Chapters (45)
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Contents
- Prologue
- 2046
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- About the Author
Ben waits his turn knowing he has time to eat the croissant and brush the crumbs from his shirt as big Todd rolls his eyes at him with a smirk. Ben flicks his middle finger at him and gets a chuckle in response. Ben likes Todd. He likes everyone here really. The boss is as careful about recruitment as she is about table selection.
‘Ben,’ she says, ‘you had the fire last week? All finished?’
‘Yep, the report’s all done.’
‘Conclusion?’ she asks.
‘Ah.’ Ben pulls a face. ‘Big house in the country, worth a fortune. Wife, husband, two kids and two dogs. Bad times financially. Husband’s firm going down the pan which leads to a loss of income which means they can’t buy the very latest Chesterfield sofa to put in the drawing room. She set the fire on the existing sofa and I reckon . . .’ He pauses, holding his pen up for effect. ‘I reckon she intended to burn just the sofa at first but then got greedy and figured that if a few more bits got damaged she could claim on them too . . . which is why she left the windows open on a cold day . . .’
‘To fan the flames,’ someone mutters.
‘Exactly. Cigarette left in an ashtray, cigarette falls out, rolls across the fire-retardant material and lands on the carefully placed broadsheet newspaper left on the floor . . . fire starts . . . burns the entire bloody house down and kills the dogs . . .’
‘Shit,’ Todd says. ‘What a bitch.’
‘Oh, she’s cold, mate,’ Ben says to him. ‘Cruella de Vil but with less emotions.’
‘Accelerants?’ the boss asks.
‘Had the wooden floors varnished the day before,’ Ben says.
‘Was the fire intense?’
‘Very,’ Ben says, holding a look on his face that the boss knows only too well. ‘Destroyed all the evidence.’
‘I see,’ the boss says, arching an eyebrow at him. She sighs for effect. ‘Go on then,’ she adds with a grin. ‘I know you’ve got something by the look on your face.’
‘Ah now,’ Ben says, smiling wryly with one hand on the back of his neck as he dips his head and looks round the room.
‘Here he goes,’ Todd says and laughs, shaking his head as the others all start chuckling. The boss leans back and folds her arms with an amused expression.