Chapter 26 #2
“Because he was older?”
“We both are. He’d been looking for me. He’d put a brick through my window before, here, but through the glasshouse. My dad blamed me.” She stood up, stretching out her arms, her movements almost poetic. Her clothes were dirty and creased, clearly unchanged in a couple of days.
“Is Stefan here, Lily?”
She turned round to me, leaning forward and putting a finger to her lips. “Shhhh. No one can know.”
“Why did you tell me you were here?”
“Because Stefan wanted to show you something.”
“What did he want to show me?”
She laughed and twirled around like a clumsy dancer. “The house, of course. It’s mine now. I get to grow what I want in the gardens.”
It was then I saw the figure in the doorway, shaded by the darkness of the landing.
My exit was blocked, Ste Taylor stood there, dressed in black, his expression the same colour.
“DS Mia McAllister,” he said. “I did wonder what your house would look like with a splash of orange flame. Time to go, Lily.” He pointed to his side, Lily scuttling towards him and before I could get to the door it was slammed shut, a key turning in a new door.
I hadn’t noticed before, the door to the room was unvarnished; new wood. Newly hung. A heavy yale lock clicking.
There was the window; the sash was heavy looking, probably unopened for nearly two decades. If I could move it – but I could definitely smash it.
“Stefan, the rest of my team are on their way.” A bubble of panic was rising from my stomach to my throat.
“We’ll be long gone by then. Just a shame Lily forgot to get your car keys, eh, Lily? You forgot that part of the plan.”
“I like her. It was wrong to take her car.” Lily’s voice reminded me of a little girl.
“It was wrong not to stick to the plan,” he chided.
“What’s the rest of your plan?” I asked, looking around the room for something to smash against the window.
There was laughter, a little further away now. “We’re going on a trip. My father always wanted me to go travelling. Seems like a good way to spend his money.”
“When did you see your father last, Stefan?” I opened the wardrobe, disturbing a coven of moths.
“A couple of times recently, maybe three. He told me Lily’s mum was getting nosy. Then he sent me some money to help me out, then we last saw him three nights ago.” His voice grew fainter again.
“He was hanging from a tree, Mia.” Lily sang the words. “He danced in the wind.”
“Did you kill him, Stefan?”
Laughter, then words I couldn’t hear, just noises, sounds. I kept looking around the room, opening the bedside drawers, finding nothing apart from some cheap hair accessories from a shop that was trendy when I was a teen, still with the labels on. Love tokens that Lily couldn’t wear.
I tried the window, checking for locks and then pushing up the frame, nothing budging. Another check and I realised it was painted shut and forcing it open wouldn’t be possible without tools, which I did not have.
The bedside table was heavy wood, solid joins that were made without screws. I could lift it but swinging it against the window was going to be difficult; I risked glass potentially breaking over me.
“You need – light it.” I caught the words, footsteps rushing.
“I think – plan.” That was Lily.
Something crashed, a loud cry.
I lifted the bedside table, holding the top towards the window like a battering ram, and forced it into the glass which shattered, sharp shards cascading outside and in, onto my clothes and shearing my skin.
Footsteps running on stairs, more shouting and a cacophony of noise outside, birds disturbed by the sounds coming from a house that had been frozen in silence.
“Don’t, Stefan, you shouldn’t do this!” Lily’s voice carried on the disrupted air.
I knew what was coming.
How would you prefer to die – in a fire or drowning?
It wasn’t a question I was currently dwelling on.
Footsteps grew closer, a whiff of smoke coming from somewhere, or maybe it was my brain conjuring up phantom smells as it tried to process what to do next.
The room was at the front of the house, tucked away in the eaves, but there was thick ivy growing next to the window and adjacent to that, a drainpipe.
I stood near the window, listening to the crackle of fire, watching for cars coming down the drive. I checked my phone; one bar of signal. Freezing, I called Vinny.
“Mac, where are you?”
“In the house. Top front bedroom, and I’ve been locked in. Stefan Taylor and Lily Mayhew are here and they’ve set fire to the building. Call the fire brigade.”
He barked orders at Lachy. “Can you get out?”
“I’ve broken the window. It’s a big drop.” And I didn’t have Taz with me to help me down.
“We’re fifteen minutes away.” I heard sirens. “I’ll be faster than that.”
I heard someone at the door, a key in the lock. I pressed loudspeaker, needing Vinny to hear whatever happened next.
Lily was there, a cut on her face, her hair dishevelled. “Mia, you need to come with me.”
I rushed for the door before she could think of closing it, then I saw smoke snaking upwards, heard wood snapping and something smashing, creaks were coming from everywhere.
Lily grabbed hold of me and pulled me away from the stairs. “Not these. They’re not safe.”
Bannisters crashed, something exploded. Whatever accelerant Stefan had used was helping the fire to travel hot and fast. I followed Lily, not sure if she was leading me into a premature ending or a safe haven.
The room at the back had a small door with a set of stairs leading down, narrow and steep, and made of stone. The servants’ stairs; designed so they could move around unseen.
We almost fell down them, smoke swelling up them, hitting the back of my throat and making my eyes feel gritty, breaths coming in short and harsh bursts.
“Where’s Stefan?” I spat out the words.
“Don’t worry about him.” She grabbed my hand, pulling me down the last few steps and pushing open a door into a room I couldn’t identify.
I pulled her down to the floor with me, keeping us low like training and common sense had taught. More crashing, the noise deafening, the house collapsing around us and I feared that Lily was trying to kill us both.
“This way.” She was somehow on her feet, pulling me. “Nearly at the doors.”
Later, I’d have no clear memory of those next couple of minutes, the fumes and the smoke and the heat clouding every one of them.
There were flames and pieces of falling wood, a wall of fire behind us and then there was air and water and stinging eyes, and we were running away from the house, dragging our legs, holding hands as we reached the glasshouses, the sound of sobbing being heard by the birds who stood silently in the trees.
We sat, arms wrapped around each other, watching the flames shoot their fiery tongues through the windows and lick the blackened stone. Part of the roof collapsed, tumbling down in slow motion, the sound lagging by a split second.
Lily coughed violently, her body wracked by the motion. There was nothing I could do, too weak and shaky to do anything other than be there and watch. I could hear sirens coming closer, but I felt nothing apart from air filling my lungs.
Lily stilled, leaning against me.
“What happened to Stefan?”
“He’s still inside.” She coughed the words.
“Why didn’t he escape?” I already knew the answer. She had blood on her face and her hands.
“I hit him over the head, and he didn’t get back up. I felt happy about that.” She didn’t cough this time. “I think the house will need to be knocked down. Maybe we could have gardens here instead. I could design them and we could charge an entry fee.” The coughing stopped her.
“Why did you hit him?”
“Because he killed Amanda and he wanted to kill you.” She said it like it was the most obvious answer in the world. “I’m sleepy.” Her head was on my shoulder.
“Try to stay awake.” I felt as if I’d been drugged. I hoped the fire didn’t spread this way as I wasn’t sure I could find it in me to move.
Neither of us said any more. Vinny charged into the garden, calling my name, my phone long since cut off.
I managed a weak response, enough for him to call the paramedics and then I was wrapped in a foil blanket and given a mask, oxygen filling my lungs and my bloodstream, Vinny’s arm wrapped around me, calling me every name under the sun, only I didn’t hear them all because everything gently faded away.