Firestarter

  Firestarter

  by Patsy Collins

  Copyright © 2015 Patsy Collins

  All rights reserved.

  This book is subject to copyright. It may not be copied or transmitted in any way without the permission of the copyright holder, except for brief quotes used in reviews.

  This story is a work of fiction.

  The author can be found at

  http://patsycollins.uk

  To my friend – Anne Rainbow Thomas

  With gratitude for your time, support,

  help, guidance and of course

  your red pen!

  Chapter 1

  Alice ran her fingers through her hair in case pulling the slinky dress over her head had caused static. Today her sister would have even less cause than usual to suggest she was turning into a frump. Alice couldn't think why she hadn't worn this dress before. The bright pink was a fab colour for her, just as Kate had said when she'd bought it.

  'You look hot, Sis. Almost a fire hazard!'

  'You think?'

  An assistant had joined them then. 'It's perfect for you.'

  Alice repeated her, 'You think?' but in a far milder tone.

  'Yep. Of course as long as you show those legs you could probably get away with anything, but this style really works with curves and the colour is stunning against your olive skin and all that glossy hair.'

  'Thanks.'

  'That's what I was saying,' Kate said.

  'No you didn't, you said I looked dangerous.'

  'Fire hazard is what I said, cloth ears. Want me to dial 999 and get a fireman to talk you out of it in the interests of public safety?'

  'No I don't and anyway, I'm totally over firemen.' She'd rushed back into the changing room before Kate could make a sarcastic comment.

  The dress had hung in her wardrobe ever since, halfway between the size twelves she couldn't do up if she wanted to breathe and the size sixteens which gave her room to move, but no particular desire to strut her stuff. Tony had pointed out, quite correctly, that the snug fitting, scorchingly hot pink dress wasn't suitable for the office. It didn't seem suitable for any of the places he took her to either. Cool, understated elegance was the look he apparently preferred. All buttoned up, hemmed down crisp linen. Still, today she was going to the New Forest Show with her sister, not a wine bar with him. When he got an eyeful of her in this, he might want to rethink his conservative attitude. In fact she was positive this dress was just the thing to persuade him to loosen up a bit.

  'Well, what do you think?' she asked as she half danced into her living room. She did a little twirl, then realised he hadn't so much as glanced up from his laptop.

  'Tony, I'm going now.'

  'Right.' He looked up. 'Oh, Alice, I thought we agreed that dress wasn't an appropriate item for you to wear.'

  His tone was so cold he might as well have thrown a bucket of iced water over her. She'd suggested he do that for real when the charity craze had gone round, but he'd said it was childish and had simply made a donation. Alice and Kate, wearing bikinis, had soaked each other and the pictures when posted on the Internet had got quite a reaction.

  Despite what Kate had said about the dress, there seemed to be no chance of Alice causing a fire around Tony, but he hadn't quite put out her spark.

  'For work, or an evening out, maybe it isn't the best choice, but it's perfect for a hot summer day.'

  'A day you'll be spending without me.'

  'I asked if you'd like to come,' Alice said as calmly as she could.

  'I can't just take a day off work.'

  'Not now, but you could have when I first suggested it.' Trying not to show her anger, Alice headed for the door. He was the one who'd decided the project he and his colleague Rachel were working on was more important, so he'd be spending the day with his buttoned up, hemmed down, linen-clad colleague. A colleague who was slimmer, cleverer and classier than Alice. Really it was quite understandable that one of them had jealousy issues. What was less obvious to Alice was why it was Tony who was so distrustful.

  'Wait a minute, Alice,' he called as she was about to slam the door to her flat.

  Now what? Would he make himself late for work by walking her to the bus stop and ensuring it really was her sister she met?

  'Take this.' He handed her a couple of twenty pound notes. 'Get yourself and Kate some lunch to keep your strength up for all that shopping and looking at animals or whatever it is you'll be doing.'

  'Oh. Thanks.' She was heading for the door again when it occurred to her that wasn't a very gracious response to a rather sweet gesture. She went back and kissed his cheek. 'Say hi to Rachel for me and don't work too hard.'

  'Right,' he said but his attention was already back on the screen of his laptop.

  Getting the bus to the New Forest Show was part of the tradition. Alice and Kate had done it with their parents ever since the year it rained so heavily that cars had to be towed off the grass car parks with tractors at the end of the day. When their parents no longer wanted to arrive first thing and spend all day, they'd agreed Kate was old and sensible enough to take her little sister on the bus. They still went together.

  On the journey the sisters studied the programme, taking note of entertainments they wanted to see. Kate penned a big tick against Hampshire Fire Service's demonstration.

  'You didn't ask me,' Alice said.

  'No need. You were moving so I could tell you weren't dead yet.'

  'I told you already that I don't have a thing about firemen anymore.'

  'Remember when you were six and ate all my Easter eggs and said it was the dog?'

  Alice tried to look innocent, but knew she was no more successful than she had been twenty years previously. 'I should have said the goldfish did it, at least we had one of them.'

  'My point exactly.'

  'Eh?'

  'Plausible deniability.'

  'Eh again.'

  'You're not demonstrating any, which is why I don't believe you.'

  They pulled faces at each other, then returned to their study of the programme.

  Alice's mobile buzzed to say she had an incoming text.

  'Tony checking up on you already, is he?' Kate asked.

  Ignoring her, Alice looked at her phone. The message was from Tony, saying he hoped she had fun and reminding her to photograph the eggs on plates.

  'Why does he want to see them?' Kate asked, when Alice handed over her phone.

  'He didn't believe it was a real thing.'

  'Even I can't blame him for that, it is pretty mad.'

  By the time they arrived at the, thankfully dry, show ground they had their day pretty well planned out. Just as they had since childhood they entered free competitions and charity raffles. They stroked Highland cattle, aaahed over spotted piglets and watched falconry, heavy horses and daring motor cycle displays.

  Kate took plenty of photographs, including some of the rows and rows of paper plates, each with an egg cracked onto it.

  'Honestly, how can anyone judge them?' Kate asked. 'They all just look like eggs.'

  'Not at all, young lady,' said a man wearing red trousers and a moustache which looked like it should be on a lead. He explained, at length and in detail, what the differences were and how the egg laid by his own hen showed superiority not only in the colour of the yolk, but in the clarity and texture of the white.

  'Thank you, that was most interesting, but we must go now,' Kate said the moment she could get a word in.

  The sisters speed walked out, just managing to suppress their giggles until outside the poultry marquee.

  'Right, where next?' Kate asked.

  'Nowhere until you promise not to ask any more technical questions.'

  'Oh, I promise. Double quadru
ple promise and hope to die.'

  'OK then. Let's see if we can grab some freebies.'

  They no longer collected every free pen, bag and silly cardboard hat they could get their hands on, but they did try a few samples of food and drink. Years of practice meant they managed to be in just the right position when the man demonstrating the toastie maker, or non-stick pans had food ready to distribute. They didn't compete to see who could pile the most mustard or jam onto a crumb of cracker as they once had, instead they tasted the various wines and spirits on offer. That was another reason for travelling by bus.

  'No, not that one,' Alice said, pulling Kate away from a stand offering malt whisky.

  'They do liqueurs. I fancy the one with raspberries and cream.'

  'Me too, but later.' Alice urged her sister away. 'Miles is in there. I don't want to deal with him on my day off.'

  'Which one is he?' Kate peered over Alice's shoulder.

  'In the turquoise shirt.'

  'He looks quite cute.'

  'Kittens, baby bunnies and hunky, scantily clad firemen are cute. Nothing as slimy as Miles Molde could possibly be described that way.'

  'Kittens, bunnies and what?'

  'Er, yes... well even though I'm not especially keen on firemen, I do admit they're more appealing than my creep of a boss.'

  'Anyone'd think you didn't like him.'

  Alice, who'd often moaned to Kate about her moody boss, ignored that. 'Is drink tax deductible if it's for hospitality or something?'

  'The companies must get an allowance for the samples.'

  'I didn't mean them, I was thinking about Miles. He was buying loads of that stuff, but swears he can't afford to give us pay rises or repair the building.'

  'If he buys whisky at £65 a bottle then I'm not surprised he can't.'

  'And he's buying in far more materials than we're using at the moment. Fobbed me off with some story about a fixed contract, but I'm sure he was lying.'

  'If it's a tax scam he could go to prison. Picture him behind bars next time he has a go at you, but for now just forget about him.'

  The sisters bought their favourite food and drink items. It was a family tradition that at least one Christmas present be something unusual bought from the show. Raspberry cream liqueur didn't find its way into either of their shopping bags.

  'What next?' Kate asked.

  'Lunch. All those tiny nibbles make me more hungry, not less.'

  They stopped at the stand of the bank where Kate worked. They were offered crisps and a glass of wine, from a bottle that clearly wasn't chilled. They refused both.

  'That was disappointing,' Kate said. 'I was hoping for sandwiches at least.'

  'Sandwiches? I don't think so. Hog roast, fresh strawberries and ice cold champagne is what I want.'

  'Lovely, if you're paying that is.'

  'Not me, Tony.' She produced the notes.

  'Even better.'

  They followed the delicious scent of roasting pork and joined the queue. If she'd not already been hungry, which would have been a minor miracle, Alice definitely would have been after watching the meat being carved and piled into fresh rolls. When their turn came, both girls said 'yes please' to a dollop each of tangy apple sauce and savoury stuffing as well as a piece of crisp crackling. They'd been right not to buy the wine first, they needed two hands to eat the hog roast rolls without losing half the contents.

  Once they had a plastic glass of ice cold champagne each and a large punnet of strawberries between them they found a seat where they could watch the show jumping as they ate and drank. If it hadn't been for the fact they were sitting on straw bales and were dunking the strawberries into sugar from the sachets they'd swiped from one of the fast food stands, Alice would have felt quite sophisticated. At least she had some idea when to clap for a clear round, even if she chose to yell a cheer instead rather than put her glass down and risk spilling the champagne.

  When they'd finished, Kate said, 'That was delish. Thank Tony for me, will you?'

  Alice didn't bother suggesting Kate do that herself. Whenever the two met at Alice's flat the atmosphere turned so frosty Kate usually phoned first and only visited if he was absent.

  'Let's have a look at you,' Kate said. She used her paper serviette to wipe a smear of grease from Alice's chin, made a pretence of fluffing up her hair and said, 'Shoulders back, chest out.'

  'Am I about to be inspected or something?'

  'It'll be you doing the inspecting. As you know, Hampshire Fire Brigade are located in the next aisle.'

  'I don't have some weird sixth sense which enables me to locate firemen.'

  'No, but enough interest to memorise the show-ground map.'

  'Not difficult as it's generally the same.'

  'And we generally pay them a visit. Shall we?'

  'I told you...'

  'I know, you're over all that stuff. But you still appreciate the valuable service they offer, don't you?'

  'Well yes, obviously.'

  'And it's tradition that we go see them.'

  'OK,' Alice said. 'You've talked me into it.'

  Alice noticed one fireman in particular. At around six foot and topped with a mass of curls so sun-bleached they were almost white, he'd have been hard to miss even without the uniform and sexy laugh. Surely it was Handsome Hamish from school? He'd been captain of the sixth form rugby team when she was fourteen and been her first crush. She'd actually had a fantasy that he'd become a fireman and rescue her from a burning building. But then she'd fantasised about her first boyfriend doing that, and her second and Johnny Depp and a man she'd seen on a bus. OK, maybe she did have a thing about firemen. Had. She'd had a thing about firemen but she was absolutely, totally and completely over it.

  As the sisters waited their turn, Hamish flirted outrageously with a group of ladies who looked like they'd come to sell jam in the WI marquee. He showed them his big hose and invited them to get a firm grip on it.

  'Where's your helmet, young man?' one of them asked.

  'Come round the back of the truck and I'll show you.'

  Egged on by her friends she went with him and returned wearing it. The helmet was far too big and covered her eyes, so he had to guide her. She seemed to consider that quite an improvement on walking unaided. The women were laughing so much as they walked away they had to use each other for support.

  'A couple of hot girls like you obviously need fire safety advice,' Hamish said to Alice and Kate when it was their turn. They were treated to the same sort of silly jokes and dodgy innuendo. After he'd helped them into the firetruck's cab, he said, 'I remember you two, don't I? Applemore School?'

  'Correct! I'm Kate and this is my sister Alice. Excuse her if she drools or anything, she has a slight uniform and rubber fetish.'

  Alice jabbed her elbow into her traitorous sister's ribs. Normally it would be flattering to be remembered, but she couldn't help wondering exactly what he recalled about her. Had he been aware of quite how often she went to watch rugby practices, or that he was the reason for her interest? Probably not, as she'd been too awestruck to speak to him on the few occasions they'd come face to face, but there was a risk that Kate's comments about drooling would bring it all back.

  'Either of you girls like to ring my bell?' Hamish indicated the siren.

  'Alice would.' Kate announced a sudden decision to investigate smoke detectors and jumped down from the truck.

  'Tactful girl, your sister.'

  'I might let her live to regret it.'

  'How about coming for a drink with me and we can plot your revenge?' He gave a very attractive grin which made the skin at the sides of his grey-green eyes crinkle.

  'I'd love to.'

  'Excellent. In the meantime, how do you fancy being rescued from a burning building? The girl who was going to play the part isn't well. You'd just have to wait in a model house while we bring the engine into the main arena and send up the ladder. I'd carry you down in a fireman's lift.'

  Alice
gaped. He'd just described the first part of her fireman fantasy. The second part started with the kiss of life and didn't require his uniform.

  'You'd be perfectly safe, I promise. You might have to borrow some trousers though, that rather nice dress isn't really suitable.'

  She was glad Tony didn't hear that. 'Told you so' would be all across his face. Alice sighed. If she were to take part in the display it was bound to get back to Tony who definitely wouldn't be happy. And knowing he wouldn't like it she really shouldn't do it.

  'Um I can't. Sorry. Oh...or go for a drink, if you were serious about that. I have a boyfriend.'

  He shrugged. 'Of course you have.'

  'Sorry. I should... er...'

  'It's fine. We'll ask for a volunteer from the audience. Now push that switch there and get that siren going.'

  'Will you be going to the school reunion in January?' she asked once she'd climbed down again.

  'Hopefully. A lot could happen between now and then. Who knows what might have changed?'

  'Might see you there then.'

  Hamish was flirting with his next visitors when she and Kate left; a pair of slim, flamboyantly dressed young men who giggled even more than the WI ladies. Perhaps he always acted like that and she'd been mistaken in thinking it was her relationship status he hoped might have changed by January.

  'You turned down a fireman?' Kate gasped when Alice told her what she'd missed.

  'I know! Mad or what?'

  'You must really love Tony.'

  'Well...' She still did, didn't she? It didn't mean anything that she wasn't quite able to say so or that a sarcastic little voice in her head was saying, 'Yeah, you absolutely, totally and completely love him.'

  Chapter 2

  Alice forced herself to watch the firefighters' display in the main arena. Usually it would have been one of the highlights of the day, but then she hadn't usually been given the chance to be part of it. She'd imagined such a thing before, numerous times, but her thoughts never ended with her turning down the opportunity. Absolutely the opposite.