‘Do you mind if we discuss this outside?’ Sadie wondered nervously.
‘What? Yes, of course.’ With one last look at the door of her flat, which Nikos had closed behind himself, Katie followed her friend down the stairs.
‘What did he mean when he said—?’
‘I thought you said you heard the fire brigade…’ Katie interrupted, craning her head to look up the road for any sign of flashing lights.
‘I thought I did,’ Sadie replied apologetically.
‘When that guy—?’
‘Nikos,’ Katie supplied distractedly.
‘When Nikos said. Good grief…Nikos…?’ You could almost hear the sound of Sadie’s chin hitting her chest as the name clicked. ‘You mean he’s the one you…’
‘I married, yes. I don’t know how you can think about that when your house is on fire and it’s all my fault. You should be screaming abuse at me.’
‘I will if it will make you feel better, but first tell me about that incredible man.’
‘There’s nothing to tell.’ Nikos was the one subject Katie wanted to avoid. Although the way things were going it didn’t seem likely she would have much choice. Her choices were narrowing in other areas too. Her hopes of concealing the marriage from Tom now seemed hopelessly optimistic. She found that she was no longer thinking in terms of if, but when her sordid secret would be revealed.
‘He turned up tonight—apparently he and Tom went to university together.’
‘I don’t believe it!’ Sadie gasped, clearly startled by Katie’s taut explanation. ‘What were the odds on that? That must have been a bit awkward for you.’
‘Ever so slightly,’ Katie agreed drily.
‘Has he spilled the dirt to Tom?’
‘Not yet, but it’s only a matter of time.’ For the hundredth time in the past two minutes she glanced tensely over her shoulder towards the house. ‘Shouldn’t he be out by now?’
‘It’s only been a couple of minutes, Katie,’ Sadie soothed. ‘You know, I don’t know how much you paid for him, but if it had been common knowledge he was available on the open market I’m betting the price would have been higher,’ she joked with a lascivious grin.
‘I did not buy him!’ Katie denied hotly. ‘Well, not like that, it was a business arrangement, nothing more.’
Sadie shrugged pacifically. ‘If you say so. Are you sure you two haven’t met since the wedding?’
‘I don’t think I’d have forgotten.’ No, an encounter with Nikos Lakis was something that stayed in a person’s memory for ever like…like…eating bad shellfish, she thought sourly.
‘Fair enough. It’s just that you two don’t talk or act like people who have as good as just met…’
Katie never had to respond to this thought-provoking observation because at that exact moment they both heard the unmistakable and very welcome shriek of a siren.
Hands folded against her chest, Katie began to jump up and down. ‘They’re here!’ she yelled, silent tears slipping silently down her face.
Both women watched with relief as the engine drew up outside the house, disgorging several capable-looking uniformed figures. The noise of their arrival had attracted the attention of several neighbours in the tree-lined avenue, who came outdoors to investigate the activity in the normally sedate neighbourhood.
‘Have I ever told you about my fireman fantasy?’ Sadie caught the tail-end of Katie’s incredulous expression and looked sheepish. ‘Well, you have Nikos—you can hardly begrudge me a fireman.’
‘He’s not my Nikos,’ Katie retorted.
‘If you say so, but be a sport, Katie, I’m trying to distract myself and that one—’ she pointed ‘—is absolutely gorgeous…’
Katie was no longer listening; she was busy running towards the fireman who had inspired Sadie’s lustful fantasy.
She caught his arm and tried to speak; considering the urgency of the occasion, this seemed a bad time to lose her voice. The fire-fighter, who was probably used to dealing with people gibbering with fear, exuded a calm aura that helped Katie finally get her words out.
‘Th-there’s a man still in there,’ she told him beckoning towards the window on the top floor.
‘Has he been in there long?’
Katie swallowed and pulled distractedly at her long hair. The sooty smell that came from it made her nose wrinkle—no doubt the rest of her smelt just as terrible and as for how she looked… Aah, how shallow am I, thinking about my lipstick when all this is going on? ‘I don’t know…it seems like a long time.’ Her lips trembled and she scrubbed at her dirty face. ‘It’s my fault,’ she confessed. ‘I think I left my iron on…I knew I’d forgotten something, and now I’ve killed N…Nikos and Alexander.’
‘There’s more than one person?’ he queried sharply.
‘Alexander is a cat,’ Sadie explained for the second time. ‘Katie, he’ll be fine. He didn’t look like an easy man to kill to me.’ Sadie smiled at the fire-fighter. ‘I’m the owner, officer.’
‘Hello. Is there any means of access other than the stairs?’
‘There is a fire escape around the side of the house.’
Katie, not placated, shrugged off the comforting arm that slid around her shoulders. ‘I’m a selfish cow, I sent him back in there for a…’ Her lips began to tremble as she fearfully contemplated the consequences of her actions.
Before she could reveal to the fireman what Nikos had gone back in for there was an almighty deafening explosion as her bedroom window exploded. The fireman, his arms outstretched, shielded the two women as glass from above showered on the garden below.
‘It would be better, ladies, if you waited a little farther back until the ambulance arrives.’
Katie saw his mouth move, she heard the words, but she felt as though she were in a black hole; she felt numb.
Sadie nodded, getting a firmer grip on the box containing family photos and treasures that she had automatically snatched up before they’d left the house. She urged Katie backwards while the burly fire-fighter, shouting instructions to his crew, strode off purposefully.
Katie resisted and Sadie looked with concern as the slim figure who was standing gazing with horror-filled eyes at the wicked tongues of orange flames shooting out of the window pushed her away.
‘Come on, Katie, we should get out of their way,’ Sadie suggested gently. ‘Mrs James next door has put the kettle on.’
Katie, her arms wrapped tightly about herself, continued to rock back and forth. Under the layer of grime her skin was paper-white. ‘He’s dead, isn’t he? I mean, if he was in there he has to be, doesn’t he? Nobody could survive that.’
Sadie shrugged helplessly. ‘I really don’t know.’ The muffled keening sound that suddenly emerged from Katie’s bloodless lips before she choked it back made the hairs on the back of Sadie’s neck stand on end.
The next sequence of events occurred with such bewildering speed that Sadie didn’t have a chance to do anything but yell a warning to the fire-fighters as her friend, running as if all the fiends of hell were at her heels, suddenly began to pelt towards the door of the house.
Katie was never going to make it there, the two fire-fighters aiming to cut her off were closing fast, but before they had an opportunity to do so she tripped and fell.