What Happens in the Alps.... T Williams A

       Chapter 7

      Annie had only just got up and dressed on Monday morning when the doorbell rang. It was still early and Paolina hadn’t arrived yet, so Annie went to the door. To her surprise, she was confronted by two large, uniformed firemen. Flashing blue lights reflected up the stairwell from the road.

      ‘You called the fire brigade, signorina?’ They were both wearing shiny helmets with visors, along with dark overalls with fluorescent yellow stripes running across their chests. Annie felt quite intimidated by their sheer presence.

      ‘No, not me. There must be some mistake.’

      The two men exchanged glances. The smaller of the two, wearing a red helmet, produced a clipboard and read off a printout. ‘At 0813 this morning, a call was received at emergency headquarters from a signorina Annalisa Brevia, informing us of a serious fire at this address. Was that you, signorina?’

      Annie was perplexed. ‘My name’s Annie Brewer, not Annalisa whatever you said, but I definitely didn’t make any emergency call. There’s no fire here. You can see for yourselves.’ She opened the door wide and beckoned them in. It didn’t take long before they were satisfied that there was no fire. They weren’t happy, though.

      ‘We don’t like hoax calls, signorina. If we find out you were responsible for calling us out, you could be in serious trouble. Tell me, have you got a mobile phone?’ The fireman with the clipboard was obviously the spokesman.

      Annie pulled out her phone and showed them the number. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t match the number on their printout. Maybe it was because she was looking so baffled, but the man’s tone began to change from aggressive to something more conciliatory. He looked round the reception area. ‘So, what is this, signorina? A hotel?’

      Considering there were two signs outside indicating that this was a school, Annie wasn’t overly impressed by his powers of observation. She explained that it was a private English-language school and repeated her assertion that she had nothing to do with what had been, pretty clearly, a hoax. She was just coming round to wondering if this might in some way be linked to the attempted theft of her sign when the fireman demonstrated that he wasn’t as silly as he looked.

      ‘Do you have any enemies, signorina?’

      She shook her head. ‘I don’t think so, but a funny thing happened on Friday night.’ She went on to tell them about the sign, mentioning that Beppe from the pizzeria would be able to vouch that she was telling the truth. As she spoke, they both began to relax. Finally, the fireman with the red helmet replaced the clipboard under his arm and straightened up.