Smoke Alarm Read Online Free Page A

percentage of burns.’
    â€˜Oh,’ he said, looking a little disappointed. ‘Simple when you know how.’
    She gave a short laugh. ‘Then I shouldn’t have explained.’
    Randall returned to his story. ‘The fire services haven’t been able to do a thorough search of the house yet,’ he said. ‘It isn’t safe. So we can’t confirm exactly what happened but it already appears,’ he said carefully, ‘that there are troubling features.’ His frown deepened so his eyes seemed to sink further into his face. Then he gathered himself together. ‘Basically,’ he said, and she could almost anticipate his next words, ‘accelerants were used.’
    â€˜Poured in through the letterbox?’
    His frown deepened. ‘No. You’d have to look at the house to understand. It has a huge hall with little furniture and stone walls. Any accelerant poured through the letterbox might well have had little effect.’
    â€˜I see.’
    â€˜One of the downstairs windows had been forced. We think that the arsonist entered the house through the window. It appears that petrol was poured in a number of places but the fire started in the downstairs lounge. Jude Barton has drawn us a plan of the house. The seat of the fire was right beneath Mrs Barton’s bedroom.’
    Without allowing her any time to absorb this he continued: ‘The old man had a bedroom and a bathroom on the first floor, as did the daughter, Adelaide, and Christie herself. All three, it would appear, died in the fire. Jude, the son, had rooms on the top floor.’
    Martha narrowed her eyes. ‘And he survived?’
    Randall nodded.
    â€˜How?’
    â€˜Naturally he’s shocked and sedated and very upset but he claims he was awake and smelt the smoke. He says he tried to get down the staircase but the smoke and flames made it impassable. Their cleaner, a lady called June Morrison, rang this morning and has been very helpful with further information about both the house and the family. The top floor was originally the servants’ quarters and had a separate staircase which is very narrow and has a stout pitch pine door which opens on to the first-floor landing and is usually kept closed. It was probably this that saved Jude’s life – it kept the smoke out of his room. That and, because of the narrowness of the staircase, he says he kept a rope ladder in his bedroom. He climbed down the back of the building on this, anchored to a metal ring which was already attached to the wall.’
    â€˜So how did he get the burns?’
    â€˜He says he tried to get to his mother and sister, entering through the back door into the kitchen, but when he opened the door it was full of smoke. Roberts dragged him out.’ His mouth twisted. ‘I can’t decide whether to discipline him or give him an award.’
    Martha nodded. ‘So it appears that the three people on the first floor all died, while Nigel Barton was away. And Jude? How is he?’
    â€˜He’ll be OK. Shocked but the hospital have him stabilized on oxygen and a drip and say he’ll be OK. They may transfer him later for surgery on his hands to one of the burns centres, probably Birmingham or Stoke, but for now he stays where he is at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital. He’s fully conscious, obviously able to give us a statement.’
    Martha nodded. And again waited. Something else was troubling Alex Randall. But DI Randall was a cautious man who tended to check his concerns before he voiced them. She had come to realize that about him in the years they had worked together.
    He drew in a deep breath, as though about to dive off a high board. ‘One of the fire officers managed to gain preliminary access to the building this morning. Apparently, according to him, the doors to the rooms of Mrs Barton and Adelaide appeared to be locked. The body of a woman was found lying near the door of Mrs