Chapter 15
Chelsea trudged down the stairs, her body heavy, head foggy. The shower had helped, but the stench of smoke was embedded in her nostrils and she only needed to glance outside to see the blackened remains of the garden.
Maybe it was a blessing in disguise. Perhaps the fire had killed the weeds and left her with garden beds ready for planting.
A fresh start.
Over the smell of smoke came another aroma, that of freshly made coffee, and warmth infused her as she spotted Ethan in the kitchen making coffee. Josh was already seated at the table dressed in his police uniform, drinking his first cup, and Barry was also there.
This wasn’t what he’d signed up for. “Thank you for your help, Barry.”
He glanced up. “No problem. It’s such a shame so much of the garden burned.”
“I won’t hold it against you if you would prefer to head straight back to Perth this morning.”
He straightened. “Are you kidding? It’s more of a challenge now. Ethan tells me this isn’t the first thing to go wrong. If I can highlight the issue, whoever is doing it might think twice.”
Chelsea felt a little of the tension dissipate. “Thank you.” She could do with the exposure for her Lilydale social media profiles.
Ethan handed her a mug of coffee and kissed her cheek. “Feeling any better?”
“A little.” She sat at the table and smiled at Josh. “Sorry for getting you out of bed so early.”
He grinned. “You provide the best coffee in town, so I’m not complaining.”
Chelsea pursed her lips. “Isn’t there a coffee shop?”
“The bakery sells coffee, but it’s terrible.”
She pulled out her phone and made a note to investigate having a coffee van come to the garden once a week when it was ready to open to the public.
Ethan sat next to her. “At the rate you’re going, this is going to be a never-ending project.”
She sighed. “If it ever gets off the ground.” They needed to catch who was doing this.
“Did you get any hits from the prints?” Ethan asked Josh.
“They matched Chelsea.” He gave an apologetic look. “Tell me what happened last night. Barry, why don’t you start?”
“Something woke me,” he said. “At first I thought it was a possum on the roof, but I saw a shadow go past the window.”
Ethan leaned forward. “Did you get a look?”
Barry shook his head. “By the time I pulled the curtain aside, whoever it was had gone. Then I noticed a flickering light in the garden. I realised it was flames, so I dressed and ran outside. That’s when I noticed you looking for the hose.”
Ethan nodded. “It wasn’t where it was supposed to be. Chelsea, did you move the one by the house?”
“No.”
So whoever had lit the fire had made sure they wouldn’t have easy access to a way of putting it out. Luckily because of the size of the garden, there were multiple taps and hoses.
Josh turned to her. “When did you wake?”
She gestured to Ethan. “He woke me.” Her face flushed as she remembered what they’d done last night.
“The smell of smoke woke me about four thirty,” Ethan said. “I peered out the window and saw the flames, told Chelsea to call the fire brigade and raced out there to fight the fire.”
“Did you see anyone?”
“No.”
Josh made some notes. “I’m going to look around and talk to the arson investigator. I’ll ask you to all stay in here until I’ve searched for footprints and any other evidence.”
Chelsea nodded. “Of course. Can I offer you breakfast before you go?”
He got to his feet. “The coffee’s enough for now.”
She walked him to the door and watched as he greeted a female officer who had arrived on the scene.
“It will take a couple of hours for the burnt ground to be cool enough for me to work there, so I’ll start near the cabins when Josh gives the all-clear,” Barry said.
“Thank you.” She sat back at the table as Ethan took eggs out of the fridge.
“Bacon and eggs for breakfast?”
“OK,” she replied, though she wasn’t hungry.
Someone was determined to destroy Lilydale and her chance at a new life.
She had to figure out how to stop them.
***
It was a couple of hours before Josh returned to the house. Chelsea lit candles to counteract the stench of smoke and spent the time scheduling posts for both the Honeybrook Fair and for Lilydale, as well as contacting media outlets to promote the fair, while Ethan chatted to Barry.
“The fire was started by petrol.” Josh sighed. “Any traces of the person have been burned away by the fire.” He looked weary.
“What about by the cottages?” Ethan asked.
“Not a lot there either. Some squashed grass, but not enough to get a footprint from.”
Chelsea smiled. “Thanks for trying.”
After he left, and Barry went to get ready, she turned to Ethan. “Why would someone light the fire on the north-west side of the property and then head east, away from the roads?” It had been bothering her all morning.
He smiled. “Do you think the lake trail is still there?”
“It might be. Aunt Maggie liked her evening walks by the lake.” With it only a twenty-minute walk away, she and Ethan had sometimes slipped away from the garden to swim there with Josh and Lauren.
“I’ll check it out while you and Barry do your social media thing.”
She frowned. “Will you be safe? Maybe you should wait for your friends to arrive.”
He stood and pulled her to her feet, brushing a kiss against her lips with such tenderness she almost forgot what she’d asked him. “I love that you’re concerned, but I’ll be fine. The culprit is long gone and I’ll be careful.”
She couldn’t erase the thought of someone hiding behind a bush ready to attack, though she knew it was highly unlikely. “Take your phone with you,” she ordered. “And tell me if you find anything.” She didn’t want to lose him so soon after he was back in her life.
“Of course.” He kissed her again. “You go slay your videos. You look gorgeous.”
She smiled and ran a hand down the colourful summer dress she’d picked up from the op shop when she’d last gone into town.
So much more casual than her usual business attire and it made her feel lighter, more relaxed.
More like the Chelsea she could be whenever she was at Lilydale, not the Chelsea trying hard to please everyone.
He strode across the garden towards the cabin and out of view and Chelsea picked up her video camera and phone.
She’d made a list of the videos she wanted to take, including some showing the damage from the fire and talking about the vandalism.
It was doubtful it would stop Johann if he was responsible, but it felt good to be talking about it.
Chelsea spent the first few hours taking videos and helping Barry, moving the camera when it needed to be moved, carting the clippings to the compost heap, and bringing him drinks and food.
They’d agreed he would be the one to do the before and after video reveals of the garden, but she could take photos of the progress.
He worked fast. Far faster than she’d expected, but all she’d had to do was show him which way the paths went and he ripped through it with his whipper-snipper and edger.
His colleague, a guy who wasn’t far out of his teenaged years, rode the lawnmower, taking several passes to get the grass low enough.
By mid-day, all the paths on the private and cabins side of the garden were clear, and the lawn had been mowed.
It wasn’t pretty with the grass yellow and bare in patches, but it was far more accessible and the garden beds had been redefined.
He’d revealed the bones Chelsea was working with.
When Ethan returned, they were filming, so he pointed towards the house. She nodded. There wasn’t much he could do with cameras all around.
As Barry packed up his things, Chelsea said, “Let’s break for lunch.”
“Sounds great.”
Ethan was in the house putting the final touches on a platter of sandwiches.
Her steps slowed. How incredibly thoughtful. She hadn’t asked him to prepare lunch. It warmed her heart. She kissed him and asked, “Did you find anything?”
“The lake trail is still there. I told Josh.”
Hope filled her. “Good. Maybe he can find a clue at the lake.”
Ethan nodded, but his sceptical expression told her that he doubted it.
Something had to lead back to whoever was doing this. She wouldn’t let them win.
After lunch they moved to the burnt public side of the garden. The smell of smoke lingered, and Chelsea braced herself as she walked through the hedge.
Blackened grass everywhere. Her chest tightened and she swallowed hard. It would regrow. Fire was a trigger for a lot of native plants to bloom. This might all be a great blessing.
She almost convinced herself. She took the main path, pointing details out to Barry.
The Japanese pagoda was a smouldering mess, but the fire had stopped short of the native garden.
The area around the dry harbour lake had all been burnt, but the metal structure of the Sydney Harbour Bridge replica remained intact.
Cupid was covered in blackened ash, but the pruned rose bushes looked intact.
The peppermint grove with the hammock underneath had avoided damage.
It could have been so much worse. Some of the tension lifted from her. Most of the damage had been to the lawn, and the overgrown garden beds they would have had to weed anyway. She smiled. Johann would be annoyed.
“Might be good to keep an eye out when I get started,” Barry said. “Just in case there are any embers underneath that I uncover by mowing or blowing.”
“I’ll do that,” Chelsea said. “You get your things, and I’ll film the video footage I need before you start.”
Ethan stepped back under a peppermint to watch while she did her pieces to camera. She did half a dozen, taking in different parts of the garden, wanting to make sure she had something suitable.
“I’m done.”