Teresa Morgan - Meet Me at Wisteria Cottage

‘Do you need to go to work?’ she said.

‘I’ll call them to say I’ll be over later.’ Harry turned to face her. ‘I’ll wait with you to see the fire brigade.’

Maddy nodded. She’d already made the call to Valerie this morning while Harry was showering, who had been sympathetic. ‘Oh my dear girl,’ Valerie had said. Her casual tone had immediately sharpened to more alert when Maddy had said there had been a fire. ‘I’m so sorry I was out last night. You should have left a message.’ Last night Maddy hadn’t wanted to leave a distressed message on Valerie’s phone, though. ‘Don’t you worry about a thing with the gallery. Get yourself sorted and keep me posted.’

Maddy wished the fire brigade would hurry up. ‘I’m dreading what it’s going to look like inside,’ she said, feeling her lip quiver uncontrollably. Tears began to well in her eyes, and so she glanced away from Harry’s gaze, not wanting him to see her falter. The damage that would need to be fixed worried her. And she’d been doing so well this morning, too.

‘Hey.’ Harry sat himself down beside her, placing a hand on hers. It was warm from holding his mug of coffee. ‘This is what insurance is for. The fire brigade arrived quickly; the fire was contained in the kitchen.’

However reassuring Harry was trying to be, Maddy couldn’t help worrying. Anxiety crept up her spine and weighted itself on her shoulders. This year she needed to make the gallery successful – her business. Would the house fire destroy everything she’d tried to achieve in this past year?

Maddy heard the truck before she saw it, the morning song of the birds drowned out. One large fire truck pulled up, impressive and intimidating as it parked in the narrow street of Annadale Close. It was just after eight-thirty a.m. What must the neighbours think? With the arrival of the fire service, the police car stationed outside her house moved off, turning around at the end of the close.

‘They’re prompt,’ Harry said, heading out of the front door. Maddy put her coffee mug down and followed.

Four men jumped out of the fire truck, and each shook Harry’s hand and greeted him. It suddenly dawned on Maddy — he used to be a fireman. How else would he know this stuff, and the crew all know him? It explained his build, too. And the way he’d carried her into the house last night. It couldn’t all be down to landscape gardening. She’d noticed the impressive equipment in his second bedroom – his gym.

‘All right, Roses,’ one said, patting Harry on the back. ‘You’re looking good, my man. Collins said he’d bumped into you last night. All that weeding must be doing you good.’

Maddy’s thoughts exactly.

‘Thanks, Dixons.’ Harry laughed with the fireman.

‘We should go out for a drink sometime.’

‘I’d like that,’ Harry replied, but Maddy saw the flash of anxiety in his expression as if he wasn’t sure about socialising with these men.

A red car pulled up behind the fire engine, and the driver approached them, carrying a clipboard. He too wore a fire brigade uniform, but there was something much more formal about him.

‘Right, Miss …?’ Dixons turned his attention to Maddy after acknowledging the other man.

‘Hart,’ Maddy said, blushing with embarrassment, remembering her hysterical actions the night before. ‘And I’m so sorry for being a pain last night.’

‘Think nothing of it. Your house was on fire. Most people don’t react too well to that, miss. Our boys take it all in a day’s work.’ When he smiled, creases around his eyes gathered. It was hard to tell his hair colouring under his white helmet, but his clean-shaven face was attractive enough. Age-wise, he had to be mid-forties, Maddy guessed. ‘This is Gary. He’s our fire investigation officer. He’s here to put a report together.’ Gary said a hello, tucking the clipboard under his arm and headed towards the back of Maddy’s house with a couple of the fire crew.

‘Can I see the damage?’ Maddy asked, wringing her hands and glancing over Dixons’ shoulder, watching the men enter her house.

‘Yes, but I need to let Gary take a look first with CSI – Crime Scene Investigation.’

Maddy knew what it stood for. Sounded like the American TV show … was her house fire turning into a TV show? It all felt very surreal. And why were they treating it like a crime scene?

To add to the dream – or Maddy’s worst nightmare –three vehicles pulled up, a dark Ford Focus and two vans with detailing down the side ‘Scientific Investigations’ and more men and women got out. The people who got out of the car were smartly dressed in suits. The people who emerged from the vans were dressed as police officers with black combat trousers and blue polo shirts with epaulettes and ‘FORENSICS’ printed on their back. They started to don red protective overalls and hard hats from the back of the vans. The narrow, quiet, and usually sleepy Annadale Close was full of people again. The small close felt even smaller crammed with vehicles. Neighbours twitched curtains or opened their front doors pretending to put their cat out. Maddy wanted to be whisked off by the wind, Mary Poppins’ style, and returned firmly back on her feet, once this was all over.

Harry came out of his house with a tray of mugs, steam rising from them. He’d done the tea run. He handed Maddy the first mug. ‘I made you a fresh cup of coffee.’ His smile was so gentle and caring for a man she didn’t really know. Then, clearly noticing she needed some reassurance, he said, ‘Don’t worry, this is usual procedure when the fire looks suspect.’

‘Thank you,’ she said, taking the mug from him. ‘But why is it suspicious?’

Harry shrugged and continued to give out the mugs of tea and coffee. Did he know more than he was letting on?

Maddy remained static, frozen on the spot, whilst the world continued to spin, and she observed everything going on around her. As the team in red overalls dusted her front door for fingerprints, another took photos. Fire officers worked around the back of her house, securing her back door and kitchen window. Some of the plain clothed officers were knocking on doors, with notepads in hand. It looked like they were taking statements from neighbours.

What will they all think? At least Harry was one of them. He could calm the neighbourhood gossip.

‘Hi, I’m Rachel,’ a woman in red overalls approached Maddy, shaking her out of her reverie as she stood motionless letting the earth rotate. ‘Are you the house owner?’

‘Y-yes.’

‘I need to take your fingerprints for elimination.’ Rachel waved a kit at Maddy. ‘Is there somewhere we can go?’

‘Yes, sure.’ Maddy gestured towards Harry’s house.

In Harry’s dining room table, Rachel unrolled an A4 piece of paper and took Maddy’s prints using pre-inked flimsy plastic strips. Rolling each finger and thumb into its designated space, then turning the page over, she took a print of Maddy’s palms, too.

I feel like a convict.

Rachel left Maddy to scrub the inky mess off her hands. It was stubborn and took three attempts with washing-up liquid leaving her hands red and her skin feeling dry. She kept telling herself this was all procedure and she had nothing to worry about. However, she couldn’t help feeling confused by the whole situation. She’d expected to just be let into her house to assess the damage with the crew. Not be fingerprinted by forensics!

Maddy shut Harry’s front door and joined the throng in the close once more, not exactly sure what she could do to help. She’d never felt so useless. She was met by two smartly dressed, plain-clothed officers, one female and the other male.