Chapter 29 Dominic
DOMINIC
The nurses don’t know where to look. The waiting room is full of every player from Arlington FC, as well as Barry, Kasia, Charlotte, my dad, and me. No one is saying anything, and every time someone wanders past, they stop short and gawp for a second, before being moved on by security.
It’s a farce.
“I shouldn’t have let her go,” Charlotte finally says, her voice strained as she tries not to cry. Immediately she’s surrounded by players, Troy and Jordan on either side of her, trying to comfort her.
“You couldn’t have known,” I tell her. “None of us could.”
“She said she just wanted to be back in her own space, and she wanted to take Tank for a walk, and she must have fallen asleep…” Charlotte breaks off as she starts to sob, covering her face, and Jordan puts an arm around her.
“I just don’t understand how this could happen,” Kasia says, bracing her hands against her waist and sighing heavily.
The doors to the ward open, and a doctor comes striding out, stopping short at the crowd he’s met with.
“Goodness. Quite a gathering here. I’m Doctor Harold, who is here for Mia Brookes?”
Charlotte and I jump to our feet.
“We are,” she says quickly. “Is she alright?”
“Yes, she is.”
A collective sigh goes up from everyone assembled.
“She’s a little short of breath and has some chest pain, but otherwise she seems to not have suffered any major damage,” Dr Harold goes on. “Thankfully she wasn’t in the smoke for too long.”
“The neighbours spotted the fire before it got too big,” Charlotte says, and Dr Harold nods.
“She’s a very lucky young lady.”
“Can we see her?” I ask.
“Certainly.” Dr Harold warily eyes the waiting room. “Uh, though only two of you, I think.”
Charlotte and I follow him down the corridor, past rooms of beeping monitors and bright lights, to a room at the end of the hallway.
My heart wrenches when I see Mia lying in the bed.
She’s covered in several blankets, and underneath the oxygen mask on her face she’s so pale it’s frightening.
But her eyes light up as she sees us, smiling under the mask.
“She shouldn’t talk too much,” Dr Harold says as Charlotte and I rush into the room. “Her throat is probably quite sore.”
The strong smell of smoke meets me as I sit down beside Mia and take her hand.
“Hello,” she croaks. “You both look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Charlotte bursts into tears and puts her head on the bed, clutching onto Mia’s hand.
“I’ll leave you to it,” Dr Harold says, and slips out of the room.
“Gave us a right old fright, you did,” I say, stroking a hand over Mia’s hair. “Going and getting yourself set on fire.”
“I’m hot stuff, what can I say?” Mia coughs and sucks in a breath.
“Oh my god, how can you be making jokes at a time like this?” Charlotte rears up, furiously wiping tears from her face. “I thought you were dead! And now you’re here laughing?”
“Better to be laughing than dead though,” Mia says, and Charlotte throws herself on her with a strangled cry.
“I was so scared!” Charlotte sobs into Mia’s shoulder. “I didn’t even know I was your emergency contact anymore!”
“Of course you are, you daft cow,” Mia says, stroking Charlotte’s hair before erupting into a cough that sends Charlotte thumping back into her seat, her face blanching.
“Alright, enough talking, you two,” I say sternly, and Mia waves a hand, attempting more sass but having to focus on her breathing instead. “Come on, nice and calm now. I think we’ve had enough excitement for one evening.”
“Who the hell would have done this?” Charlotte asks, looking over at me with red-rimmed eyes. “Who’d go and set your house on fire with you in it?”
“Deranged… fan?” Mia grits out over a sharp breath. “Who knows.” She squeezes my hand, and I reach out to stroke her cheek. “Where’s Tank?”
“He’s with Sally, my dad’s carer.” I give her a smile. “Emergency vet came by and checked him over, he’s absolutely fine. Now, you stop talking, you need to rest.”
“I’m fi-” She starts coughing again, and when she stops she simply rolls her eyes at me and nods.
“Kasia’s organising an apartment for you, for when you get out.” I lift her hand to my lips, gently planting a kiss on her warm skin. “We’ll have your things cleaned and moved. The house is going to need a lot of work to rebuild it, but we’ll get there, alright?”
Mia shakes her head.
“No?” I frown. “You don’t want to go back there?”
She shakes her head again. “No.”
“No talking,” Charlotte snaps softly. “It’s OK, babes. We’ll sort this all out when you’re better.”
There’s a gentle tap at the door, and I look over my shoulder to see Dr Harold.
“The police are here,” he says softly. “They’d like to speak to you, Mr Graves.”
I turn to Mia and press another kiss to her hand, before getting to my feet and planting a kiss on her forehead.
“I’ll be right back.”
I follow the doctor out into the waiting room, past all the expectant faces, and to the front desk, where the police are waiting for me. Two constables in bright yellow vests and blue uniforms nod as we approach.
“Good evening, Mr Graves.” The one with short curly brown hair gives me a curt smile. “I’m PC Noakes, this is PC Sayyid. We attended the call out for the burn at your daughter-in-law’s house.”
“Do you have any idea what happened?” I ask, and Dr Harold excuses himself.
“The detectives are working on it, but all we know right now is the fire was started on the right side of the house by the kitchen,” PC Sayyid says. “It appears to have been deliberately lit, they found evidence of an accelerant being used.”
“Did your daughter-in-law have any enemies?” PC Noakes asks, and her tone is just a little too high, a little too questioning, and I know I’m looking at someone who keeps up with the gossip rags.
“Enemies? No. Obsessed fans, maybe.”
“And what about…” PC Sayyid pulls out a notepad, his eyes scanning the page. “A Mr Paul Hardcastle, goes by Paulie. Works for The Sun?”
I stare at him for a moment. “Paulie Hardcastle? You think he could have done this?”
PC Noakes shrugs and exchanges a glance with her colleague.
“He seems to be known in the paparazzi community for being something of a vulture, especially when it comes to your daughter-in-law. And I do believe there was an incident between them a couple of weeks ago that landed her in the hospital?”
“Yes, but…” I trail off, shaking my head. Paulie wouldn’t have done this, surely. He wouldn’t actually hurt Mia. Unless he wanted to get back at you for beating the shit out of him and smashing his camera, you fucking dolt. “Fuck,” I mutter, and brace a hand against the wall.
“Obviously this is all speculation right now, Mr Graves,” PC Sayyid says.
“Mr Hardcastle is a person of interest and we will be having a chat when we catch up with him. In the meantime, if you think of anything else or have any questions for us, please get in touch.” He pulls a card from the back of his notepad and hands it to me.
“And we hope your daughter-in-law recovers quickly.”
“Thank you.” I run my fingertip along the edge of the card as the PCs head down the corridor, passing Kasia who gives them a brief look over her shoulder as she walks towards me.
“What did they say?” She asks, folding her arms against her chest. “Do they know what happened?”
“It was started deliberately.”
Kasia’s eyebrows shoot up. “But who would-”
“Paulie Hardcastle,” I interject, and Kasia coughs out a laugh.
“That little worm?” She scoffs. “He doesn’t have it in him to start a fire, surely. He hides behind a camera and nothing more.”
I take Kasia by the elbow and lead her further away from the main desk, out of earshot of any of the nurses.
“I tracked him down and beat him up,” I mutter, and Kasia purses her lips. “I know, I know, but it happened after the whole thing with Mia’s dad and then Paulie knocking her into the car.”
“And being the big strong intelligent man you are, you thought you’d solve it in the most diplomatic way possible?” Kasia shakes her eyes, huffing out a sigh. “But do you really think that would be enough for him to try and kill Mia and her dog? That seems extreme.”
“I know, I thought the same but… Maybe I just made him angry enough that he thought he’d get back at me.”
Kasia frowns. “I don’t think so.”
“We’ll see what the police say, I suppose.” I rub my neck and look back down the hallway towards the waiting room. “I’ll let everyone know she’s alright, and then we’ll tell them to go home. No point in them all sitting here all night.”
“No, of course.” Kasia rubs her arms and sighs. “Troy has alerted the staff at his restaurant that everyone will be coming for dinner, shall I have someone bring something over for you and Charlotte?”
“No, that’s fine, we’ll get something on our way home.” I plant a peck on Kasia’s cheek. “Thank you. You’re the best, you know that?”
“Yes, I do.” She gives me a smile and squeezes my hand, before walking ahead of me down the hallway.
I don’t say anything to Mia or Charlotte about what the police told me. I tell myself it wouldn’t help either of them right now, but I also don’t want to admit that it’s guilt, gnawing away at me.
This happened because of me.
Because I went and acted the big man, and beat the shit out Hardcastle. I could have just warned him, or scared him. But no. I had to be a macho idiot. And now Mia is lying in a hospital bed, coughing up a lung and stinking of smoke because of me.
The doctors send Charlotte and I away at around 9pm, saying she needs rest. They assure us she’ll be discharged within a day or two, depending on her chest CT and blood tests.
The small sigh Mia lets out when I kiss her forehead before I leave has even more guilt and shame swirling through my stomach. She trusts me. She told me that. She felt safe with me. And I did this to her?
“You’re awfully quiet,” Charlotte says as we drive home.
“Yeah, just… thinking.” I sigh and adjust my grip on the steering wheel. “You want to get some dinner?”