Restless Dead (Harry Grimm Book 5) by David Gatward (english reading book TXT) 📗

their eyes. He then pulled out his notebook and a pencil. ‘Go on then, what have we got?’

‘Well, I’ve been in touch with the fire investigators,’ Rebecca said. ‘I needed to have a good understanding of what had happened, what they’d found, that kind of thing. They’re putting a report together anyway and that will be to you in just a few minutes I suspect.’

‘And?’ Harry said.

‘And it looks as though the fire was started deliberately.’

‘That’s not exactly what I wanted to hear,’ Harry said, jotting down notes as Rebecca spoke.

‘It’s not exactly what anyone wants to hear, I’m sure,’ Rebecca replied.

‘So, what do they think happened?’ Harry asked.

‘Well, it all ties in with what I’ve found,’ Rebecca said. ‘Obviously, the body was in a very poor state after the fire, but I can confirm that the deceased was James Fletcher.’

‘That’s something, anyway,’ Harry said. ‘And the fire or the smoke I’m assuming killed him?’

‘Yes,’ Rebecca said, ‘but only because he was unconscious at the time. There’s was an awful lot of alcohol in his system.’

‘Drowning his sorrows, I should think, the poor sod,’ Harry said. ‘And who can blame him?’

‘There wasn’t enough to have him so unconscious that he wouldn’t wake up in a fire, though,’ Rebecca said.

‘So, what was it, then?’ Harry asked.

‘A sleeping agent of some kind,’ Rebecca said. ‘Not sure what specific drug as yet, but I’ll let you know as soon as I can, assuming that I can, obviously.’

‘So, he mixed sleeping tablets and alcohol,’ Harry said.

‘Yes, and also no,’ Rebecca replied. ‘We’ve found nothing to suggest that he actually swallowed tablets.’

‘But you just said—’ Harry began, but Rebecca cut him off.

‘I said sleeping agent, not tablet. If there are tablets, then they were most likely crushed first and mixed with the alcohol he was drinking.’

This immediately had Harry worried. He’d met James and although he was clearly suffering from the stress of losing his wife and dealing with it in a way that hadn’t struck Harry as entirely normal, the man hadn’t come across as the kind of person who would go to the trouble of what Rebecca was suggesting. It all seemed very much out of character.

‘So, he’s somehow unconscious,’ Harry said, ‘and then his shed burns down. How?’

‘Investigators found the stove door open,’ Rebecca said. ‘A spark or a piece of burning wood could have fallen out onto the floor. As we both know, domestic fires start very easily. It doesn’t take much. They think he was in a chair by the stove when the fire started.’

‘But what you’re suggesting is that he took his own life,’ Harry said.

‘I’m not actually suggesting anything at all,’ Rebecca said, and Harry heard the bristles in her voice for the first time since she’d called. ‘I’m simply giving you the facts. The stove door was open. A fire started. But they believe an accelerant was used. As do I.’

Harry could feel the world around him crushing in, as the information he was now taking onboard served only to turn the day dark.

‘You mean petrol?’

‘Not this time,’ Rebecca said. ‘The fire started at the stove, with its open door. It spread rapidly across the body of the deceased, who is believed to have been sitting in front of it.’

‘It was where his wife used to go and sit,’ Harry said, remembering what James had said about the chair by the stove.

‘The fire is centred around the stove and the body and the chair the deceased was sitting in at the time,’ Rebecca continued. ‘It looks as though the body and the area around it were soaked in something and then set alight.’

‘And by having it near the stove, it would all look like an unfortunate accident,’ Harry said.

‘We’ve found alcohol residue in the remains of the clothing he was wearing,’ Rebecca said.

Harry rubbed his eyes till he saw sparks. ‘It could all still be an accident though, couldn’t it?’ Harry said. ‘None of this actually points to something more deliberate.’

‘I’ve given you the facts,’ Rebecca said. ‘James Fletcher was unconscious, through a mix of alcohol and drugs. The fire started at the stove, the door open. James Fletcher was, for whatever reason, unconscious in front of said fire, his clothes soaked in alcohol. I can only assume that a rather large log fell out of the stove and was still alight, because trying to get clothes to burn, even with a good dousing of alcohol, is not easy at all.’

‘God Almighty.’ Harry sighed, rubbing his eyes again, this time even harder, like he was trying to push them out of the back of his skull.

‘Anyway, I’d best be going,’ Rebecca said. ‘I’ll send my report through now.’

Harry said his goodbyes and put down the phone.

‘Well?’ Matt said.

‘Well indeed,’ Harry said, and looked at the rest of his team, wondering if he was already developing a headache from what he’d just learned. ‘I’m assuming you all got the gist of all of that, what the pathologist was saying, am I right?’

Everyone nodded.

‘So, did he kill himself or not?’ Jadyn asked.

‘That’s a good question, Constable,’ Harry said. ‘A very good question.’ He then handed Jadyn his notebook.

‘For the board?’ Jadyn asked.

‘Yes,’ Harry said, ‘though you might want to tidy it up a bit.’

Jadyn’s face fell.

‘By which I mean,’ Harry said, not wanting to dent his enthusiasm, ‘you’ve got a lot of information on there, which is great, but I think you might just need to step back a bit and have a look at it and maybe work out a way to present it more clearly.’

Jadyn did exactly as Harry had suggested.

‘It’s a right mess, isn’t it, Boss?’

‘It is,’ Harry said.

‘Looks like alphabetti spaghetti.’

With Jadyn now occupied with redoing everything he’d just done, Harry looked back to the rest of his team.

‘Right now,’ he said, ‘I’m thinking we’ve a proper mess to be dealing with. And the only way to clear up any mess, it to just get stuck in and started on it, otherwise it’ll still be