Deadly Past

Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

Trev utilised his sirens and lights along the Calder Freeway, his speed in keeping with the poor conditions. When the fire came up on his phone, all he wanted was to be home. He’d been finalising paperwork after the trial wound up and had his suitcase in the patrol car ready to get back to Kingfisher Falls tonight. With all the uncertainty around the length of the trial, he hadn’t told his mother or even Charlie he might be back. And he’d planned to tiptoe into the house, not arrive in a panic.

Controlled panic.

He took the turn-off to Kingfisher Falls. He’d had a two-minute conversation with his mother which reassured him she was safe. Charlie hadn’t picked up when he rang, but Rosie had been quick to say she was observing from a distance. The latest report from dispatch alarmed him. A body found in the fire.

From the top of the hill the aftermath of the fire was obvious. Dark smoke sat above the town like a scene from a horror movie. Nausea rolled around in his stomach. If someone hadn’t called it in, had the fireys not controlled it so fast, the bookshop might have been in flames right now. And Charlotte’s apartment above it only had one door in and out.

Time to buy a house, Sibbritt. Think about the future more.

Trev manoeuvred past traffic caught in the closure, going up on the footpath with two wheels to squeeze through. He stopped the patrol car near the one already parked in the middle of the road near the fire. He’d send the officer up past the bookshop to turn back cars heading down from the direction of the lookout.

He climbed out to the suffocating stench of smoke and cold fingers of rain beating on his head, grabbing out wet weather gear. Trev shrugged into it, pulled a hood up and zipped the front. It helped a bit.

“Trev!” Charlotte was under cover outside the corner café and he ran to her. She was soaked to the skin, hair plastered against her skull and eyes wide.

“You must be freezing.” He held her in his arms for a moment. Not long enough to warm her or reassure her but at least he knew she was okay. He stepped back, still holding her hands. “Go back to Mum’s. Get dried off.”

“I can’t. If something changes…the wind, or anything,” Her lips were trembling.

“Charlie, it’ll be okay. I’m going to speak to the guys now and won’t be leaving until everything is safe. That includes the bookshop and the apartment.”

“There’s a body. Someone was in there.”

“Nothing’s confirmed.”

“I heard someone say so. A fireman.”

“Even more reason to go home. To Mum. And she’ll be worrying enough for both of us about you, so at least be there with her. Please.”

“I’m going.” Her hands gripped his. “But be safe, Trev.” She reached up and touched his lips with hers, then she was sprinting back the other way.

She was scared. He gazed at the gutted shop. This was enough to scare anyone.

Rosie insisted Charlotte have a hot shower before debriefing. There was a welcome smell of coffee and something baking as she emerged from the second bathroom, hair wrapped in a towel. She’d dressed in tomorrow’s work clothes having nothing left until her other clothes dried, other than her nightwear, and with Lewis in the house and Trev possibly heading back later, she wasn’t about to parade around in those.

She stopped as a thought struck her. Lewis looked up from near the oven, where he stood holding oven mitts.

“What is it, dear?” he asked.

“Um…Trev may be home tonight at some point. I’ll move my stuff out and sleep on the sofa.”

Rosie appeared from the living room with Mellow on her lap. “You will do no such thing. Trev didn’t tell us he was home tonight, so he gets the sofa.”

“Besides,” Lewis added as he peeked into the oven. “He may be there most of the night. Fires are nasty things.”

“What are you cooking? All I can smell is coffee and oh!”

Lewis slid out a tray of chocolate chip cookies.

“We thought you’d be cold so coffee sounded like a good idea and cookies go well with coffee.”

A few minutes later the three of them sat around the coffee table with steaming cups and a plate stacked high with morsels of deliciousness. Lewis passed napkins and then lifted the plate to offer to Rosie. His hands shook and Charlotte took it from him with a smile.

“Here, let me. You’ve done the hard bit.” She made sure everyone had cookies then took one and sat again. “You’re stressing.”

He nodded. “I’m very worried. Cecil was going to return to the agency to finish some work. We’d had a good meeting and he was positive the house will sell quickly and for considerably more than I expected.” Lewis reached his hand Rosie’s way and she grasped it. “He said he’d drop by tomorrow with some paperwork to sign.”

“It is only a rumour that there’s a…well, body, in there. There was so much smoke it would be hard to tell.” Charlotte sipped some coffee and warmth coursed through her. Poor Trev was still out in the weather.

“I should have arranged another night. This weather is so bad that he shouldn’t have been out in it.” Lewis shook his head.

Charlotte put her cup down. “This wasn’t a car accident. It is a fire. Now, if there is a body in the building, nobody knows whose. You blaming yourself for something outside your control is not helpful. Is it?” She was aware of her tone. Doctor Dean. Calm but firm.

Lewis gave her a small smile. “You are correct, of course. All we can do is wait.”

“And eat cookies.” Rosie bit into one. “Mmm.”

Mmm indeed. “Lewis, would you show me how to make these? I’m trying to increase my culinary repertoire.” Charlotte resisted another cookie. “So far I’ve taken some lessons with Doug for Italian dishes and been taught two breakfast menus by Lachie Forest.”

This time, Lewis’ smile was wide. “Ah. The young entrepreneur. Lachlan has many talents for one so young.”

Lachie was almost nine years old. He and Charlotte shared a long running joke about the little pine tree she’d bought from his parents who owned the Christmas Tree Farm. When Abbie, his mum, was in hospital having his little sister, Lachie stayed with Charlotte. And last week he’d spent a few hours helping her in the garden for some pocket money, but then gave her breakfast tips.

“He takes after his Dad,” Rosie said. “Darcy can turn his hand to almost anything and once those seedlings in his greenhouses take off, he’ll have the rates debt paid in no time. And that at least will get Jonas and Terrance off his back.”

Charlotte knew the inheritance of the Christmas Tree Farm came with a massive debt load, but had every confidence in the young couple who’d adapted to make their new lives work. “Is Terrance even back at work? After Kevin’s funeral I thought he’d gone to ground.”

“I think he is,” Rosie frowned. “But the law isn’t done with him yet. Too many unanswered questions in his part of the death of poor Violet.”

The mood in the room darkened as each seemed to go into their own thoughts about the young woman who’d loved Terrance and been killed for it by his own brother. A brother who’d tried to then harm Violet’s sister and Charlotte before plunging over the falls. In Kingfisher Falls, a lot can happen in a short time.