Chapter 14 #2
He headed for the barn first, ignoring the relief filling him that he was running away from danger. He was helping here as well. As he ran he spotted Chelsea dragging another hose from the other side of the house.
Shit. He couldn’t let her close to the flames. He had to move fast. Get between her and the danger.
He pushed himself harder.
This was no accidental fire. They’d done nothing on that side of the garden today and as far as he knew, there was nothing over there that would spontaneously combust.
He should have kept watch again instead of falling asleep in Chelsea’s arms.
He unlocked the barn’s combination lock and ran to the reticulation panel. The first five stations were on the public side of the garden and he switched on the station between the fire and the house. It would then cycle to the station closest to the house.
He took two seconds to relock the barn in case the arsonist was still around, then headed for the garden shed.
He swung both doors wide, relieved he’d serviced the equipment already. The mower started first go, and he drove it down the path, through the gap in the hedges and towards the flames.
It might have been years since he’d last mowed the lawn at Lilydale, but the shape of the garden was imprinted in his memory.
He lowered the blades and cut a straight swathe through the long grass, the flames racing closer.
Across the garden, several trees were engulfed, including a couple of eucalyptus.
He hoped they didn’t explode.
But at least some sprinklers had come on, spreading water across the garden.
Ethan steered as close as he dared to the front of the flames, coughing at the smoke, keeping his face turned away from the flames, and then did another pass, and another, each one giving Barry and Chelsea a layer of protection.
Finally he heard the wail of the fire engine as he finished cutting the grass he could reach. Barry had found a shovel from somewhere and was digging a trench through the freshly mowed grass, so there was no fuel for the fire and Chelsea was fighting to keep the flames from the house.
The engine parked close to the house and within minutes was connected, and a deluge of water was drenching the flames.
Ethan parked the mower out of the way and ran back to Chelsea. Tears welled in her eyes, but it could have been because of the smoke, or because the garden was burning.
Already the fire-fighters had doused the leading edge where it had been creeping along the trench they had cut, stopping it from getting any closer to the house.
However the Japanese pagoda was engulfed in flames and he couldn’t see how close the fire had got to the Sydney Harbour Bridge replica.
“The fire-fighters have this side.” He took the hose from her hands. “We can check the other side.”
Chelsea nodded and he turned off the hose, coiling it, and together they moved back to the hose he’d originally been using. Further around the garden, Barry was still digging a trench to stop the blaze from spreading to the north.
Every instinct in Ethan screamed at him to get Chelsea out of there. “Come on, you can wait on the road by the fire truck.” He grabbed her arm, but she shook it loose.
“I’m not leaving.”
Again his chest tightened and his hands shook, but he recognised her determination.
Where was the safest place for her? Ethan pointed towards Barry.
“Fine. Drag the hose over there.” He turned it on and helped her pull the hose through the remaining long grass to the other edge of the fire. “Have you got it?”
She nodded again.
He didn’t like her silence. He gave her a quick hug. “It will be all right, Chelsea. We’ll stop it.”
Her exhale was shaky, but she glanced at him. “I know.”
Good. “I’ll get another shovel and help Barry.” He jogged back to the garden shed, his eyes adjusting to the darkness after the glow of the fire. It was impossible to spot anyone who might be watching their efforts.
When it grew light, he’d call Josh and ask if he’d had any luck with the fingerprints or discovering whether Darren or Johann had alibis.
And then he’d invite Dobby and his team down for the weekend. They would set up watch to make sure nothing happened tomorrow night.
The doors of the shed were still wide open, and he grabbed a shovel and hoe and returned to the fire. From the north side, he spotted the fast attack vehicle on the western boundary, spraying the flames, stopping them from spreading across the road to neighbouring houses.
People had come out of their houses to watch the spectacle. Some had found tools of their own and had joined Barry digging the trench, while others had garden hoses that stretched just far enough across the road to wet down the vegetation that hadn’t burnt yet.
Ethan was thankful it was a still night. The smoke hung around, but at least the fire wasn’t being fed by the wind.
He dug until the anxiety faded, his muscles burned and the break reached the road before he stopped. The flames were lower now, not as intense, and the glow on the horizon was the sun waking.
No trees or structures burned, and the grass was blackened and smoking, with just patches still alight.
The fire-fighters had the blaze under control.
He moved back to the house, searching for Chelsea.
Barry stood back against the hedge watching the final flames being doused, and Chelsea was talking to a firefighter who was about their age.
He joined her and slipped a hand around her waist. She leaned into him.
“Zach found the source of ignition,” Chelsea said. “There’s accelerant. It was deliberately lit.”
Though he’d guessed that was the case, anger rushed into him. “Have you called the police?”
Zach nodded, removing his helmet and wiping the sweat from his forehead. “Josh will be here soon. I was telling Chelsea we should be done in about half an hour. I’ll leave a team here to monitor for an hour or so, in case something flares up.”
“Can I get your men something to drink or eat?” Chelsea asked.
Zach smiled. “We’re all good. Always bring plenty of water with us. Why don’t you go inside and rest, and I’ll let Josh know where you are when he arrives?”
Chelsea looked dead on her feet. “Good idea,” Ethan said.
He led her back to the house, stopping to speak to Barry. “Thanks for your help. Why don’t you clean up and then come get some coffee at the house?”
“Coffee sounds amazing. Then we can see if there’s anything left for me to work with.”
They turned back to the blackened mess of the garden. There were undamaged patches but it still wasn’t bright enough to see everything.
“Come on.” Ethan nudged Chelsea and they returned to the house. They both smelled of smoke. “Shower first.”
Chelsea moved where he led her, her gaze dim. “You OK, Chels?”
She shook her head. “Do you think Johann or Darren did this?”
“Unless you’ve got any other enemies we don’t know about, I think there’s a good chance it was one or both of them.”
“Why would anyone be so greedy?”
It wasn’t a question he could answer, so he directed her into the bathroom and helped her out of the T-shirt and pants she’d thrown on with no underwear. His body responded, but he ignored it as he turned on the water to the right temperature.
He undressed and then pulled her in with him, lathering her with soap and massaging her shoulders. “We’ll find who did this, Chelsea.”
“What are they going to try next?”
“I don’t know.” But he appreciated the fact she realised they wouldn’t stop. “I’ll invite my team down to help me keep an eye on things.”
“I can’t ask them to give up their weekend.”
“You’re not asking, I am. They’ll be more than happy to help.
” He poured shampoo into her hair and lathered it, taking the time to massage her scalp before letting her rinse while he washed his own.
Then he added the conditioner to her hair to soak in and turned her to face him.
“I’ve got this, Chelsea. I won’t let them destroy Lilydale. ” He kissed her.
“I’m scared,” she said. “If you hadn’t woken, the house might have caught fire.”
He was well aware of that, but he kept his words light. “Special forces, remember? We sleep light.”
A ghost of a smile flickered across her lips and he kissed them. “Soak for as long as you need, Chelsea. I’ll make coffee and wait for Josh.”
She grabbed his hand before he could leave the shower. “Thank you, Ethan.”
He kissed her hand, keeping his anger from his face. “You’re welcome. I’ll see you downstairs.”
He dressed in his room, letting the fury at what could have happened flow through him, and picked up his phone. Dobby answered on the first ring. “What’s wrong?”
“I need your help.”
“Where and when?”
Ethan smiled. Whoever was terrorising Lilydale was in for a big surprise.