The Sound of Broken Glass Part 32

Then, she saw a flicker of light in the gap between the boards covering the windows. Not yellow. Orange. The light danced, grew brighter.

Galvanized into movement, she slid her way across the street, b.u.mping into the rubbish skip and grabbing on to it for purchase. Panting, she tried to make out the sounds coming from inside the house. Was that voices, or did she hear the crackle of flames?

The steps might have been Everest, but clinging to the side rail, she made it to the top and pushed open the door.

Joe recovered first. He was up and had managed to get between Andy and the door while Andy was still trying to get to his feet, woozy from the blow to the head.

Once upright, Andy stomped at the nearest flames and tried to shout, "We have to get out!" but the words were a croak.

"What? Afraid of a little fire?" Joe was balanced on the b.a.l.l.s of his feet, and an extension cord from the builders' debris suddenly appeared, stretched between his hands.

"You're mad," said Andy. "You're absolutely freaking mad." Futilely, he tried swiping at the fire with Joe's scarf, which had fallen to the floor, but the fuzzy threads at the end sizzled and popped when the fire caught them. Andy dropped the scarf, his head swimming from even that effort. "Let me out. This whole place will go."

But when he stepped towards the door, Joe raised the cord. "I don't think so. Or you can try your luck getting past me-"

The door swung open.

She stood, a dark silhouette lit by the white aureole of snow, but now he would have recognized her anywhere.

"Andy? Oh, my G.o.d, the fire-Andy, are you all right?"

Nadine started across the room towards him, but Joe, who had been hidden from her by the open door, sprang forwards and looped the power cord over her head, tightening it behind her neck.

She gasped and twisted, but when Joe hissed, "Don't move," she went still.

"Let her go!" Andy glanced at the flames, spreading in little rivulets across a trail of spilled sawdust on the floor. Hadn't he read somewhere that sawdust would ignite? "Do whatever you want with me, but let her go." He was pleading now.

"Oh, I don't think so." Above Nadine's head, Joe smiled. "I wanted her, too-did you think I didn't? But I didn't know where to find her again. And now she's come right to me, thanks to you."

"Joe, please," said Andy, and saw Nadine's eyes go wide in her frightened face. The fire was spreading, popping, and he coughed as the smoke reached his lungs.

"The police will think you killed her. Maybe they'll even think you killed the others. Then you were overcome by the fire before you could get out." Joe gave a vicious yank on the power cord.

Nadine reached for it, trying to pull it away from her throat, but Joe twisted harder. He kept the pressure up until her hands fell away and she slumped against him.

"b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" shouted Andy. The word seemed to echo down the years, entwined with memory and dreams. He'd backed up against the worktable, and now he fumbled behind him, his hand closing on something cold and thin.

A screwdriver blade. He pulled it towards him until his fingers closed tightly over the molded plastic of the handle. Then he launched himself across the room.

Releasing his hold on Nadine, Joe raised his hands to defend himself. His mistake.

Nadine crumpled at his feet. Then Andy was on him. His weight and momentum took them both down, and the blade of the screwdriver found its target.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR.

Walking through the ruins gives a taste of what an extraordinary sight the palace must have made. It indicates how powerful the trace of something that has essentially vanished can be. In the case of the Crystal Palace, I think that's because its real power lay not in Joseph Paxton's innovative design for the iron-and-gla.s.s structure alone-it was always its appeal to the imagination that mattered most.

-www.sarahjyoung.com They were halfway along Westow Hill when Melody saw that the traffic ahead had come to a dead standstill. "Pull up on the pavement and put on the flashers," she told Gemma, who had stayed behind the wheel of the Clio. "We'll have to go the rest of the way on foot. And I checked the sat nav. We can't get down Woodland Road in any case-it's one way coming up."

She pulled a Metropolitan Police sign from the glove box and put it against the front windscreen as Gemma nosed the car up onto the curb.

The pavement was less icy as they hurried towards Woodland Road, but when they reached the junction, the north wind hit their faces with a frigid blast.

"Oh, b.u.g.g.e.r," said Melody, looking down. The road surface was already an inch deep in white powder. They could hear tires spinning as a car halfway up the incline tried to get traction.

"Do you remember the flat number?" asked Gemma.

"I think so. It's not far down."

"Ready?" Gemma gave her a quick look. "Let's go."

They had made it only a few yards when Melody saw it. Smoke, mixed in the dizzying eddies of snow, coming from a house a little lower down on the opposite side of the street. "There," she shouted back to Gemma, pointing. "There's a fire. I think it's the house."

They skidded the rest of the way, regardless of safety, crossing the street when they were opposite the house and could see the smoke pouring from the cracks in the boarded windows.

Melody slipped at the bottom of the steps and pain seared her knee as she went down on the ice-encrusted concrete. Her knee throbbing, she gritted her teeth and pulled herself up by the railing. Behind her, she heard Gemma calling 999 for the fire brigade.

When she heard the high-pitched, keening scream from inside the house, she stopped for an instant, terror gripping her. Andy. Dear G.o.d, Andy.

Closer to, Melody could see that the front door stood partially open. She pulled herself up the remaining steps, then stopped before she careened through the door, realizing she was weaponless. Even a standard-issue baton would have given her some defense. Then the scream came again. Feeling Gemma at her shoulder, she pushed open the door and shouted, "Police!"

The smoke blinded her. Blinking, she coughed and ducked lower. The scream came again. Turning towards it, she made out not Andy, but Joe Peterson, curled into a fetal ball on the floor, his hands clutching his stomach.

A hoa.r.s.e voice said, "Melody." A few feet from Peterson, Andy sat against a wall, his face so covered in blood that he was almost unrecognizable. In his lap he cradled a woman.

A power cord dangled loosely from her neck. Nadine. It must be Nadine.

"He tried to- He tried to strangle her," croaked Andy. "But she's not-"

There was a crack and a burst of flame from the back of the room.

"We've got to get out." Head down, Gemma came to them.

"Are you all right?" Melody asked Andy urgently, frightened by the blood.

"Head cut. Just . . . woozy. Couldn't lift her."

"Right. Come on." She and Gemma eased Nadine from his lap and lifted her up, supporting her under her shoulders. Andy clambered unsteadily to his feet, and the three of them dragged Nadine towards the door. She stirred and began to protest, coughing. "Easy, easy," said Melody. "We've got you. We're almost out."

Joe Peterson's screams had dropped to animal-like cries. "Don't leave me," he moaned. "You can't leave me, you b.a.s.t.a.r.ds."

"We'll come back. And the fire brigade's on its way," shouted Gemma as they pulled Nadine out the door. They all took gulps of fresh air, then, eyes streaming, Melody gasped, "How the h.e.l.l are we going to get her down the steps?"

Then figures appeared in the blowing snow, neighbors come to help. There were voices, then helping hands to steady them as Melody, Gemma, and Andy managed to ease Nadine down the steps without any of them falling. Nadine began to cough again.

"Blankets," called Gemma. "Can someone get blankets?"

"Oh, G.o.d," whispered Andy. Beneath the blood, his face was ashen. "I thought she was dead."

Melody gave his arm a squeeze. "I think she's okay." She pointed back at the house. "Joe. What happened to him?"

"He was- He was waiting. He jumped me, then tried to strangle me. Then Nadine. I stabbed him." Andy's voice shook. "Screwdriver. I think it was a Phillips."

More smoke rolled out the door. Dread clutched at Melody. "Gemma, come on. We can't wait for the fire brigade or the medics. Andy, you stay with Nadine. We've got to get Joe out or he'll burn."

"Melody, no." Andy grabbed her arm. "You can't go back in. It's not safe!"

"I can't leave him. I'll be all right." She gave him what she hoped was a rea.s.suring smile, then followed Gemma.

Sirens wailed in the distance, but Melody didn't know how long it would take the emergency vehicles to get through the traffic, and even when they did, they wouldn't be able to get down the hill.

"b.l.o.o.d.y steps," said Gemma as they reached the bottom. She paused for a moment, then slipped out of her coat and threw it over the first couple of risers. "But I'm not leaving Joe Peterson in that house. If he's murdered two people and almost killed a third or a fourth, I d.a.m.ned well want him to stand trial."

Melody's old down coat covered the rest of the risers. They tamped the fabric down, then climbed the steps and ducked back in the door, locating Joe as much by memory as by sight. The smoke was heavier now, the heat fierce.

"Get one shoulder. I'll get the other. We'll have to drag him," said Gemma through a strangled cough. Melody's eyes were stinging.

Joe was whimpering, but when they got their arms under his shoulders and began to pull him towards the door, he screamed, then started to struggle and swear at them.

"It hurts, it hurts. You b.i.t.c.hes! You're killing me." Even with their arms under his shoulders, he managed to reach for the handle of the screwdriver that they could now see protruding from his gut. A dark, wet patch surrounded it and Melody could smell blood beneath the smoke. "Get it out!" he screamed as Melody yanked his arm back.

"Don't be an idiot. You want to bleed to death? Leave it alone." She and Gemma backed out as fast as they could, and when they were out the door there were again helping hands to transfer him down the steps.

"Careful, careful," Gemma said. "Move him as little as possible."

In the light, Melody could see that Joe's face was contorted with pain, his lips drawn back from his teeth in a feral snarl.

The sirens were close now. When she looked up, she saw blue lights flas.h.i.+ng at the top of the street and welcome figures in blazing safety-green jackets moving down the hill.

Her cheeks felt scorched and her knees were threatening to buckle. Leaving others to tend to Joe Peterson, she stepped back, searching for Andy.

Turning, she saw him sitting on the far curb, his face still a smear of blood, a blanket-wrapped Nadine huddled in the curve of his arms. Then their figures were obscured by the whirl of snow and ash.

The first ambulance had taken Joe Peterson, the second, Nadine. Andy, protesting, had also been transported to Casualty at King's College Hospital in a panda car, to have his head wound cleaned and treated.

The fire brigade had managed to run hose down from Westow Hill. They'd kept the fire from spreading to the neighboring houses, but the flat itself was gutted. Gemma hoped the new owners had been well insured.

Having had to abandon Melody's Clio, which was well and truly stuck on Westow Hill, she and Melody had been given a lift-a very slow lift-to the hospital in one of the area cars. In the hospital toilet, Gemma scrubbed the soot from her face and hands and brushed her hair, but there was no way she was going to disguise the smell of smoke emanating from her clothes. She'd have to explain when she got home, and Duncan was not going to be happy when he learned she'd run-twice-into a burning building. Oh, well.

She came back into the waiting area to find Melody looking pale and exhausted. "Are you all right?" she asked.

"All's well that ends well, isn't it?" Melody tucked a slightly singed bit of hair behind her ear and smiled, but Gemma could see that her heart wasn't in it.

"Andy's going to be all right."

"I know," Melody answered, not meeting her gaze. "Should we see him first?"

"No. I think we should talk to Nadine. There are still some things I don't understand."

Nadine Drake had been treated for heavy bruising on her throat, but the A and E staff had informed Gemma that she was not seriously injured and could be interviewed.

Joe Peterson would not be answering questions any time soon. He was being prepped for surgery to determine the extent of the damage from his abdominal wound.

They found Nadine in a curtained cubicle, sitting, propped up on a gurney. As they entered, an aide was spreading another warmed blanket over her. "She's still a little shocked and cold," the aide told them. "And her throat's very sore, so don't stay long."

It was Gemma's first real look at Nadine. Even with her dark hair still stringy and damp from the snow, and her face pale from shock and streaked with ash, she was lovely. Full lips, a straight nose, high cheekbones-it was the sort of face that aged well. But it was her eyes that held Gemma. Deep and dark, they held intelligence, pain, and, even now, a flash of humor.

Looking up, she gave Gemma and Melody a tentative smile. "I think I have you two to thank," she said, her voice hoa.r.s.e. "And Andy. Are you sure he's all right?"

"He's fine," Gemma told her. "He's just having the cut on his head seen to. It looks much worse than it is. Now." She pulled up a plastic chair, although Melody remained standing by the curtains. "Nadine-do you mind if I call you Nadine?-I think I understand part of what happened today. Andy got a note purporting to be from you, but it was actually from Joe Peterson, in an attempt to lure him to a place where he could be easily attacked. What I don't know is how you came to be there, too."

"I followed him. Andy, I mean, not Joe. I didn't know about Joe. I still can't quite believe it." Nadine sipped some water from a straw in a plastic cup and cleared her throat. "I asked in Denmark Street this morning until someone told me where Andy was recording. On my way there, I saw him walking along Westow Hill. I wasn't certain he'd gone to the old house, but then I saw the flames . . . "

Pausing, she sipped more water, then shook her head and sank back against the pillow. "Andy could have been killed. We both could have been killed. And none of this would have happened if I hadn't come back to England," she added, her voice catching. "I thought I'd put that part of my life behind me, everything that had happened years ago. But being in London again . . . It began to prey on me. I-" Nadine swallowed and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, Gemma almost looked away from the raw regret in her gaze. "I felt so guilty for abandoning Andy without so much as a good-bye. I knew he was a child at risk, that his mother couldn't care for him, and yet I-I failed him. And myself. That haunted me for years. So when I first saw his name in the window of the club in Denmark Street, I couldn't believe it. I felt so lost here, and that thread from the past seemed . . . " She sighed. "A sign, I suppose. I convinced myself that was why I'd been brought back to London, to make amends. I started to follow the band's gigs. I just wanted to speak to him once, to say I was sorry and to see if he was all right."

"So it was Andy you went to see at the White Stag on Friday night?" asked Gemma. "Not Vincent Arnott?"

"G.o.d, no, not Arnott." Nadine shuddered. "I couldn't believe it when I saw him drinking at the bar. I thought I was delusional. I still wasn't certain it was him until there was some sort of scuffle, then he-Arnott-went over and started shouting at Andy."

She stopped and Gemma waited, not prompting her. The murmurs and clinks of the busy hospital ward flowed around them.

How long had it been, Gemma wondered, since Nadine had talked to anyone about her past-if ever? Guy, her boss in Paris, had seemed unaware of her reasons for leaving England.

"There was a girl," continued Nadine, after some more water. "Maybe in her early twenties. On her own. I watched him start to chat her up and I felt sick. That sanctimonious b.a.s.t.a.r.d. And I was angry, so angry that I couldn't think of anything else then, not even Andy. He-Arnott-all those years ago, made me out to be some sort of pervert, a violator of children, when I'd done nothing, nothing but try to be a good teacher. And there he was, trying to seduce a child."

"What did you do?" Gemma asked softly when Nadine fell silent.

"I had to stop him. The girl was laughing, flattered. When she went to the loo, I went after her. I told her I knew him and that I'd just seen his wife come in, looking ready to kill. The girl ran out of the pub after that like a rabbit, and I'm sure Arnott had no idea what had happened to his conquest."

"So you . . . consoled him . . . "

Nadine nodded. "I'd had a bit too much to drink by then. False courage. I only meant to let him make a play, then I was going to laugh at him, humiliate him. But then he . . . he treated me like a common tart. As if I should be grateful for his attention. And he-I could tell he didn't recognize me." She bunched the hospital blankets between her hands. "After everything he'd done to ruin my life, I was n.o.body. n.o.body! That was the worst thing."

"So when he suggested the hotel-"

"I had to see what he meant to do. I wanted to prove that he was the one who was the pervert." Nadine leaned forward, still clutching the blankets, her voice rasping with the effort of speaking. "He had me wait at the fire door while he got a room. The place was disgusting, but it was obvious he'd been there often. Once in the room, he undressed and asked me to tie him up. I did what he asked. He was-enjoying it. It was-vile." Her face grew paler and she hesitated before going on. "I played along. I used my scarf to gag him. Then I had him turn over, facing me, and I told him it was part of our little game." Nadine swallowed again, coughed, and took a deep rasping breath. "Then-Then I stood there, looking down at him, and I told him I hoped he'd enjoy explaining himself to the hotel staff in the morning. The expression on his face . . . I felt such triumph. He still had no idea who I was, or what he had done to me, but possibly for the first time in his life, he had no control. And I just-walked out. It seemed like the ultimate revenge." She lifted a shoulder in a gesture that seemed particularly French.