“Cover your eyes,” he told Linda, as he began punching the ceiling.
With each blow, his hand went clean through the drywall. After ten punches, he had made a neat square of holes. He pushed his hand through the gap, and began ripping the plaster and insulation down. In thirty seconds, he had created a hole about the size of a small suitcase.
“Climb up!” He offered Linda his hand.
With his help, she shimmied up the shelves and squeezed into the hole. Eric put his hand on her bottom and with a mighty shove, pushed her through. A moment later, she reached down and grabbed his hand. Stone was bigger by half, but with Linda’s help, he squeezed through the narrow gap.
Lying flat on the insulation, he glanced around and quickly decided their situation had not measurably improved. They were in the narrow loft space of the bungalow, just a few feet above the raging fire. Already, smoke and flames were creeping through the insulation.
“That way.” Stone pointed to the far end of the loft. “It’s away from the fire — for now.”
They belly-crawled the twenty yards across the rafters, to the gable-end wall of the bungalow.
“Now what?” Linda asked coughing, the smoke was already making their eyes water.
“Now we go outside.”
Stone lay on his back on the rafters and braced his legs against the roof above. He started to stamp his feet on the felting. At first, his efforts seemed futile, but soon he felt one of the wooden tile batons break, then a second. With each shoulder firmly braced against one of the rafters, he gave a mighty shove with both feet. There was a clatter of breaking tiles as he broke through. He kicked twice more to enlarge the space, and then motioned Linda to climb through the hole. She needed no further encouragement, and he quickly followed her through the billowing smoke and out onto the roof. From there it was a simple matter of hanging from the guttering and dropping the short distance to the grass below.
Five minutes later, Ed Carter found Linda and Eric jogging hand-in-hand along the road. As they climbed into the car, he thought that they both seemed very happy. They had driven less than a mile when the sky behind was illuminated by a huge thermite fireball.
As the morning sun rose over the misty Berkshire countryside, a lone man was picking his way through the ashes of Huggermugger. It seemed to him that there was nothing to find. Because of the remote location, the fire had burned undetected throughout the night. The incredible heat of the thermite, combined with the heating oil and gasoline, had destroyed everything.
Sir Harold Heathfield had come to the house that morning to collect his refund from Simon Cartwright, but that was obviously not going to happen. He stood by his car and surveyed the debris. There wasn’t much to see. The heat from the fire had been so intense that even the cars had been reduced to unrecognizable puddles of melted metal. Clearly, any organic matter was carbon and dust. Sir Harold decided that he had no need to worry. Any evidence that could have led to his door, were now just ashes blowing in the wind.
He smiled as he climbed into his car. At last, he could relax — the Wrecking Crew was no more.
NINETEEN
Almost a month had passed and they had heard nothing to indicate that any investigation was leading in their direction. Carter discovered that Berkshire police and fire investigators had closed the book on the fire at Huggermugger. They concluded that the probable cause of the unusually intense flames was an electrical fault, along with the unfortunate combination of stored chemicals, fertilizer, and fuel oil. Although there was no forensic evidence left, it was believed that Simon Cartwright had perished in the flames, along with several unidentified persons.
At the same time, the police in Reading had reported that the unfortunate shooting of Helen Atkins in the Oracle parking lot, was the result of carjacking. Enquiries had reached a dead end, as both her car and the murder weapon could not be found. The damaged Audi had been pushed onto the sidewalk during the attack by Kitten and Bunny. Because it was abandoned and illegally parked, the car had swiftly been towed by the council. Left unclaimed, it was eventually crushed and recycled.
On a brighter note, Stone had decided to provide Charles Rathbone’s farm, to act as free offices for True Democracy. He had also given a substantial donation to support Sally Field, and a dozen of her colleagues, in their election campaign. With a few days to go, current polling put most of them well ahead of the next nearest candidates. Perhaps Charles’ dream would live on after all.
Immediately following the fire at Huggermugger, Stone had used some of Charles’ money to book both Linda and Megan into a specialist private hospital in Surrey. Since it was so close to the Army barracks at Aldershot, the hospital had access to doctors and psychologists, with unique skills and experience.
Megan had made an excellent recovery under a doctor specializing in lung damage, caused by smoke inhalation. However, given what they now knew about Linda’s mistreatment as a child, her recovery was likely to be a long and slow process. Although a careful psychological assessment had revealed no identifiable remnant of the alter ego known as Chameleon, the knowledge of the atrocities that she had committed in that guise had taken a considerable toll on Linda — and Eric.
Linda’s treatment had been intense and delicate work. Her psychologist had considerable experience in healing those unfortunates, who carried the dreadful internal scars inflicted by the horrors of conflict and incarceration. Her techniques were gentle but thorough, but required that Linda had remained separated from Stone since she was admitted.
Although she would need counseling for many years to come, Linda had made such good progress that today she was to become an outpatient. Stone was at the hospital to collect her. Though he was pleased at the prospect of seeing Linda again, he was also fearful of his reaction, and doubtful if they could ever rekindle their relationship.
Megan and Linda had formed a close friendship during their time together in the hospital. When Eric arrived, Megan was waiting in the corridor outside Linda’s room. She was a large girl with a strong mind, and she had no trouble stopping him from going in. She grabbed Stone’s arm in a vice like grip and pulled him through the door to a small waiting room. Ed Carter was standing by the window drinking coffee from a paper cup. He pulled a face that was meant to communicate that, while he understood how Eric felt, Megan had something to say, and he had better listen. Megan was rather more direct. She poked him sharply in the chest with an antagonistic finger.
“Now you listen to me Eric Stone, that poor girl has been to hell and back for you, and she deserves better than being discarded by the first man she has ever loved.”
Stone’s mouth opened and closed like an asthmatic goldfish. Megan ploughed on, blind to his confusion.
“She’s a nice person Eric, she has a good heart. It’s not her fault that some mad scientist messed with her head when she was a child.”
“I… I… never said it was… ” Stone mumbled.
“She feels terrible about what’s happened to her — I mean who wouldn’t? But you know the worst of it? She feels dreadful about letting you down.”
“But I never… ”
“And what’s even worse? She’s terrified that you’re gonna hold it against her. She’s like a poor frightened kid, and you come marching in here… Oh… MEN!” She stamped her foot in frustration.
“But, Megan… ” Stone began.
“Don’t start!” She waved her finger at him. “I know what you’ve been thinking… ”