  He pressed the button on his radio. ‘Concentrate on the lounge. Try and reach that if you can.’

  He hurried back to supervise the men who were nearly ready to begin playing jets of water onto the flames they could see through the window. They heard the sound of breaking glass and splintering wood as the back door was being assaulted.

  Moments later the chief’s radio crackled into life. ‘Chief, Chief, hang on. There is no fire!’

  ‘What do you mean? No fire? We can see the flames from here.’ He turned and looked back at the window – but the flames were gone. ‘What the hell is going on in there,’ he demanded.

  ‘I’m telling you, there’s no fire in this house.’ He continued with the grim message, ‘But we’ve found the two men in the lounge. We’re going to need the doc and paramedic in here. I think these two are goners. No sign of a third man. Tom’s checking the other rooms.’

  The chief signalled to two people standing by the responder vehicle who immediately approached him. One was dressed in the distinctive uniform of a paramedic. The other, a woman in an orange boiler suit and hi-vis jacket with ‘Doctor’ emblazoned across the back was carrying a small holdall.

  Lauren and her mother continued to watch and listen, as a new voice joined in, his words muffled slightly by the breathing apparatus he was wearing. ‘Tom here, I’ve checked everywhere, there’s definitely no fire inside the building and I can’t find the third man. No way he could have got out of the back, and the front door’s locked and bolted. Are you sure the kid wasn’t mistaken?’

  Lauren was adamant, even when the fire officer suggested her imagination was running riot. He had little time to press his questions, assuming the man had left before they arrived. He set off with the medical team for the interior of the house, to determine exactly what had happened.

  The firemen now without their breathing apparatus were standing in the kitchen. ‘Look, I’ve no idea what’s going on, any more than you. You can still smell the smoke,’ the first man said.

  ‘I know that, I’m not stupid. But where’s the seat of the fire? Even if it had burnt itself out, there would still be scorching. Besides, there were far too many flames for that.’

  The chief intervened. ‘There must be an explanation and our investigators will sort it out but in the meantime you can sweep up the mess you’ve made round that door.’

  The men shuffled off, still debating the lack of logic to anything they had witnessed.

  A third fireman entered the kitchen. ‘Doctor’s had a look at the two in the lounge. Both dead, I’m afraid. She wants to see you immediately.’

  In the lounge, Paula Morton told the chief, ‘These men did not die from any fire. Smell the air; you’ll barely get a whiff of smoke. So if fire didn’t kill them, something else did. I think we should categorize these as suspicious deaths, report this as a crime scene, and call the police in. The post-mortem will confirm cause of death, but I can guarantee it wasn’t fire or smoke inhalation.’

  She noticed the slight hesitation. ‘I’ll need to inform the pathologist anyway. I’ll make the calls, shall I?’

  Her first call was to Dr Austin, the pathologist. He was less than happy about having to turn out on Christmas Eve. Paula, who had been warned about him, knew this was largely for show. Having persuaded Austin to attend, she searched her contacts for Luke Sharp’s number and dialled it.

  ‘Luke, it’s Paula Morton. No, sorry, this is business. I’m at Castleton Street on the Normanton estate. House number is forty-seven. I think you should come out here. There’s been a supposed house fire – I’ll let the Fire Officer explain that one – but the two men who died weren’t victims of a fire. No, I don’t know the cause of death. It could be natural, but I doubt it. OK, see you soon.’

  When Luke Sharp arrived in Castleton Street one of the fire engines was leaving the scene. Paula Morton was standing close to the second engine, deep in conversation with a woman and teenage girl. Firemen were packing away their u
nused equipment.

  He parked up and walked over to greet the doctor. ‘Dr Morton, what’s all this about a supposed fire?’

  ‘Speak to the CFO, he’ll explain.’ She then introduced her companions. ‘This lady is the tenant of the house, and also partner of one of the deceased.’

  Sharp noted that the woman showed little sign of distress at her recent bereavement, but listened as Paula continued, ‘She was out when the incident happened. However, her daughter Lauren was in the house until shortly before the fire was reported.’

  She turned to the mother and daughter. ‘I’ll leave you with Detective Sergeant Sharp. He’ll need to ask you some questions, but don’t worry, he’s very nice.’

  ‘Before I do anything else I ought to take a look inside,’ Sharp said.

  ‘There is one thing you should be aware of: there are two bodies inside. However, Lauren is adamant that when she left, there was a third man there, someone she’d never seen before. There is some confusion here, as the fire officers cannot work out how he got out of the building.’ She didn’t add ‘if he was ever in there’; but left Sharp to work that out for himself. ‘Dr Austin is inside, and he’s not very happy.’

  ‘According to my colleagues he never is.’

  ‘Doc, we’re needed,’ the paramedic called out.

  ‘I’ve got to go,’ Paula said, and turned to leave. ‘However, I do want a word with you when I’m free.’

  ‘Thank you, Dr Morton. Just let me know when.’ He turned to Lauren and her mother. ‘We can’t leave you standing here, hang on a minute.’ He turned and waved to a constable who had been controlling traffic, what little there was in a side street. ‘Is that your car?’ he pointed down the street.

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  ‘In that case, please take these two ladies and sit them inside it out of the cold.’

  Lauren smiled at the thought she was a ‘lady’.

  Sharp continued, ‘I’ll be as quick as I can. Then we ought to see about finding you some accommodation.’

  He noted their look of surprise, and explained, ‘For the time being our forensic officers and those from the fire service will need to examine the property and determine exactly what’s happened.’

  He turned to go towards the house, where one of the firemen directed him to the rear of the building. ‘The front door’s locked and bolted like we found it. The chief wants it kept that way. Be careful going through the back door. We had to break it down to get in. Watch out for splinters and broken glass.’

  In the lounge, Austin was inspecting the corpses before they were moved into body bags for transport to the mortuary. He greeted Sharp with a grunt that might have been ‘hello’, but certainly wasn’t ‘Merry Christmas’.

  Sharp looked over Austin’s shoulder at one of the bodies. Although he was used to the results of sudden and violent death, he recoiled in shock. He had never seen an expression such as the one on the victim’s face. It was a look of pure terror. He glanced to his left, towards the other corpse, and was astonished to see a similar expression on the face of the second victim. What, he wondered, could have caused such fear, or was it some strange by-product of the way they’d died?

  ‘Any idea as to cause of death? Dr Morton isn’t satisfied that it’s due to fire,’ Sharp asked Austin.

  ‘What fire? You’ll have to wait for the post-mortem.’

  ‘When will that be?’

  ‘Tomorrow.’

  ‘What time?’

  ‘No idea, I won’t be doing it. The only body I intend to carve tomorrow will be the turkey my wife will attempt to cremate. There’s a roster of Home Office pathologists and the one on duty will carry out the post-mortem. When I take these two back to the mortuary I’ll contact the right person and get them to call you with a time.’

  Sharp turned to the chief fire officer, who seemed keen to talk to him. ‘This is a really weird going-on,’ the fireman said. ‘The girl who lives here swears there was a third man in the house, and that he let her out and locked up after she’d gone, but we can find no trace of him or how he got out. The front door is bolted, the back door was impassable, and all the windows are locked.’

  ‘Maybe one of the dead men let him out after she left?’

  The fireman stared at him. ‘Good Lord, I never thought of that. Do you think the girl might be responsible for any of this?’

  ‘No idea. Anything else I should know?’

  The chief hesitated. ‘When we arrived we could see the flames through the window here in this room and were sure the whole house was about to go up. I sent in two men to try and find the occupants before we turned the jets on, but when they got in this room there was no fire. They said there was a trace of smoke in here, but certainly not enough to cause those deaths. Added to which I’ve never seen fire victims look like those two,’ – he shivered – ‘and I hope I never do again. I’ve ordered an investigation team to check for the source of a fire, but whatever killed those two poor souls in there, I’m prepared to bet it wasn’t fire.’

  ‘Is this some sort of elaborate hoax, do you think?’

  ‘Has to be, I can’t see any other reason. There’s no damage to the property, by the way, which is another oddity. I can’t work out how such an apparently intense blaze, that we all saw through the window, might I add, didn’t flash through the house.’

  ‘I’ve also ordered a SOCO team here. Let’s hope between them, your scientists and ours come up with some answers. I’m off now. I want to get the tenant and her daughter out of the way before Austin’s men bring the bodies out.’

  He headed back to the police car and told the officer he would drive Lauren and her mother to the station. As he ushered them to his car he turned to Lauren’s mother. ‘We’ll make you a cup of tea, or whatever you want, then arrange somewhere for you to stay.’

  Back at the station Sharp asked the duty sergeant to contact social services and the council to search for temporary accommodation. ‘I suspect there’ll only be the duty officer available but do your best. If we can’t find anywhere else, we’re a bit stuck,’ he commented, ‘unless you’ve room down there.’ He pointed to the corridor leading to the cells.

  ‘You’re joking, aren’t you? I was already thinking of hanging a “no vacancies” sign on the front door.’

  At that moment the strains of a Christmas carol could be heard filtering along the corridor; the drunken rendition, completely out of tune.

  ‘Office worker,’ the sergeant said. ‘Finished work early,’ he added by way of explanation.

  ‘I wonder if he knows “Silent Night”?’ Luke said as he walked away.

  Sharp took Lauren and her mother to his office. ‘It’s more comfortable than downstairs, and you won’t be disturbed here.’ He got them both a cup of tea, apologising for the quality the vending machine produced. They hadn’t finished their drinks when the sergeant rang through. ‘I’ve got them accommodation. The Blacksmith’s Arms has a twin room; the council were useless so I used my initiative.’

  ‘Right, that’s great. I’ll take them there.’ He turned to Lauren’s mother. ‘You’ve had a nasty shock so I’ll get someone to take your statements later.’

  Having seen them safely installed, Sharp returned to his office and picked up the phone. ‘I need a female officer to pop round to the Castleton Street house with the tenant. She and her daughter need a change of clothing and there’s something to do with hidden presents. Yes, apparently it’s nearly Christmas,’ Luke laughed as he replaced the handset, muttering ‘Bah humbug’ under his breath.

  About half an hour later, Paula Morton arrived. She accepted the coffee Sharp offered her, and as she sipped it, told him what had been said as she waited outside the house for him to arrive. ‘Lauren told me about the man in the house. She said he seemed to have a hold over the others, as if he’d hypnotised them.’

  ‘Could that account for the look on their faces, perhaps?’ Luke shivered. ‘That was scary.’

  ‘I couldn’t sa
y. I’ve seen plenty of dead people before, but never looking like that. Perhaps this mystery man did hypnotise them. According to Lauren he made them confess to all sorts of things, and wanted Lauren as a witness.’

  ‘That sounds weird. Did she say what they confessed to?’

  Paula told him the details and Luke started at her in disbelief. Then she added, ‘If you think that’s weird, wait for the next bit. Lauren was upset, thinking that nobody would believe her. So I said “you’ll be fine. Just tell the truth”.’

  ‘That’s fair enough, nothing weird about it. Except this whole thing is weird.’

  ‘Hang on, I haven’t finished. Lauren said as she was leaving the house, “the strange man told me to give his apologies to Luke for all the trouble he was causing over Christmas”. Those were her exact words. I know for a fact she hadn’t heard your Christian name before.’

  ‘That really is weird. Perhaps Lauren’s story isn’t imagination after all.’

  ‘What will you do about it?’

  ‘I’m going to pull those case files and read them. It might give a clue as to who this mystery man is, if he exists. It’ll pass the time until the PM.’

  Sharp spent Christmas morning reading the files, and at around the time most people were beginning their Christmas dinner, he arrived at the mortuary, where the duty pathologist, a cheerful Scot who seemed glad to be away from the bosom of his family, carried out the twin procedures. He reported his findings to Sharp in the grim little office alongside the examination room. Sharp listened to him in disbelief. ‘Are you absolutely certain?’ he asked.