Divorced, Yet He Can't Let Me Go novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: The Doorbell

The captain of Engine Four was wiping down a hose coupling when I walked into the bay with June on my chest.

He was about fifty, with a grey moustache and old burn scars on both forearms.

"Help you, ma'am?"

"I'm Georgina Wentworth. You were first on scene at Alder Street."

His hands slowed on the rag.

"I remember you," he said. "You were in the upstairs window."

"Did you take photographs of my front hall?"

"I did."

"Was there a red gas can on the floor?"

He looked toward the office, then at the open bay doors, then at me.

"Five-gallon, red plastic. Cap off. It was lying on its side by the stairs."

My knees nearly gave way.

"The marshal doesn't have those photos."

"I uploaded them to our server that night. They were gone by Tuesday." He set the rag down. "A man from the homeowner's law firm came with a letter. The chief signed off before I heard about it."

"Will you say that to a judge?"

"If a judge subpoenas me, I'll say every word of it." He rubbed his moustache. "I can't walk into court on my own. I'd lose my pension. Get me something with a paper trail."

"Like what?"

"Alder Street has a camera on every third porch, Mrs. Wentworth. Go knock on doors."

I went home with the baby and a sore throat and started knocking.

By the third house I had a coffee and a lecture about my husband's bad temper.

By the sixth I had a dog on my foot.

The seventh house was directly across from our burnt one.

A thin woman in her seventies opened the door with a cat on her shoulder.

"You're the one from the fire," she said. "You look better than I expected."

"Thank you. I need a favour. Do you have a doorbell camera?"

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