The Mysterious Case of the Mayflower Dame

Chapter 2: Playing with Fire (Part IV)

Eating the Paella and a portion of the stuffed goose in unison, my assumptions were correct. Though the pairing of the dishes was a bit absurd at first, Eleanor understood the cooking style of this restaurant and chose these two amidst the usual cuisine on their menu.  

  Oddly I sensed an unusual form of heat resonating in the air. I can trace some sort of smell, similar to petroleum leaking. Looking around I went outside without their consent trying to identify where it is coming from. I am certain it isn’t food because I can also inhale somewhat burning fuel and tires, it isn’t something natural especially in this type of area.

“What seems to be the matter, John?” Eleanor is distraught with my sudden action.

“I’m going to check the kitchen for something leaking,” I said to her as I went on my way towards the path of the waiters inside.

“Excuse me sir but you aren’t allowed in here!” said a man wearing a black cardigan with the name Brine stitched on the left side of his chest.

I showed him my badge and insisted. “My name is Inspector Simons, I need to know if there’s a gas leak coming from here!”

“That’s impossible my dear sir! We do our inspection almost every day!”

I do not have enough time to validate if that is true so for now the most logical thing to do is to know why they weren’t aware of such in the first place. Why is the stench existing only outside and is nowhere to be found inside?

An idea suddenly hit me “Is there a place in this facility that has ventilation?”

After several seconds of thinking. “There is one, it’s the dry storage room beside the kitchen grounds!”

“Can you please open it for me?”

From that exchange, we brought several waiters and went towards the room, it was locked shut with several keys necessary to open it from the outside. The head waiter pulled the keys hanging behind the counter and immediately opened the doors. As we hurriedly barged the locks open, a strong stench of petrol clogged our nose to the point that it almost suffocated us as we tried to venture further.

 Apparently, my guess was correct when they checked one of the gauges located within their storeroom. A small tank appears to have a small hole that has amassed a large quantity of gas probably within several hours of its leakage. Immediately they called the manager and advised the rest of the crew to keep the guests safe outside, just in case an explosion occurs within the radius of where we are.

Eleanor and Cecil rushed in the scene, worried with what is happening.

“What’s going on John?!” Eleanor asked.

“There’s an emergency that I need to take care of. In the meantime please follow the instructions that I’ll be giving the rest of the employees. Do you understand?”

“Tell me you will be safe…” Cecil asked. I’m sure Eleanor would ask the same thing.

“I will. You two should break a leg and get outside before something bad happens here!” I shouted as the other waiters escorted them outside.

The only people left here would be me and the head waiter. The manager just called the fire department and should already be on their way as we speak.

“Why didn’t I notice this before?” The headwaiter asked himself loudly.

I could sympathize with this reasoning but I think the answer is simple. “The ventilations on the storeroom do not connect to the kitchen, which means if there would be a leak, the scent would only be present on the outside. I was merely instigated by my intuition to proceed and investigate since I somehow managed to smell a faint presence of gas in the surroundings.”

“I see. The real problem at hand is how do we patch this up?”

  After a few seconds a massive explosion from a two-floored establishment, ten blocks from the restaurant rang out on the streets and people are screaming. The horrible thought that I was trying to omit already took its form and what’s worse is that it is in front of me, happening like a nightmare. So there’s another building with the same issue and it already reached its climax.

  Seeing the rest of the people go outside their respective places to spectate, I can’t waste any time and watch innocent lives put in danger. I rushed towards the scene to see the intensity of the fire and the damage it has done. People are running to and fro not knowing the direction that they are headed as long as they are far away from this hell hole.

“Get the extinguisher or water everyone!” People are shouting trying to get as much as help as they can to prevent the fire from spreading to other households.

  I can hear a cry for help from the second floor. Apparently, the fire has only spread on the ground floor along with the previous explosion in which it gives me the opportunity to get them without the fear of compromise.

  Seeing that there are still individuals trapped inside, the fire still hasn’t consumed my path. I’ve noticed that there’s a ladder which might be an emergency exit on one of the rooms where it is possible to go up. I took the initiative and started kicking the ladder to dislodge it, forcing the rest of it to go down.

“Sir, can I borrow your coat?” I asked one of the spectators and it is a good thing that they are also willing to lend a helping hand. He went closer to give it to me.

“Here, here take it.” He said without hesitation.

  I climbed the ladder after acquiring the coat and went inside the fire. There I saw two people, mother and child stuck on a corner having trouble breathing. Immediately I ran to their position and covered their heads with the coat to protect them from the debris that might fall at this state of the building. For twenty seconds, we struggled to come out walking all the way to the window whence I came. Going down the ladder, I suddenly heard a large hissing sound on the ground floor.

“This isn’t good!” I said to myself as I held the two close to my arms to make a jump down even though we are halfway the ladder. The loud hissing was accompanied by another explosion kicking us off to the side of the building. It must have been another gas tank that exploded the second time around. Lucky of us that we fell towards a wooden table that was just a few feet away. Both of them are safe but I can feel a sharp pain from my side.

  Having the rest of the people around me help, they carried the child and her mother away from further harm. In my case however as I took a glance around me, I can see a piece of wood piercing my lower back rendering me helpless to stand up. Struggling to get my composure, I started crawling until a group of individuals took the courage to help me get away as soon as possible. Looking over my surroundings, I can see a great number of people within the premises. However, out of all the people that I saw, a shadowy figure wearing a hood caught my attention. Before I can even get a glimpse of his face, he walked away with ease.

“Who is this bastard?! Is he responsible for all of these?!” I kept asking myself as my consciousness starts to fade. I was about to see his face until my head became heavy and couldn’t rise. My eyes started to close as I completely lost the ability to move every inch of my body. There was nothing but complete darkness and pain running through my senses.

(To be Continued)