‘What do you reckon?’

Jessica heard Rowlands’s voice from just behind her. From the hum of activity, she didn’t notice him approach but he appeared next to her and together they looked at the destroyed property.

‘How long have you been here?’ Jessica asked, ignoring his question.

‘Maybe twenty minutes? I’m not sure. They had just finished putting the fire out when I arrived.’ As he finished, the constable let out a small cough. Jessica could feel something building at the top of her lungs too, almost as if there was something tickling her that was out of reach.

‘Did Martin . . . ?’ Jessica had been putting off approaching the other officers because she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer.

‘He’s in an ambulance over there,’ Rowlands said, pointing towards the other side of a fire engine. ‘I think he’s okay but no one has really spoken to him yet.’

‘What about Ryan?’

‘I don’t know. I haven’t seen him but I heard one of the fire guys shouting that everyone was out so he must be around somewhere. The neighbours are fine too.’

Jessica hadn’t noticed the attached property, largely because it was in a spot that fell between the two closest street lamps. She stepped forward, peering through the gloom. From the outline, it looked as if the house next door was in a worse state than Martin’s. While the shell of the Chadwicks’ house seemed relatively intact, the neighbouring property had almost imploded upon itself, as if someone had stood inside and sucked everything inwards. Charred silhouettes of debris were scattered across the ground in front of the house.

‘What on earth happened?’ Jessica said to herself more than anyone. She was afraid of what the answer might be. Rowlands sensed her discomfort, taking a step closer to her but not replying. ‘Do you know how Martin is?’ Jessica asked.

‘No idea, sorry.’

‘Let’s go see.’ Jessica and the constable walked around the front of the fire engine towards an ambulance which was parked in such a way that the rear doors were facing the other vehicle, shielding the inside from both the rest of the street and any overlooking properties. Jessica could see a paramedic standing next to the open doors talking to someone inside. As he spotted her walking towards him, he motioned to wave her away but she could hear Martin’s voice from inside the vehicle.

‘Can I just . . . ?’ Jessica began before the paramedic cut her off.

‘He needs space, you’ll have to come back.’

Reluctantly Jessica halted but Martin’s voice called out. ‘Sergeant Daniel?’ She didn’t want to defy the medical worker, who looked inside the ambulance and then back to Jessica before moving to one side.

Jessica and Rowlands approached the rear of the vehicle, where Martin was sitting on the end of a bed wrapped in a thick warm-looking blanket. On the bed next to him was an oxygen mask, which his hand was twitching towards.

‘Are you okay?’ Jessica asked.

Almost as if on cue, the man launched into a guttural cough before picking up the mask and taking a deep breath. ‘We can leave you . . . ?’ Jessica added. Martin’s face had a smudge of black on one of his cheeks, as if someone had tried colouring him in with a piece of charcoal. Even from where she was standing, Jessica could see the man’s eyes were painfully bloodshot.

Martin shook his head rapidly and his ‘No, it’s fine’ came out as one hurried word.

Jessica took a few moments to understand what he had said. ‘Is Ryan okay?’

The man nodded. ‘He wasn’t in.’

She wanted to go easy on Martin, knowing full well he would have a proper interview at some point. There was only one question that seemed to matter. ‘What happened?’

Martin took another breath from the mask and, surprisingly, smiled gently. ‘I was watching TV and must have fallen asleep on the sofa in the living room. All of a sudden I heard this bang from the letterbox. I was in a bit of a daze and thought it was just the postman being loud or something, so went out into the hallway. By then, the door was on fire. I’d only just woken up so I wasn’t sure if I was dreaming but it was so hot and I was coughing. Then I thought that I couldn’t be dreaming if I was coughing.’

The man had obviously experienced fire in the past but Jessica couldn’t begin to imagine how terrifying it must be to be on the inside. Alfie Thompson popped into her mind and it was impossible not to think about how he would have gone through something similar when Martin had set fire to the building he was in.

Could it really be his father who did this as some sort of revenge?

Jessica tried to push the thoughts of Alfie out of her mind. Regardless of the rights and wrongs of what had happened in the past, she knew she had to deal with what was in front of her.

‘How did you get out?’ she asked.

‘Out of the top window at the back. I had to jump.’

‘What about the back door?’ For the first time, his eyes widened in fear. ‘It was blocked,’ he said solemnly.

Jessica didn’t mean to sound so abrupt but the word just spilled out. ‘How?’

Martin spoke as quietly as before. ‘I only saw when I landed. Someone tied the door handle to the window handle, meaning neither of them could be pulled down.’

Jessica felt a chill run through her that didn’t relate to the temperature. Someone hadn’t just set fire to the house as a scare tactic, somebody had deliberately tried to burn it down with Martin inside.

‘Are you okay?’ she repeated, rather feebly.

Chadwick nodded. ‘I landed on my ankle and I’ve got a bit of a cough but . . .’ Jessica didn’t hear the end of the sentence because of a man’s voice shouting from somewhere near the front of the ambulance. The paramedic who had been standing behind her walked around but Ryan’s voice was distinctive and his anger obvious.

Jessica followed the medical worker to see Ryan stomping towards her, pointing furiously. The paramedic started to say something before Rowlands added a stern, ‘Listen, mate . . .’ Ryan shoved him aggressively to one side before moving to within a few inches of Jessica.

‘Where’s my dad?’ he stormed, spit flying from his mouth and landing on Jessica’s chin.

She winced in disgust but tried to stay calm. Ryan didn’t seem to notice. ‘He’s fine, Ryan. Can you . . .’ Jessica didn’t get a chance to add anything else as the young man barged past her, his shoulder connecting painfully with hers as he stomped over to the rear of the ambulance.

Jessica looked up to see Rowlands staring at her, clearly stunned by what had happened.

‘Are you okay?’ he asked. She didn’t say anything but her eyes must have given her anger away because the constable followed it with a gentle, ‘Stay calm, Jess.’

If she hadn’t been looking directly at him, there was every chance Jessica would have snapped but the constable’s gaze was composed and she knew he was right. She spun around, returning to the rear of the ambulance where Ryan was sitting on the floor next to his father. He looked as if the fury in his dark eyes was helping to hold back tears that could begin at any moment. His fists were balled and shaking. Martin was muttering something under his breath that Jessica didn’t catch but he stopped speaking as she neared.

Jessica caught Martin’s eye and he stared from her to his son. ‘Is everything all right?’ he asked.

‘A word,’ Jessica replied sternly, adjusting her eye line so she was glaring at Ryan. She could feel a dull thudding pain in her shoulder but didn’t want to let on.

The younger man looked up but didn’t move until Martin added a curious, ‘Ry?’

Clearly not wanting his father to be involved, Ryan clambered to his feet, finally unballing his fists. ‘I’ll be back in a minute,’ he said, not looking at either Jessica or his father.

She walked backwards until she was on a clear piece of tarmac twenty metres away from the ambulance. No one could overhear them but Jessica could see that Rowlands was standing midway between them and the emergency vehicle, watching nervously.