No Safe Place(Detective Lottie Parker #4)(76)

‘You know the saying. Practice makes perfect.’

‘Don’t ruin the moment with your smartarse comments.’

‘You’re usually the one with the smart arse—’

‘See. I told you. It’s ruined now.’

‘Let me unruin it.’

‘You’re talking pure shite.’

‘I’ll shut up so,’ he said, and pulled her beneath him.

She felt the weight of his body and the freshness of his kiss. Her mind told her to stop, to go home, but her body rebelled. Her head was dizzy. From alcohol? Shit. How much had she actually had to drink? Too much.

‘You’re making my ears ring,’ he said softly, his lips moving down her neck towards her nakedness.

‘It’s my phone!’ She shoved him to one side and bolted out of the bed. ‘Where’s my phone? What time is it? Boyd! Turn on a light.’

‘Hold on a minute.’

The room filled with a dim glow as he switched on a lamp. Lottie scrambled around on the floor. Her phone was still ringing. She realised it was out in the living area. Pulling a sheet from the bed, she wrapped it around herself and found her bag beside the couch. The ringing stopped.

‘Shit. It might’ve been Katie. I hope she’s okay.’

‘Will you stop panicking.’

Glancing back at him silhouetted at the door, she almost abandoned her search for the phone. Almost.

As her fingers found the device, it began to ring again.

‘Ah, for feck’s sake,’ she said, glancing at the caller ID. ‘It’s only Kirby.’

‘I’ll wring his neck when I see him. Don’t answer it.’

Lottie put the phone to her ear.





Sixty-Six





Boyd drove in silence. Lottie didn’t know what to feel, so she just numbed herself into nothingness and let the memories of the evening slip uneasily over her like a shroud. No good was going to come of this, she could feel it in her blood.

Kirby was standing at the entrance to the site. Two trucks were there, fire personnel hosing down the dying blaze.

Jumping from the car almost before Boyd had brought it to a halt, she said, ‘I can’t believe this, Kirby. I hope Bridie and her family aren’t in there.’

‘We’ve evacuated all the residents but there’s no sign of the McWards.’

‘Has no one seen them? Where is everyone? Can I talk to them?’

‘They’ve been taken to the nursing home around the corner. The staff there are providing blankets and hot tea. Everyone’s in shock. The faces on the poor kids. This is bad, boss, very bad.’

‘You think the McWards are in there?’

‘No idea yet. But they’re not among the residents escorted out. I was here almost as soon as the fire crews.’

‘How did you manage that?’

‘I’ve a couple of informants who live here. One of them gave me a call. Myself and two uniforms helped everyone to escape while the fire crews got to work.’

‘So either the McWards weren’t at home or they were in that …’ She took a step forward and was halted by the chief fire officer.

‘Sorry, but you’ll have to wait until it’s safe to enter. There are caravans and gas cylinders around. Everything is combustible in this heat.’

Lottie nodded and turned to Boyd. He gripped her elbow to lead her away. She shrugged off his concern.

‘Take me back to get my car and then return here to Kirby. Erect a crime-scene cordon until we establish what the hell happened. Contact me if you find the McWards and call as soon as it’s safe to enter the site.’

The chief fire officer overheard her. ‘It’ll be morning before we can deem it safe.’

‘All the same,’ Lottie said. ‘Kirby and Boyd, you coordinate the uniforms and then interview the survivors. I want to know where the McWards are, if they’re not already dead.’



* * *



Even though it was after three a.m., the lights were still on in her house. Lottie went into the kitchen, but it was empty. She automatically took clothes, mostly belonging to Louis, from the washing machine and filled the dryer. Still only the one text from Katie. Maybe Chloe had heard from her.

At the top of the stairs, she noticed light filtering out from under Sean’s door. She stuck her head inside. He didn’t hear her. A massive set of headphones covered his ears and he was gesticulating wildly at a screen with a remote control. Opening her mouth to tell him to get into bed, she stopped and decided to let him off for one night. There was no school for a week. He’d be grand.

Outside Chloe’s door, she hesitated. Her daughter was probably asleep and she didn’t want to wake her, but a nerve tingled at the base of her skull, so she opened the door.

Chloe was lying in bed, propped up with pillows, her face lit by the screen of the phone in her hand. The creak of the door had alerted her and she jumped, dropping her phone. The room was plunged into darkness. Lottie flicked on the light switch.

‘I thought you were out for the night,’ Chloe said. ‘Working. Or something. Oh, or maybe you were fucking Boyd.’

‘Chloe!’ Lottie reeled back on her heels from the venom in her daughter’s voice. How the hell was she going to handle this? Carefully. Very carefully. ‘We just went for a meal.’