Taylor turned off the shower and dried herself. The smoky smell still lingered but her eyes were feeling heavy. She brushed her teeth and made it to the bedroom just in time. Her hair was still wet but she didn’t care. She collapsed on the bed and fell asleep straight away.
CHAPTER THIRTY
The two men from the fire department entered the burned-out house at first light. The sun was rising over the ocean in the distance. There were no clouds in the sky. It was as if the storm had never happened.
All that was left of Dennis Albarn’s house were the timber columns that supported the wooden roof and ceilings. Bits of charred furniture lay smouldering in the middle of what had been the living room. There was shattered glass everywhere. A metal box that only slightly resembled a cooker stood black in the corner next to one of the columns.
“There’s your culprit,” Geoff Harding, the station manager of the Trotterdown fire department, said to his colleague Peter Sole. “See how the stove is blacker than the surrounding floor?”
He went over to get a better look. Broken glass crunched under his feet as he walked. He picked up a small piece of jagged metal.
“I’d say this is what’s left of the gas bottle,” he said. ”There’ll be a full forensic, of course, but my guess is this. Stove left on. A spark ignites it, it travels through the pipe to the bottle — and boom, the whole place goes up. I just pray there was nobody inside when the place exploded.”
“Sir,” Peter Sole looked at his boss, “can you smell that?” He sounded worried. Every firefighter knew what that sweetish smell could be. “And see — that?” He pointed to something on the floor next to a smouldering armchair.
It looked like a burned pile of blankets. Sole moved closer, lifted up the edge of the cloth and retched.
The man’s hair had been incinerated and his scalp was black and crispy like a piece of burnt bacon. The eye sockets were empty and the flesh around the mouth was gone, revealing a set of large black teeth. Harding swallowed hard and looked away.
“Get some fresh air,” he said to Sole. “It looks like it’s going to be a long day.”
* * *
Taylor’s mobile phone buzzed on the bedside table. She opened her eyes and winced. She had forgotten to draw the curtains before she’d fallen into bed. She could still smell smoke on the duvet and pillow. She picked up the phone.
“Taylor,” said Killian’s voice “where are you?”
“I’m still in bed. It’s seven in the morning.”
“Two guys from the fire department found a body in the house that burned down. It’s not a pretty sight. I’ll meet you there.”
* * *
Forty-five minutes later, she parked outside Dennis Albarn’s house in Polgarrow. She stared at the smouldering ruins. Killian was talking to a uniformed firefighter.
“Morning,” she said. “Do we know what happened yet?”
“Looks like the gas stove blew up,” the firefighter replied.
“This is Geoff Harding,” Killian told her. “He’s the station chief in Trotterdown. Geoff, meet DC Harriet Taylor.”
“Please to meet you, Miss Taylor,” Harding said. “We think the gas stove was left on and something ignited it. It would explain why everything went up so quickly.”
“I heard the explosion. It was deafening. I was sitting in my car just down the road.”
Killian looked surprised. “What were you doing in Polgarrow last night?”
“I went to the Old Boar. I wanted to see if I could find out more about Peter Sugden.” She’d explain the full story to Killian another time.
“You work too hard.”
“Do we know who was inside the house?”
“There’s not much left of them,” said Harding. “I suppose it’ll rest on dental records. The teeth look intact.”
“The house belongs to Dennis Albarn,” Killian reminded her. “We actually spoke to him recently.”
“I remember. How soon before we find out if it’s him or not?”
“Later this morning. It turns out Albarn had some work done on his teeth when he was in prison. They’re sending over his dental records as we speak.”
“How’s your wife doing?” Taylor asked.
“Not good, I’m afraid. They’re going to keep her in for a few days to run some tests.”
“If there’s anything I can do, just let me know.”
“Thanks. Anyway, we’ve got a lot to get through. If we don’t get anything out of Sugden I’m afraid we’re going to have to let him go.”
“What about the evidence?”
“All circumstantial. His lawyer knows we have nothing concrete.”
“Duncan reckons he can prise the truth out of him.”
“I’m not letting him near Sugden, in the mood he’s in,” Killian said. “Let’s get back and get it over with.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
PC Eric White pounced on Killian as soon as he and Taylor walked through the door.
“Sir, we’ve got a positive ID on the body they found in the house. It was Dennis Albarn. No doubt about it. The dental records don’t lie.”
“The poor man,” Taylor said. “Awful way to die.”
“It looks like he accidentally left the gas on,” Eric said, “and something set it off.”
“How’s the prisoner this morning?” Killian asked.
“Irritable. Like a bear with a sore head. He keeps moaning about not being able to smoke in the holding cells.”
“Good. I want you to arrange for his solicitor to get here as soon as possible. Taylor and I are going to have another crack at him.”
“I’ll do it right away.” White walked off.
Taylor’s phone rang. She didn’t recognise the number on the screen. “Sorry to trouble you,” said Alice Green, “but you asked me to ring if I thought of anything else regarding Peter Sugden.”
“It’s no problem. What is it?”
“It didn’t strike me as odd at the time, but in light of everything that’s happened, I thought you might want to know.”
“What is it?”
“A while ago — two or three weeks, thereabouts — I saw Sugden acting strangely around Milly’s car. I didn’t pay it much attention at the time.”
“What do you mean by acting strangely?”
“He was lingering by it. It looked as if he was checking the doors and windows out, but he moved away quickly when he noticed me watching him. It might not mean anything but I thought you’d want to know.”
“Thank you, Alice. We’ll be talking to him again this morning. I’ll be sure to ask him about it.”
“There’s something else I thought you might want to know,” Alice added. “Stanley phoned last night. He asked me if I wanted to meet him.”
“That’s great news.”
“I told him to bugger off,” Alice said and rang off.
* * *
Peter Sugden was led to the interview room an hour later. His solicitor was otherwise engaged but Sugden had agreed to do the interview without him.
“I trust you slept well,” Killian said.
“I hardly slept at all. I need a cigarette.” Sugden looked awful. His eyes were puffy and red, with huge bags, and his face was ash-grey.
“You can have a smoke when we’re finished in here,” Killian promised. “I’ll have one of the PCs escort you outside.”
“This is outrageous, the way I’ve been treated. It’s barbaric. I’m not a criminal.”
“That’s to be decided.” Killian turned on the recording device. “Interview with Peter Sugden commenced ten fifteen. Present, DI Jack Killian and DC Harriet Taylor. Mr Sugden, have you thought of anything else you’d like to tell us?”