Disclaimers – I own no-one
Rating – PG13
Summery – Ardeth is asked to help out the fire chief in London.
London's Burning
About two months after Ahm Shere, the O'connells were back in London. Evy had taken over the British Museum for a period of a year and then she had plans to go back to Egypt and carry on looking for some tombs.
Jonathan had got a job on a newspaper as a photographer through a friend of Evy's. Tanith had grown up with Evy and then stayed in London while they had gone to Egypt. He was good and she got him the job and he was busy covering some of the top stories of the time and was enjoying it.
Ardeth had joined Evy, three months into her job because he had a lot of information that could help with the museum, plus they had a big clean up job after the damage caused that fateful night. He had left Masala in charge and unless anything major happened, he was going to be in London for about two months.
At a meal one night at their house, Rick had a friend over from the local fire brigade, well in fact he was Chief Fire Officer of the area. He was there mainly to talk about security and fire safety at the museum.
"Why are you so concerned about the museum?" asked Rick.
"Well in the past ten days there have been four major fires in the area. We are just making sure all large buildings are taking proper precautions"
Evy brought in some coffee and they all sat down. He was a man of about 45 and had been with the fire service all his life. It ran in the family and now they were getting ready for the rumors of a war that could start in Germany and escalate over in Britain.
"Am I to take it that you think these fires are deliberate then? she asked.
"We don't know…yet…we had hoped someone would be coming to help us investigate it but the man has been called away…abroad in fact. So we have to rely on our own investigations and that could take time as we are busy with normal things" said Herman.
At that moment Ardeth came in, he had been working late at the museum, he was introduced to Herman.
"Now here is the man you want" said Rick "If there is an arsonist, he'll find them"
Ardeth looked puzzled but Rick explained everything and the man blushed slightly.
"You exaggerate my talents Rick, I am not that good" he replied.
"Well if you could help us, I would be very grateful. I have heard about the Med-jai from Rick and it is an honor to meet their Chieftain"
They all sat and talked then Ardeth finally agreed to help. He would go along to their headquarters the next day and then go to the buildings concerned. He had done similar work in Cairo for the police before and he enjoyed a challenge. Plus it would get him out of the museum for a while. As much as he enjoyed the work, he didn't like being cooped up in a room all day. Of course there would be no mummies involved.
A shadow crept into the back of a large warehouse about four miles from the house. It was full of shelves with goods exported from abroad. There were toys, clothes and furniture. Not many of these places existed in London, it was a new type of thing, exports from foreign countries in that sort of bulk.
Down in the basement, piles of old rags were being covered in petrol with a trail leading out to the door. Then a lighter was thrown onto the piles. Within seconds the whole basement was ablaze.
A figure ran up the stairs and into the deserted street, jumped into an old car and drove away, leaving the place to burn.
The phone rang in the hall and Evy went to answer it, she came back and said it was for Herman. When he returned, he looked worried.
"Something serious?" asked Rick.
"Yes there is another fire, a warehouse about four miles from here. I'll have to go"
"I'll come with you" said Ardeth.
"Okay but be careful, don't get too close."
Ardeth was dressed in trousers and a loose shirt, not the clothes he was used to. It was more convenient than those long robes and his swords, he would have looked out of place walking the streets in those. Grabbing a coat he went to follow Herman out of the door.
In fact Rick went as well and as they rounded the corner of the East India Dock Road, they saw the fire. The whole place was ablaze from end to end. Ardeth had never seen a fire so big and he wondered how on earth they were going to put it out.
Fire engines were everywhere, they had come from all over London and were trying hard to save the place, which wouldn't be an easy task.
"God Herman, you have your work cut out here" said Rick.
"I know, now be careful" he shouted.
The noise made it hard to hear anything and all they could do was stand there and watch. Then Ardeth spotted Jonathan taking some pictures. He tapped him on the shoulder.
"Ardeth what are you doing here?" he shouted.
The man told him that they were there with the Fire Chief.
"The newspaper wanted me to cover this one. I'll see you later"
He disappeared up the other end of the building, just in time to get a picture of the side of the building as it fell. By 3am, Ardeth and Rick went back to the house. The fire was still blazing although it would be out by later that morning.
About 10am there was a phone call for Ardeth, he was to meet Herman at the burnt out building in half an hour.
"Be careful Ardeth" said Evy "It will be dangerous now"
"Don't worry, I'll be fine. Now you are sure you don't mind me helping this man. I could have said no"
"Don't be silly, I know you hate being in that room all day. I can manage"
"Okay, I'll see you later"
She waved to him as he got into the car that Herman had sent round for him and they drove off out of the gates.
At the newspaper Tanith was having an argument with the editor about an article being cut out of the morning edition.
"Come on, all I want to know is why you cut this" she asked.
"Because of what you were implying" he replied.
"What do you mean. All I wrote was that there had been five major fires in the past two weeks"
"Yes and that implies that they are linked"
"Well there is a good chance they are. We never get that many fires in such a short time all in the same area"
The editor got up and opened the door for her. He was a plump man and smoked a cigar, he had been editor for many years and what he said went.
"Look get in touch with Herman, the Chief Fire Officer. I heard that he has a man from Egypt helping him investigate. See if you can find out anything concrete, then I'll print it"
From Egypt she thought, now Herman was a friend of Ricks and she was a friend of his wife's. Could the man helping be Ardeth bay. She had met him a few times and thought how gorgeous he was. They had got on quite well. She would ring Evy, no better still she would go and see her.
Maybe this man was there. Tanith was tall with black shoulder length hair, not that pretty but had a very kind and loving nature.
Ardeth arrived at the building, Herman met him but then got a message to go back to the station before he could even show Ardeth round.
"Look I'll be back in a while. That is the owner, Whiting, now be careful, that place is a death trap"
"Herman, can you let me have all the reports of the recent fires then I can go over them"
The man nodded and said he would send them over to Evy's later. Ardeth walked up the stairs on the side of the building and looked for the owner. The place was still smoldering and was completely gutted. Firemen were still throwing burnt out goods out of the top windows to the ground.
"Mr Whiting, my names Ardeth, I've been asked to look into all the recent fires round here"
"Hello, glad you're here but I don't know what you hope to find"
"Well you can never tell, all fires are different and are a bit like women, most have a story to tell"
They carefully walked round the top floor and Ardeth took notes and some samples, asking questions as he went. They ended up down in the basement about an hour later.
"Who locked up last night?"
"I did, no-one else has the key" said the man.
Ardeth scrapped some charcoal from one of the beams and put it into a little bag.
"What about electrical things, anything left on that could have started the fire. If I am not mistaken, it started down here in the basement. The wood is burnt more here, in several areas in fact."
"No not really, there was a old desklamp upstairs but no, nothing in the basement. What did you mean several places?"
Ardeth looked at him and showed him the different places where the wood all looked similar.
"Well I would say the fire was started on purpose"
Mr Whiting looked shocked and turned pale.
"Arson, but why…why me…why here?"
"Are you alright?" asked Ardeth.
The man nodded and said it was just a shock to find that it could have been started on purpose.
"Look I'm sorry to have to ask but are you insured?"
"Yes but this isn't an insurance job, I can assure you. I haven't even increased the insurance for about three years. I am going to be out of pocket because of this, all my money is tied up in this business"
"I had to ask. I will check though. Okay Mr Whiting, I think that is all I can do for now. We'll be in touch in the next few days. Now I suggest you leave here, this place is getting more unsafe by the minute"
The man nodded and thanked him, following him out of the building, looking really upset that his whole business was gone. God knows what he was going to do now.
Two days later, Tanith eventually got to see Evy. Work had kept her busy and she hadn't had the chance.
"Evy is it Ardeth that's helping out Herman?" she asked.
"Yes, it is…I wondered how long it would be before you came to see him. He has been here for a couple of weeks now"
"You know me too well. It isn't all because I work for the paper, I like him a lot"
They were sitting on the sofa laughing and joking when Ardeth came in. when he saw Tanith, he smiled.
"Ah just the person, I was going down to the newspaper office to see the editor"
"Hello Ardeth, why do you want to see him?"
Ardeth came and sat on the chair opposite and took the coffee Evy handed him.
"I need to look at the photos that were taken of all the fire. Would that be possible?"
"Yes I'll take you down there and we can collect them. Evy can I use your bathroom?"
"You know where it is"
Ardeth waited till the woman had left and then he turned to Evy.
"Is she after a story because I won't give her one"
"No, she likes you too much to risk losing your friendship over a story. Well not till you give her one"
He raised an eyebrow and got up to get his coat. The two of them left in her car and walked into the offices about fifteen minutes later.
"We have a big library of photos, I shouldn't really let them out of the office but for you I will. Just don't tell the editor. He would only let you look at them here"
"Thanks Tanith, I only need them to see if I can figure out who is starting these fires"
"So you do think it's arson"
"Yes but I won't give you a story about it. The investigation isn't finished yet. Apart from that, I always find that if something like that goes in the paper, the person responsible will go to ground"
"Look Ardeth, I am not trying to worm a story out of you. Evy no doubt told you that I like you"
He never had a chance to answer as the editor came out and she pushed the man behind the door.
"Hows the fire thing going?" he asked.
"Not well, I can't get any information from anyone. Dead end at the moment"
"Okay keep at it. Maybe someone will let something slip"
She watched him walk down the corridor and then she got the photos and giving them to Ardeth, took him the back way out of the building.
"Let me have them back tomorrow please"
He nodded and hailing a taxi, got in and drove off back to the house.
Baskets of flowers, racks of flowers, flowers of all descriptions were piled inside the building.
It was two storey with a glass roof, right in the heart of the trade district, about half a mile from the warehouse that went up a few nights ago. Suddenly an explosion rocked one end of the place, showering glass everywhere. Again within minutes the whole place was ablaze.
Evy came running in from the hall to where Ardeth, Tanith and Rick were sitting, looking at some books from the museum.
"Ardeth that was Herman, the flower market is on fire. He needs you down there"
Jumping up Ardeth ran to the door followed by Tanith. He looked at her as if to say where do you think you are going.
"I have to go Ardeth, it's my job"
He nodded and then drove to where the fire was. It looked like it wouldn't take as long to put out as the last one but it was still a devastating fire. In fact it was out within a couple of hours. Ardeth found Herman talking to one of the police.
"Herman, I want this whole place cornered off, I want no-one getting in the place till I've had a look round"
"We can do that" said the police "Are you looking now or later?"
"I'll be back in the morning with Herman but please, no-one is to be allowed in"
Tanith had gone to write the story for the morning edition but she left a note for Ardeth that she would see him tomorrow.
When they arrived the next day, the man picked his way through the glass and burnt out baskets.
"Find anything?"
"Not yet but I think it started this end of the building. But something must have been spread about the floor for it to go up that quickly"
"look I'll see if I can find out anything from the locals, someone must have seen something even if they don't think it is important" said Herman.
Ardeth poked around the floor at the end of the building where the big metal doors where. Suddenly he spotted something in the ashes. Picking it up, he wiped it and saw that it was a lighter. He put it in a bag and in his pocket then went to find Herman.
"Herman can someone take me to the other fire sites. I want to check soething out"
"Found a clue?"
"Maybe I'll let you know later"
Herman called one of the officers over and told them to take Ardeth wherever he wanted to go. It took him about two hours to go over particular parts of the other buildings but he found what he wanted. Then he asked to be taken to Hermans office.
"Ah Ardeth, now will you tell me what you have found out, please"
"I found something at the flower market and wanted to see if the same thing was at the other places, it was at three of them. The warehouse the other night, Smith Street and Denby street"
"What…what was…what did you find?"
"Lighters…the same type of lighter at four of the fires. Whoever is doing this, is using the lighters to start the fires."
He placed the four bags that contained the lighters on the table and Herman looked at them. He knew they were too burnt to get any evidence from them but at least they proved that someone was starting the fires on purpose.
The phone rang and answering it, Herman told Ardeth that while Evy and Rick had been out, someone had broken into the room that Ardeth was using and ransacked it as if they were looking for something.
"Well there is nothing there worth taking, unless…the photos of the fires, they could have been after them. But I have them here, I was then taking them back to the newspaper place"
"Then someone knows you could find out about them. They must be in the photos. Let's have a look"
After looking through the photos again, neither man could see anyone that appeared on them twice, there seemed to be nothing to link the person with the fires.
Ardeth suggested that he get a complete set of photos off Jonathan who had taken them, maybe there was something on one of the others that could give them a clue.
"Sure" said Jonathan "I'll do them tonight and you can pick them up in the morning, is that okay?"
"Yes that's fine. How are you enjoying the job anyway?" he asked.
"It's great, will give me some money so that I can go back to Egypt and get a job there. I don't want to stay here for ever"
"Looks like you are going out tonight?"
Jonathan was getting dressed up and was combing his hair. He nodded and told Ardeth that he was taking Tanith out to the cinema. Ardeth was surprised but didn't say anything. He didn't think she was interested in Jonathan.
Going downstairs, as Jonathan still lived in the east wing of Ricks house, he found Tanith talking to Evy. If she was going out with jonathan, she hadn't dressed up for the occasion. He asked her what film she was going to see.
"I'm not, what made you think I was?" she asked.
"Jonathan said you were going out with him this evening"
"Oh no, I told him I would think about it when he asked the other day. I never told him yes, he has been asking for weeks for me to go out with him. Sorry Evy, I am not interested, I had better tell him"
She went up the stairs and over to the east wing and knocked on his door. Telling him that she was not going out with him, he was upset but said they could make it another night. He would meet up with his friends from the paper down the local pub instead, then he could have a good drink. She tried to tell him that she was only interested in Ardeth but he wouldn't listen. In the end she gave up and watched him leave.
"He had been after me since I got him the job at the paper. I wish he would take no for an answer" she said.
"Well if he doesn't I will have a word" said Evy.
"Come on, I'll take you home" said Ardeth.
They left and drove to her small house that was about five miles away. Sitting in the car, they talked about his home and other silly stuff. Then she went to get out of the car. He touched her arm and she leaned back on the seat as he kissed her.
"See you tomorrow?" he asked.
"Of course, I'll ring you" she said.
Watching him drive off she touched her lips where he had kissed her and smiled. Maybe, just maybe she stood a chance with this man.
A boat was silently rowed up the river towards this big warehouse. No-one else was about and it was moored by the stone steps that lead to the building. Smashing a glass panel, a figure climber through the window as quietly as could be.
A night watchman was sitting in his office and getting up, looked at the clock and picked up his torch, left to makes his rounds of the place. It was 11pm. Checking all was well, he went down the spiral stairs to the lower level and started to check there.
Hearing a noise, he went to investigate and saw the open window with the broken pane of glass. Shining his torch down he saw muddy footprints on the floor. Following them he rounded a corner and saw a pile of rags and sticks of…what looked like dynamite…sticking out of them.
Suddenly he was turned round and punched in the face by someone. He fell to the ground, out cold. A lone figure then lit the long fuse that ran to the window and then a boat could be seen rowing away.
The man woke up a few minutes later and getting his bearings, remembered how he had ended up on the floor. He heard a hissing and staggering round the bale of cloth, he saw a fuse burning quickly towards a pile of stuff. Before he could get out of the way, the whole thing exploded and he was flung across the room in a ball of fire.
Fire engines from all over London were dispatched to deal with the blaze as was Ardeth, Tanith and Herman. Even a fire boat that were fairly new to the brigade was being used to tackle the blaze from the river.
Ardeth and Herman walked around the building as close as they could to survey the fire. Tanith stayed round one side, trying to keep out of the way while making notes for the paper.
Jonathan was there taking photos, someone had obviously let him know about the fire. He was standing by one of the fire engines when he heard someone shouting. Looking round he could see no-one, then looking up, he spotted a man hanging out of one of the windows. He knew he would die in there if something wasn't done.
He ran past Tanith and started to climb up the fire escape, she tried to stop him.
"What the hell are you doing, the pictures aren't worth risking your life for" she shouted.
"There's someone in there, going to get them out" he shouted back.
She couldn't stop him and ran down the passageway and found Ardeth with Herman. She grabbed his arm.
"Ardeth, Jonathan has gone into the building"
They looked shocked and ran to where the escape was. She pointed up and they saw Jonathan climbing over the parapet on the top of the building. Ardrth told Herman to get Tanith out of the way and he started to climb up after the man.
Going into the place, he found burning bales of cloth everywhere and he tried to shield his eyes from the heat. Running through the place as carefully as he could he looked for Jonathan.
"JONATHAN…JONATHAN!!!"
"OVER HERE" shouted the man back.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?"
"There is someone up here, I saw them"
Just then they heard a moan and running round a bale they saw the security guard laying on the floor. Ardeth picked him up and with Jonathan still taking pictures, they ran to find a way out. Seeing a window, Jonathan opened it and shouted down to the firemen below.
They got a ladder and sending up to the window, they lowered the injured man down to the ground but before they could get Ardeth and Jonathan, the flames were leaping up at the window from the floors below.
They had to leave and find another way out but the whole place was blazing now and blocking all exits. Suddenly Ardeth spotted a platform that was used to lower stuff down to the boats that moved it up river. There was a fire boat below and they knew that this was the only way down.
"After you" said Ardeth.
"No after you"
"Don't look down" Ardeth said as he pushed Jonathan over the edge.
Then he jumped into the water and the pair of them swam to the boat and were hurled onboard by the firemen. Then they were transferred to the shore by the pilot boat. Tanith grabbed a blanket off one of the ambulance men and put it round Ardeths shoulders.
"Are you okay, you had me scared when you went in there"
"I'm fine, just wet. Is Jonathan okay?"
She nodded and told him that he had gone back to the office before the film in his camera got damaged too much. He said he had some great pictures.
"Come on Ardeth, I've rung my story in, let's get you back to my place so you can dry off" said Tanith "Before you get pneumonia"
She drove them back to her house and he went into the bathroom to get out of his wet clothes.
"There are some trousers and a jumper outside the door, they are my brothers, should fit you"
"Thanks"
He came out a few minutes later, the things were a bit big but at least he was dry. She handed him a hot drink.
"So have you any ideas about these fires?" she asked.
"Not really, there are a few things that are the same but…I don't know…what is this, the sixth fire in nearly 3 weeks?"
She left him in the room while she went to the kitchen for some more coffee. When she came back, he was asleep on the sofa. Covering him with a blanket, she kissed him on the forehead and went to bed herself.
The next morning when she woke up, she found a note on the pillow next to her as he had already left. She smiled when she read it, it seemed that he liked her too.
There had been no more fires for about five days but none of them were any the wiser as to who was doing it. Then one morning.
"Evy, would you help me with these photos?" asked Ardeth "I want to go through them once more"
"Sure what do you want me to do?" she asked
"Well this is the complete set that Jonathan did for me and these are the ones from the paper. I never did take them back"
"So just pair them up yes?"
"For now, then I'll go through them. There has to be something in one of them somewhere"
It took about five minutes to pair them up, one was left.
"This is a spare one from the paper set. It isn't in the others" she said.
Ardeth took it and studied it carefully.
"Why didn't Jonathan do a copy of this one. Probably forgot, there were so many"
As he looked at it he noticed something and started to look through the papers on the desk. Finding what he wanted, he told Evy that he would be back later and to leave the photos there for now. Then he disappeared upstairs for a while before leaving in the car.
It was Sunday night and Tanith opened the door when she heard someone knocking.
"Ardeth, hello, this is a nice surprise"
He didn't look that happy though as he closed the door behind him.
"What's wrong Ardeth?"
"The night of the warehouse fire, who called you?"
"The newsdesk" she replied.
"No they didn't, I checked"
She turned round and looked at him, he wasn't smiling and she wondered what he was getting at.
"Yes they, I was here and…no wait a minute…Jonathan called me that night, I assumed the newsdesk rang him"
Ardeth walked across the room and sat down.
"They didn't but he was there before the brigade look"
He took out the photo and the brigade reports.
"Someone called in the fire at 11.43pm but look at the old clock on the building opposite the warehouse. It says 11.35pm"
"Ardeth, what are you saying…Jonathan is starting the fires"
"I'm afraid I am. Not only that, I went to speak to him earlier, he wasn't there. But as I went to close the door I saw this on the table"
He showed her a lighter.
"He doesn't smoke and I found identical lighters at three of the fires, just about where they had started"
"Oh God…why…why start fires?" she gasped.
"Well this job has given him prestige, power and recognition, three things that he has always wanted and never had. Plus he is up for the newspaper award which will give him more money…there was something else too"
"What?"
He told her to sit down and taking her hand, she looked at him wondering what else he was going to tell her.
"While I had the chance, I looked round his room. There is a walkin cupboard in the corner. Inside, the walls were covered in photos, all pinned up and taken at various times"
"Photos…what of?"
"You…it seems he has taken pictures of you whenever he had the chance. He is obsessed with you"
She turned pale and he pulled her against him and cuddled her.
"I knew he liked me and kept on about us going out together but this…."
"What we have to do now, is find him, before he starts another fire. See if he is at home or at the office"
"Hang on, if he has been doing these fires at about the same time, then he won't be doing one tonight. It is nearly midnight now. What about Evy, we have to tell her"
"Not yet…you're right about tonight. I'll ring Herman in the morning"
They spent the rest of the night talking and sleeping and then he rang Herman when he woke up.
"Hello…give me Whitechapel 2626 please….Herman it's Ardeth…I know who the arsonist is…can we meet up…right see you then"
Later that morning, they met up in Hermans office. He had also got the editor of the paper there. The fire chief told them to sit down and tell him what they knew. Ardeth related all the facts and showed him the evidence that he had collected.
"So what do we do now?" he asked.
"Well three of the fires were started with petrol and rags, then two with dynamite and petrol with a fuse. The last one was on a sort of timer, I found the remains in the ashes. I would say he has advanced to this method and if he starts one tonight which I think he will, he will use this to do it" said Ardeth.
"Why tonight?"
"Well it is six days now and today is a public holiday for whatever reason. He will be getting frustrated and need to do something especially with this award coming up. I want you to try and keep him in the office as late as you can. If my theory is right, he will go out about 10pm, set the fire and then return till about 11.20 say"
"Then what do we do?"
"This" replied Ardeth as he told them his plan.
About 10pm, Jonathan pulled up outside a big store in the heart of the city and cut the chain that held the gates shut. Walking round the back of the store, he broke a window and climbed in.
In a bag he had some dynamite, petrol and a crude timer but it worked the last time and he had no reason to think it wouldn't now. He set up four different places in the basement to go off within seconds of each other. Then he placed detonators in each section with a wire from each section leading to a timer by the rails of cloths, so that if anyone did go in there, security guard etc, they wouldn't see it.
He set it to go off at 11.35pm, he could be back there by 11.30, just in time to get the first pictures. With the wire cutters, he broke open the door at the back of the building and went outside. All he had to do now was go back to the office and wait till it was time to go back to the store.
"Ardeth, he just left" said the editor "Do I follow him?"
"No" replied Ardeth "He will set the fire and be back. Just make sure all the clocks are 30 mins fast. His watch is here, I took that this morning, he will rely on the clocks to know when to go back to where the fire will be, we will take it from there"
Ardeth got to the newspaper office at 11.35 pm by their clocks although it was only 11.05 in actual fact. He went straight to where he knew Jonathan on the pretence of returning the photos.
"Sorry I took so long with them" he said.
"That's okay, were they any help?"
"Only to the insurance man, nothing there that could help us"
Just then the phone in the office rang and Jonathan left Ardeth to answer it. He followed him out.
"Hello…yes this is Jonathan…another fire, right I'll leave now"
"Another fire?" said Ardeth in surprise "Do you mind if I tag along"
"No, of course not" he replied "Have you the right time?"
"Yes it's 11.40"
Jonathan couldn't understand how he had been in the library bit for so long. He wasn't going to get the first pictures, still he could gat some good ones, it wouldn't be at it's height yet. They left by the back door and drove off in Jonathans car. Behind them at a safe distance, was Tanith.
As they arrived at the big store and got out, there was no sign of a fire and they looked at each other.
"Strange, nothing here" said Ardeth "You get the right address?"
"Yes, let's try round the back"
Tanith pulled up a little way away from their car and got out after she saw them walk round the back. She found a phone and rang Herman.
"Herman…it's Tanith…it worked…Gamidges department store…right don't be long. There is nothing yet but I expect there will be"
Ardeth and his friend walked inside the building through the doors that Jonathan had broken earlier. There was no sign of any fire. Ardeth looked around as the man stood there wondering what had gone wrong.
"There is nothing here, might as well go" he said.
Ardeth moved in front of him.
"Why did you bring me here Jonathan?"
"What do you mean, you were there when Tanith rang, she said there was a fire"
"Yes I was, but she didn't say where it was did she, yet you brought me straight here"
Jonathan was getting scared now, somehow Ardeth knew and he didn't know how he was going to bluff his way out of this. The timer should have gone off by now and he wanted to be out of there when it did.
"I…I don't know what you mean"
"Where is the timer Jonathan…I know that is what you are using…now where is it"
Jonathan nodded over to the rails but not the right ones. Ardeth walked over slowly to look as the other man edged his way towards the door, ready to make a run for it. Ardeth saw him and guessed what he had done and grabbed at him, slinging him against the other rails. They fell over, taking Jonathan with them.
"WHERE IS THE TIMER?" shouted Ardeth.
Jonathan scrabbled around trying to get up and get the rails off him. Suddenly he spotted the timer, it was about to go off. He started shouting and then there was an almighty explosion, the whole place erupting into flames.
Ardeth was thrown across the room and against some of the shelving by the wall with the force of the blast. He was knocked unconscious and lay there with the fire taking hold all around him. Jonathan was dead.
Outside Tanith heard the explosion and ran round the back of the building. Ardeth wasn't out and the fire brigade hadn't arrived yet. The whole place was ablaze but she had to find Ardeth and Jonathan.
"ARDETH…WHERE ARE YOU?" she shouted.
There was no answer but she doubted she would have heard anyway with the roar of the flames. She spotted a body nearby and getting closer she saw that it was Jonathan. The only thing that told her that was what was left of his jacket. There wasn't much else left and she felt sick.
If he was dead where the hell was Ardeth. The fire was taking hold now and she knew she would have to get out of there. Then out of the corner of her eye, she saw a movement and looking saw Ardeth holding onto the wall. She ran over and saw blood pouring from his head.
"Ardeth…come on we have to get out of here"
"What the hell are you doing in here, I told you to stay outside"
"I wasn't leaving you here" she said.
He put his arm round her shoulder and she helped him towards the doors and out into the fresh air. They were both coughing with the smoke and the heat. As they got outside, Herman and some firemen came running towards them.
"Ardeth…Tanith…are you alright…where's Jonathan?"
"In there…he's dead" she said in between coughs.
Ardeth held his head as a wave of dizziness hit him and Herman told her to get him out of there and get that head seen to.
"We're going to see Evy" said Ardeth.
"I'll see you there later. Now get that head seen too"
Tanith helped him to the car and into the front seat. She drove them to Ricks house and parked outside the front door. Helping Ardeth out of the car, she put a handkerchief on the injury and got him to hold it there. Banging on the door they waited for Rick or Evy to answer it.
Ardeth had been fighting the urge to pass out all the way there and he didn't think he could last much longer. His head was throbbing and he felt sick.
"Hang on I'm coming, don't break the door down" shouted Rick.
Opening the door he was shocked to see the state of them standing there.
"Help me with him" she said.
He couldn't make it standing up any longer and collapsed at Ricks feet before he could do anything.
"What the hells happened and why do you stink of smoke…oh God not another fire?" he asked kneeling beside Ardeth.
They got Ardeth into the study and onto the sofa. Tanith went to get some stuff to see to his head and asked where Evy was.
"She is at a dinner, won't be back for about another hour. Look will you please tell me what has happened?"
Tanith told him all she knew while bathing the injury on Ardeths head. He started to come round and Rick handed him a glass of brandy.
"I don't drink, you know that" he said.
"I don't care, just drink a bit, shock and all that. Now take it easy"
"Tanith told you what happened, we have to tell Evy"
"God knows how she is going to take this. Jonathan…I still can't believe it" Rick replied as he went to the kitchen to get some tea.
Ardeth had sat up and although he still felt a bit dizzy, he didn't think he would pass out again. Tanith sat beside him with her arm round him.
"I told you not to come in there" he reminded her.
"I had to come and find you…I couldn't handle it if anything happened to you" she replied. "I…I love you"
He looked at her and she kissed him gently, trying not to disturb the bandage round his head.
"I love you too but next time I tell you to stay away from a dangerous place you stay away"
A cough made them look up and they saw Evy standing there. She took one look at the pair of them and rushed to their side. Tanith said she was fine and would go and see what Rick was doing about the tea, leaving Ardeth alone with Evy. She stood by the door and suddenly heard Evy start crying just as Rick came back with a tray.
"I'll take that, Evy knows, go on she needs you. I'll come in in a minute"
He thanked her and walked into the study to have Evy fling herself at him. He shut the door and Tanith sat on the stairs and waited for a suitable moment to take the tea in. There was a knock on the door and going to see who it was, found Herman standing there.
"The fire is out, it wasn't too bad, we got there in time. Have you told Evy?"
"Yes, she is in there, I take you in. Let me grab the tray"
They walked into the study and shut the door. This was going to take a lot of coping with for Evy. Not only had she lost a brother but they had lost a friend and under very difficult circumstances.
Rating – PG13
Summery – Ardeth is asked to help out the fire chief in London.
London's Burning
About two months after Ahm Shere, the O'connells were back in London. Evy had taken over the British Museum for a period of a year and then she had plans to go back to Egypt and carry on looking for some tombs.
Jonathan had got a job on a newspaper as a photographer through a friend of Evy's. Tanith had grown up with Evy and then stayed in London while they had gone to Egypt. He was good and she got him the job and he was busy covering some of the top stories of the time and was enjoying it.
Ardeth had joined Evy, three months into her job because he had a lot of information that could help with the museum, plus they had a big clean up job after the damage caused that fateful night. He had left Masala in charge and unless anything major happened, he was going to be in London for about two months.
At a meal one night at their house, Rick had a friend over from the local fire brigade, well in fact he was Chief Fire Officer of the area. He was there mainly to talk about security and fire safety at the museum.
"Why are you so concerned about the museum?" asked Rick.
"Well in the past ten days there have been four major fires in the area. We are just making sure all large buildings are taking proper precautions"
Evy brought in some coffee and they all sat down. He was a man of about 45 and had been with the fire service all his life. It ran in the family and now they were getting ready for the rumors of a war that could start in Germany and escalate over in Britain.
"Am I to take it that you think these fires are deliberate then? she asked.
"We don't know…yet…we had hoped someone would be coming to help us investigate it but the man has been called away…abroad in fact. So we have to rely on our own investigations and that could take time as we are busy with normal things" said Herman.
At that moment Ardeth came in, he had been working late at the museum, he was introduced to Herman.
"Now here is the man you want" said Rick "If there is an arsonist, he'll find them"
Ardeth looked puzzled but Rick explained everything and the man blushed slightly.
"You exaggerate my talents Rick, I am not that good" he replied.
"Well if you could help us, I would be very grateful. I have heard about the Med-jai from Rick and it is an honor to meet their Chieftain"
They all sat and talked then Ardeth finally agreed to help. He would go along to their headquarters the next day and then go to the buildings concerned. He had done similar work in Cairo for the police before and he enjoyed a challenge. Plus it would get him out of the museum for a while. As much as he enjoyed the work, he didn't like being cooped up in a room all day. Of course there would be no mummies involved.
A shadow crept into the back of a large warehouse about four miles from the house. It was full of shelves with goods exported from abroad. There were toys, clothes and furniture. Not many of these places existed in London, it was a new type of thing, exports from foreign countries in that sort of bulk.
Down in the basement, piles of old rags were being covered in petrol with a trail leading out to the door. Then a lighter was thrown onto the piles. Within seconds the whole basement was ablaze.
A figure ran up the stairs and into the deserted street, jumped into an old car and drove away, leaving the place to burn.
The phone rang in the hall and Evy went to answer it, she came back and said it was for Herman. When he returned, he looked worried.
"Something serious?" asked Rick.
"Yes there is another fire, a warehouse about four miles from here. I'll have to go"
"I'll come with you" said Ardeth.
"Okay but be careful, don't get too close."
Ardeth was dressed in trousers and a loose shirt, not the clothes he was used to. It was more convenient than those long robes and his swords, he would have looked out of place walking the streets in those. Grabbing a coat he went to follow Herman out of the door.
In fact Rick went as well and as they rounded the corner of the East India Dock Road, they saw the fire. The whole place was ablaze from end to end. Ardeth had never seen a fire so big and he wondered how on earth they were going to put it out.
Fire engines were everywhere, they had come from all over London and were trying hard to save the place, which wouldn't be an easy task.
"God Herman, you have your work cut out here" said Rick.
"I know, now be careful" he shouted.
The noise made it hard to hear anything and all they could do was stand there and watch. Then Ardeth spotted Jonathan taking some pictures. He tapped him on the shoulder.
"Ardeth what are you doing here?" he shouted.
The man told him that they were there with the Fire Chief.
"The newspaper wanted me to cover this one. I'll see you later"
He disappeared up the other end of the building, just in time to get a picture of the side of the building as it fell. By 3am, Ardeth and Rick went back to the house. The fire was still blazing although it would be out by later that morning.
About 10am there was a phone call for Ardeth, he was to meet Herman at the burnt out building in half an hour.
"Be careful Ardeth" said Evy "It will be dangerous now"
"Don't worry, I'll be fine. Now you are sure you don't mind me helping this man. I could have said no"
"Don't be silly, I know you hate being in that room all day. I can manage"
"Okay, I'll see you later"
She waved to him as he got into the car that Herman had sent round for him and they drove off out of the gates.
At the newspaper Tanith was having an argument with the editor about an article being cut out of the morning edition.
"Come on, all I want to know is why you cut this" she asked.
"Because of what you were implying" he replied.
"What do you mean. All I wrote was that there had been five major fires in the past two weeks"
"Yes and that implies that they are linked"
"Well there is a good chance they are. We never get that many fires in such a short time all in the same area"
The editor got up and opened the door for her. He was a plump man and smoked a cigar, he had been editor for many years and what he said went.
"Look get in touch with Herman, the Chief Fire Officer. I heard that he has a man from Egypt helping him investigate. See if you can find out anything concrete, then I'll print it"
From Egypt she thought, now Herman was a friend of Ricks and she was a friend of his wife's. Could the man helping be Ardeth bay. She had met him a few times and thought how gorgeous he was. They had got on quite well. She would ring Evy, no better still she would go and see her.
Maybe this man was there. Tanith was tall with black shoulder length hair, not that pretty but had a very kind and loving nature.
Ardeth arrived at the building, Herman met him but then got a message to go back to the station before he could even show Ardeth round.
"Look I'll be back in a while. That is the owner, Whiting, now be careful, that place is a death trap"
"Herman, can you let me have all the reports of the recent fires then I can go over them"
The man nodded and said he would send them over to Evy's later. Ardeth walked up the stairs on the side of the building and looked for the owner. The place was still smoldering and was completely gutted. Firemen were still throwing burnt out goods out of the top windows to the ground.
"Mr Whiting, my names Ardeth, I've been asked to look into all the recent fires round here"
"Hello, glad you're here but I don't know what you hope to find"
"Well you can never tell, all fires are different and are a bit like women, most have a story to tell"
They carefully walked round the top floor and Ardeth took notes and some samples, asking questions as he went. They ended up down in the basement about an hour later.
"Who locked up last night?"
"I did, no-one else has the key" said the man.
Ardeth scrapped some charcoal from one of the beams and put it into a little bag.
"What about electrical things, anything left on that could have started the fire. If I am not mistaken, it started down here in the basement. The wood is burnt more here, in several areas in fact."
"No not really, there was a old desklamp upstairs but no, nothing in the basement. What did you mean several places?"
Ardeth looked at him and showed him the different places where the wood all looked similar.
"Well I would say the fire was started on purpose"
Mr Whiting looked shocked and turned pale.
"Arson, but why…why me…why here?"
"Are you alright?" asked Ardeth.
The man nodded and said it was just a shock to find that it could have been started on purpose.
"Look I'm sorry to have to ask but are you insured?"
"Yes but this isn't an insurance job, I can assure you. I haven't even increased the insurance for about three years. I am going to be out of pocket because of this, all my money is tied up in this business"
"I had to ask. I will check though. Okay Mr Whiting, I think that is all I can do for now. We'll be in touch in the next few days. Now I suggest you leave here, this place is getting more unsafe by the minute"
The man nodded and thanked him, following him out of the building, looking really upset that his whole business was gone. God knows what he was going to do now.
Two days later, Tanith eventually got to see Evy. Work had kept her busy and she hadn't had the chance.
"Evy is it Ardeth that's helping out Herman?" she asked.
"Yes, it is…I wondered how long it would be before you came to see him. He has been here for a couple of weeks now"
"You know me too well. It isn't all because I work for the paper, I like him a lot"
They were sitting on the sofa laughing and joking when Ardeth came in. when he saw Tanith, he smiled.
"Ah just the person, I was going down to the newspaper office to see the editor"
"Hello Ardeth, why do you want to see him?"
Ardeth came and sat on the chair opposite and took the coffee Evy handed him.
"I need to look at the photos that were taken of all the fire. Would that be possible?"
"Yes I'll take you down there and we can collect them. Evy can I use your bathroom?"
"You know where it is"
Ardeth waited till the woman had left and then he turned to Evy.
"Is she after a story because I won't give her one"
"No, she likes you too much to risk losing your friendship over a story. Well not till you give her one"
He raised an eyebrow and got up to get his coat. The two of them left in her car and walked into the offices about fifteen minutes later.
"We have a big library of photos, I shouldn't really let them out of the office but for you I will. Just don't tell the editor. He would only let you look at them here"
"Thanks Tanith, I only need them to see if I can figure out who is starting these fires"
"So you do think it's arson"
"Yes but I won't give you a story about it. The investigation isn't finished yet. Apart from that, I always find that if something like that goes in the paper, the person responsible will go to ground"
"Look Ardeth, I am not trying to worm a story out of you. Evy no doubt told you that I like you"
He never had a chance to answer as the editor came out and she pushed the man behind the door.
"Hows the fire thing going?" he asked.
"Not well, I can't get any information from anyone. Dead end at the moment"
"Okay keep at it. Maybe someone will let something slip"
She watched him walk down the corridor and then she got the photos and giving them to Ardeth, took him the back way out of the building.
"Let me have them back tomorrow please"
He nodded and hailing a taxi, got in and drove off back to the house.
Baskets of flowers, racks of flowers, flowers of all descriptions were piled inside the building.
It was two storey with a glass roof, right in the heart of the trade district, about half a mile from the warehouse that went up a few nights ago. Suddenly an explosion rocked one end of the place, showering glass everywhere. Again within minutes the whole place was ablaze.
Evy came running in from the hall to where Ardeth, Tanith and Rick were sitting, looking at some books from the museum.
"Ardeth that was Herman, the flower market is on fire. He needs you down there"
Jumping up Ardeth ran to the door followed by Tanith. He looked at her as if to say where do you think you are going.
"I have to go Ardeth, it's my job"
He nodded and then drove to where the fire was. It looked like it wouldn't take as long to put out as the last one but it was still a devastating fire. In fact it was out within a couple of hours. Ardeth found Herman talking to one of the police.
"Herman, I want this whole place cornered off, I want no-one getting in the place till I've had a look round"
"We can do that" said the police "Are you looking now or later?"
"I'll be back in the morning with Herman but please, no-one is to be allowed in"
Tanith had gone to write the story for the morning edition but she left a note for Ardeth that she would see him tomorrow.
When they arrived the next day, the man picked his way through the glass and burnt out baskets.
"Find anything?"
"Not yet but I think it started this end of the building. But something must have been spread about the floor for it to go up that quickly"
"look I'll see if I can find out anything from the locals, someone must have seen something even if they don't think it is important" said Herman.
Ardeth poked around the floor at the end of the building where the big metal doors where. Suddenly he spotted something in the ashes. Picking it up, he wiped it and saw that it was a lighter. He put it in a bag and in his pocket then went to find Herman.
"Herman can someone take me to the other fire sites. I want to check soething out"
"Found a clue?"
"Maybe I'll let you know later"
Herman called one of the officers over and told them to take Ardeth wherever he wanted to go. It took him about two hours to go over particular parts of the other buildings but he found what he wanted. Then he asked to be taken to Hermans office.
"Ah Ardeth, now will you tell me what you have found out, please"
"I found something at the flower market and wanted to see if the same thing was at the other places, it was at three of them. The warehouse the other night, Smith Street and Denby street"
"What…what was…what did you find?"
"Lighters…the same type of lighter at four of the fires. Whoever is doing this, is using the lighters to start the fires."
He placed the four bags that contained the lighters on the table and Herman looked at them. He knew they were too burnt to get any evidence from them but at least they proved that someone was starting the fires on purpose.
The phone rang and answering it, Herman told Ardeth that while Evy and Rick had been out, someone had broken into the room that Ardeth was using and ransacked it as if they were looking for something.
"Well there is nothing there worth taking, unless…the photos of the fires, they could have been after them. But I have them here, I was then taking them back to the newspaper place"
"Then someone knows you could find out about them. They must be in the photos. Let's have a look"
After looking through the photos again, neither man could see anyone that appeared on them twice, there seemed to be nothing to link the person with the fires.
Ardeth suggested that he get a complete set of photos off Jonathan who had taken them, maybe there was something on one of the others that could give them a clue.
"Sure" said Jonathan "I'll do them tonight and you can pick them up in the morning, is that okay?"
"Yes that's fine. How are you enjoying the job anyway?" he asked.
"It's great, will give me some money so that I can go back to Egypt and get a job there. I don't want to stay here for ever"
"Looks like you are going out tonight?"
Jonathan was getting dressed up and was combing his hair. He nodded and told Ardeth that he was taking Tanith out to the cinema. Ardeth was surprised but didn't say anything. He didn't think she was interested in Jonathan.
Going downstairs, as Jonathan still lived in the east wing of Ricks house, he found Tanith talking to Evy. If she was going out with jonathan, she hadn't dressed up for the occasion. He asked her what film she was going to see.
"I'm not, what made you think I was?" she asked.
"Jonathan said you were going out with him this evening"
"Oh no, I told him I would think about it when he asked the other day. I never told him yes, he has been asking for weeks for me to go out with him. Sorry Evy, I am not interested, I had better tell him"
She went up the stairs and over to the east wing and knocked on his door. Telling him that she was not going out with him, he was upset but said they could make it another night. He would meet up with his friends from the paper down the local pub instead, then he could have a good drink. She tried to tell him that she was only interested in Ardeth but he wouldn't listen. In the end she gave up and watched him leave.
"He had been after me since I got him the job at the paper. I wish he would take no for an answer" she said.
"Well if he doesn't I will have a word" said Evy.
"Come on, I'll take you home" said Ardeth.
They left and drove to her small house that was about five miles away. Sitting in the car, they talked about his home and other silly stuff. Then she went to get out of the car. He touched her arm and she leaned back on the seat as he kissed her.
"See you tomorrow?" he asked.
"Of course, I'll ring you" she said.
Watching him drive off she touched her lips where he had kissed her and smiled. Maybe, just maybe she stood a chance with this man.
A boat was silently rowed up the river towards this big warehouse. No-one else was about and it was moored by the stone steps that lead to the building. Smashing a glass panel, a figure climber through the window as quietly as could be.
A night watchman was sitting in his office and getting up, looked at the clock and picked up his torch, left to makes his rounds of the place. It was 11pm. Checking all was well, he went down the spiral stairs to the lower level and started to check there.
Hearing a noise, he went to investigate and saw the open window with the broken pane of glass. Shining his torch down he saw muddy footprints on the floor. Following them he rounded a corner and saw a pile of rags and sticks of…what looked like dynamite…sticking out of them.
Suddenly he was turned round and punched in the face by someone. He fell to the ground, out cold. A lone figure then lit the long fuse that ran to the window and then a boat could be seen rowing away.
The man woke up a few minutes later and getting his bearings, remembered how he had ended up on the floor. He heard a hissing and staggering round the bale of cloth, he saw a fuse burning quickly towards a pile of stuff. Before he could get out of the way, the whole thing exploded and he was flung across the room in a ball of fire.
Fire engines from all over London were dispatched to deal with the blaze as was Ardeth, Tanith and Herman. Even a fire boat that were fairly new to the brigade was being used to tackle the blaze from the river.
Ardeth and Herman walked around the building as close as they could to survey the fire. Tanith stayed round one side, trying to keep out of the way while making notes for the paper.
Jonathan was there taking photos, someone had obviously let him know about the fire. He was standing by one of the fire engines when he heard someone shouting. Looking round he could see no-one, then looking up, he spotted a man hanging out of one of the windows. He knew he would die in there if something wasn't done.
He ran past Tanith and started to climb up the fire escape, she tried to stop him.
"What the hell are you doing, the pictures aren't worth risking your life for" she shouted.
"There's someone in there, going to get them out" he shouted back.
She couldn't stop him and ran down the passageway and found Ardeth with Herman. She grabbed his arm.
"Ardeth, Jonathan has gone into the building"
They looked shocked and ran to where the escape was. She pointed up and they saw Jonathan climbing over the parapet on the top of the building. Ardrth told Herman to get Tanith out of the way and he started to climb up after the man.
Going into the place, he found burning bales of cloth everywhere and he tried to shield his eyes from the heat. Running through the place as carefully as he could he looked for Jonathan.
"JONATHAN…JONATHAN!!!"
"OVER HERE" shouted the man back.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?"
"There is someone up here, I saw them"
Just then they heard a moan and running round a bale they saw the security guard laying on the floor. Ardeth picked him up and with Jonathan still taking pictures, they ran to find a way out. Seeing a window, Jonathan opened it and shouted down to the firemen below.
They got a ladder and sending up to the window, they lowered the injured man down to the ground but before they could get Ardeth and Jonathan, the flames were leaping up at the window from the floors below.
They had to leave and find another way out but the whole place was blazing now and blocking all exits. Suddenly Ardeth spotted a platform that was used to lower stuff down to the boats that moved it up river. There was a fire boat below and they knew that this was the only way down.
"After you" said Ardeth.
"No after you"
"Don't look down" Ardeth said as he pushed Jonathan over the edge.
Then he jumped into the water and the pair of them swam to the boat and were hurled onboard by the firemen. Then they were transferred to the shore by the pilot boat. Tanith grabbed a blanket off one of the ambulance men and put it round Ardeths shoulders.
"Are you okay, you had me scared when you went in there"
"I'm fine, just wet. Is Jonathan okay?"
She nodded and told him that he had gone back to the office before the film in his camera got damaged too much. He said he had some great pictures.
"Come on Ardeth, I've rung my story in, let's get you back to my place so you can dry off" said Tanith "Before you get pneumonia"
She drove them back to her house and he went into the bathroom to get out of his wet clothes.
"There are some trousers and a jumper outside the door, they are my brothers, should fit you"
"Thanks"
He came out a few minutes later, the things were a bit big but at least he was dry. She handed him a hot drink.
"So have you any ideas about these fires?" she asked.
"Not really, there are a few things that are the same but…I don't know…what is this, the sixth fire in nearly 3 weeks?"
She left him in the room while she went to the kitchen for some more coffee. When she came back, he was asleep on the sofa. Covering him with a blanket, she kissed him on the forehead and went to bed herself.
The next morning when she woke up, she found a note on the pillow next to her as he had already left. She smiled when she read it, it seemed that he liked her too.
There had been no more fires for about five days but none of them were any the wiser as to who was doing it. Then one morning.
"Evy, would you help me with these photos?" asked Ardeth "I want to go through them once more"
"Sure what do you want me to do?" she asked
"Well this is the complete set that Jonathan did for me and these are the ones from the paper. I never did take them back"
"So just pair them up yes?"
"For now, then I'll go through them. There has to be something in one of them somewhere"
It took about five minutes to pair them up, one was left.
"This is a spare one from the paper set. It isn't in the others" she said.
Ardeth took it and studied it carefully.
"Why didn't Jonathan do a copy of this one. Probably forgot, there were so many"
As he looked at it he noticed something and started to look through the papers on the desk. Finding what he wanted, he told Evy that he would be back later and to leave the photos there for now. Then he disappeared upstairs for a while before leaving in the car.
It was Sunday night and Tanith opened the door when she heard someone knocking.
"Ardeth, hello, this is a nice surprise"
He didn't look that happy though as he closed the door behind him.
"What's wrong Ardeth?"
"The night of the warehouse fire, who called you?"
"The newsdesk" she replied.
"No they didn't, I checked"
She turned round and looked at him, he wasn't smiling and she wondered what he was getting at.
"Yes they, I was here and…no wait a minute…Jonathan called me that night, I assumed the newsdesk rang him"
Ardeth walked across the room and sat down.
"They didn't but he was there before the brigade look"
He took out the photo and the brigade reports.
"Someone called in the fire at 11.43pm but look at the old clock on the building opposite the warehouse. It says 11.35pm"
"Ardeth, what are you saying…Jonathan is starting the fires"
"I'm afraid I am. Not only that, I went to speak to him earlier, he wasn't there. But as I went to close the door I saw this on the table"
He showed her a lighter.
"He doesn't smoke and I found identical lighters at three of the fires, just about where they had started"
"Oh God…why…why start fires?" she gasped.
"Well this job has given him prestige, power and recognition, three things that he has always wanted and never had. Plus he is up for the newspaper award which will give him more money…there was something else too"
"What?"
He told her to sit down and taking her hand, she looked at him wondering what else he was going to tell her.
"While I had the chance, I looked round his room. There is a walkin cupboard in the corner. Inside, the walls were covered in photos, all pinned up and taken at various times"
"Photos…what of?"
"You…it seems he has taken pictures of you whenever he had the chance. He is obsessed with you"
She turned pale and he pulled her against him and cuddled her.
"I knew he liked me and kept on about us going out together but this…."
"What we have to do now, is find him, before he starts another fire. See if he is at home or at the office"
"Hang on, if he has been doing these fires at about the same time, then he won't be doing one tonight. It is nearly midnight now. What about Evy, we have to tell her"
"Not yet…you're right about tonight. I'll ring Herman in the morning"
They spent the rest of the night talking and sleeping and then he rang Herman when he woke up.
"Hello…give me Whitechapel 2626 please….Herman it's Ardeth…I know who the arsonist is…can we meet up…right see you then"
Later that morning, they met up in Hermans office. He had also got the editor of the paper there. The fire chief told them to sit down and tell him what they knew. Ardeth related all the facts and showed him the evidence that he had collected.
"So what do we do now?" he asked.
"Well three of the fires were started with petrol and rags, then two with dynamite and petrol with a fuse. The last one was on a sort of timer, I found the remains in the ashes. I would say he has advanced to this method and if he starts one tonight which I think he will, he will use this to do it" said Ardeth.
"Why tonight?"
"Well it is six days now and today is a public holiday for whatever reason. He will be getting frustrated and need to do something especially with this award coming up. I want you to try and keep him in the office as late as you can. If my theory is right, he will go out about 10pm, set the fire and then return till about 11.20 say"
"Then what do we do?"
"This" replied Ardeth as he told them his plan.
About 10pm, Jonathan pulled up outside a big store in the heart of the city and cut the chain that held the gates shut. Walking round the back of the store, he broke a window and climbed in.
In a bag he had some dynamite, petrol and a crude timer but it worked the last time and he had no reason to think it wouldn't now. He set up four different places in the basement to go off within seconds of each other. Then he placed detonators in each section with a wire from each section leading to a timer by the rails of cloths, so that if anyone did go in there, security guard etc, they wouldn't see it.
He set it to go off at 11.35pm, he could be back there by 11.30, just in time to get the first pictures. With the wire cutters, he broke open the door at the back of the building and went outside. All he had to do now was go back to the office and wait till it was time to go back to the store.
"Ardeth, he just left" said the editor "Do I follow him?"
"No" replied Ardeth "He will set the fire and be back. Just make sure all the clocks are 30 mins fast. His watch is here, I took that this morning, he will rely on the clocks to know when to go back to where the fire will be, we will take it from there"
Ardeth got to the newspaper office at 11.35 pm by their clocks although it was only 11.05 in actual fact. He went straight to where he knew Jonathan on the pretence of returning the photos.
"Sorry I took so long with them" he said.
"That's okay, were they any help?"
"Only to the insurance man, nothing there that could help us"
Just then the phone in the office rang and Jonathan left Ardeth to answer it. He followed him out.
"Hello…yes this is Jonathan…another fire, right I'll leave now"
"Another fire?" said Ardeth in surprise "Do you mind if I tag along"
"No, of course not" he replied "Have you the right time?"
"Yes it's 11.40"
Jonathan couldn't understand how he had been in the library bit for so long. He wasn't going to get the first pictures, still he could gat some good ones, it wouldn't be at it's height yet. They left by the back door and drove off in Jonathans car. Behind them at a safe distance, was Tanith.
As they arrived at the big store and got out, there was no sign of a fire and they looked at each other.
"Strange, nothing here" said Ardeth "You get the right address?"
"Yes, let's try round the back"
Tanith pulled up a little way away from their car and got out after she saw them walk round the back. She found a phone and rang Herman.
"Herman…it's Tanith…it worked…Gamidges department store…right don't be long. There is nothing yet but I expect there will be"
Ardeth and his friend walked inside the building through the doors that Jonathan had broken earlier. There was no sign of any fire. Ardeth looked around as the man stood there wondering what had gone wrong.
"There is nothing here, might as well go" he said.
Ardeth moved in front of him.
"Why did you bring me here Jonathan?"
"What do you mean, you were there when Tanith rang, she said there was a fire"
"Yes I was, but she didn't say where it was did she, yet you brought me straight here"
Jonathan was getting scared now, somehow Ardeth knew and he didn't know how he was going to bluff his way out of this. The timer should have gone off by now and he wanted to be out of there when it did.
"I…I don't know what you mean"
"Where is the timer Jonathan…I know that is what you are using…now where is it"
Jonathan nodded over to the rails but not the right ones. Ardeth walked over slowly to look as the other man edged his way towards the door, ready to make a run for it. Ardeth saw him and guessed what he had done and grabbed at him, slinging him against the other rails. They fell over, taking Jonathan with them.
"WHERE IS THE TIMER?" shouted Ardeth.
Jonathan scrabbled around trying to get up and get the rails off him. Suddenly he spotted the timer, it was about to go off. He started shouting and then there was an almighty explosion, the whole place erupting into flames.
Ardeth was thrown across the room and against some of the shelving by the wall with the force of the blast. He was knocked unconscious and lay there with the fire taking hold all around him. Jonathan was dead.
Outside Tanith heard the explosion and ran round the back of the building. Ardeth wasn't out and the fire brigade hadn't arrived yet. The whole place was ablaze but she had to find Ardeth and Jonathan.
"ARDETH…WHERE ARE YOU?" she shouted.
There was no answer but she doubted she would have heard anyway with the roar of the flames. She spotted a body nearby and getting closer she saw that it was Jonathan. The only thing that told her that was what was left of his jacket. There wasn't much else left and she felt sick.
If he was dead where the hell was Ardeth. The fire was taking hold now and she knew she would have to get out of there. Then out of the corner of her eye, she saw a movement and looking saw Ardeth holding onto the wall. She ran over and saw blood pouring from his head.
"Ardeth…come on we have to get out of here"
"What the hell are you doing in here, I told you to stay outside"
"I wasn't leaving you here" she said.
He put his arm round her shoulder and she helped him towards the doors and out into the fresh air. They were both coughing with the smoke and the heat. As they got outside, Herman and some firemen came running towards them.
"Ardeth…Tanith…are you alright…where's Jonathan?"
"In there…he's dead" she said in between coughs.
Ardeth held his head as a wave of dizziness hit him and Herman told her to get him out of there and get that head seen to.
"We're going to see Evy" said Ardeth.
"I'll see you there later. Now get that head seen too"
Tanith helped him to the car and into the front seat. She drove them to Ricks house and parked outside the front door. Helping Ardeth out of the car, she put a handkerchief on the injury and got him to hold it there. Banging on the door they waited for Rick or Evy to answer it.
Ardeth had been fighting the urge to pass out all the way there and he didn't think he could last much longer. His head was throbbing and he felt sick.
"Hang on I'm coming, don't break the door down" shouted Rick.
Opening the door he was shocked to see the state of them standing there.
"Help me with him" she said.
He couldn't make it standing up any longer and collapsed at Ricks feet before he could do anything.
"What the hells happened and why do you stink of smoke…oh God not another fire?" he asked kneeling beside Ardeth.
They got Ardeth into the study and onto the sofa. Tanith went to get some stuff to see to his head and asked where Evy was.
"She is at a dinner, won't be back for about another hour. Look will you please tell me what has happened?"
Tanith told him all she knew while bathing the injury on Ardeths head. He started to come round and Rick handed him a glass of brandy.
"I don't drink, you know that" he said.
"I don't care, just drink a bit, shock and all that. Now take it easy"
"Tanith told you what happened, we have to tell Evy"
"God knows how she is going to take this. Jonathan…I still can't believe it" Rick replied as he went to the kitchen to get some tea.
Ardeth had sat up and although he still felt a bit dizzy, he didn't think he would pass out again. Tanith sat beside him with her arm round him.
"I told you not to come in there" he reminded her.
"I had to come and find you…I couldn't handle it if anything happened to you" she replied. "I…I love you"
He looked at her and she kissed him gently, trying not to disturb the bandage round his head.
"I love you too but next time I tell you to stay away from a dangerous place you stay away"
A cough made them look up and they saw Evy standing there. She took one look at the pair of them and rushed to their side. Tanith said she was fine and would go and see what Rick was doing about the tea, leaving Ardeth alone with Evy. She stood by the door and suddenly heard Evy start crying just as Rick came back with a tray.
"I'll take that, Evy knows, go on she needs you. I'll come in in a minute"
He thanked her and walked into the study to have Evy fling herself at him. He shut the door and Tanith sat on the stairs and waited for a suitable moment to take the tea in. There was a knock on the door and going to see who it was, found Herman standing there.
"The fire is out, it wasn't too bad, we got there in time. Have you told Evy?"
"Yes, she is in there, I take you in. Let me grab the tray"
They walked into the study and shut the door. This was going to take a lot of coping with for Evy. Not only had she lost a brother but they had lost a friend and under very difficult circumstances.