Wheel of Fire Read online

  Contents

  Cover

  Recent Titles by Hilary Bonner

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  Epigraph

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Epilogue

  Recent Titles by Hilary Bonner

  A David Vogel mystery

  DEADLY DANCE *

  WHEEL OF FIRE *

  Novels

  THE CRUELLEST GAME

  FRIENDS TO DIE FOR

  DEATH COMES FIRST

  * available from Severn House

  WHEEL OF FIRE

  Hilary Bonner

  This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

  First published in Great Britain 2018 by

  SEVERN HOUSE PUBLISHERS LTD of

  Eardley House, 4 Uxbridge Street, London W8 7SY

  First published in the USA 2019 by

  SEVERN HOUSE PUBLISHERS of

  110 East 59th Street, New York, N.Y. 10022

  This eBook edition first published in 2018 by Severn House Digital

  an imprint of Severn House Publishers Limited

  Trade paperback edition first published

  in Great Britain and the USA 2019 by

  SEVERN HOUSE PUBLISHERS LTD

  Copyright © 2018 by Hilary Bonner.

  The right of Hilary Bonner to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988.

  British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

  A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

  ISBN-13: 978-0-7278-8828-0 (cased)

  ISBN-13: 978-1-84751-954-2 (trade paper)

  ISBN-13: 978-1-4483-0163-8 (e-book)

  Except where actual historical events and characters are being described for the storyline of this novel, all situations in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to living persons is purely coincidental.

  This ebook produced by

  Palimpsest Book Production Limited,

  Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland

  For

  Jean and Louis

  Always there

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  With grateful thanks to Fire Officer Dave West and his colleagues at Wellington Fire Station; Wellington-based PC Hayden Smith of the Avon and Somerset Constabulary; Police Sergeant Andrew Pugh of the Brentford Safer Neighbourhood Team; Detective Constable Shane O’Neill of the Metropolitan Police Force; and Joe Coggins of the Canal and River Trust.

  ‘I am bound upon a wheel of fire, that mine own tears do scald like molten lead.’

  William Shakespeare, King Lear

  PROLOGUE

  The storm was over. The rain had stopped. The flames that engulfed the big old house raged unhindered. Later, some claimed that the glow in the sky could be seen as far away as Taunton or Tiverton, each fourteen or fifteen miles from Blackdown Manor as the crow flies.

  Tom Withey was a trainee fire officer. He’d celebrated his twentieth birthday only a week earlier. He had never seen anything like it before, and he hoped he never would again.

  There were people inside that house. Either dead or dying. Nobody was likely to get out alive, that was for sure.

  Tom was the newest member of the five-man Wellington crew aboard the first fire appliance to arrive at the scene. Tom checked his watch. It was 2.03 a.m. They had left the fire station just three and a half minutes after the emergency call, well below the maximum five-minute time limit set by the British Fire and Rescue Service, and, after a hair-raising high-speed dash through the winding country lanes of West Somerset, had arrived at the gates to the old manor within less than half an hour. Tom, unaware then of what lay ahead, had enjoyed that bit.

  As they approached they’d at first seen little sign of fire, even though the sky had cleared, and a weak moon peeped through the clouds. Perhaps there was some smoke escaping from the front of the house. Tom and the boys weren’t sure.

  The electrically-operated iron double gates stood open. After all, they would presumably have been expected, along with other emergency services. Billy Prettyjohn, the driver, swung the engine, Wellington’s biggest and best, carrying 18,000 litres of water in its own internal tank, expertly through the gateway. He prepared to accelerate.

  It didn’t look like a major incident, necessarily. Not then. And the crew were all aware that Wellington’s second appliance was only four minutes behind them, and that two more were on the way, one from Taunton and one from Honiton. Four engines called out, as is standard with a house fire, and certainly when the house in question is a big old manor. But Billy was local, like all of them. He knew the drive leading to Blackdown Manor was a good quarter of a mile long. And he was an experienced fire officer, who had learned first-hand that just a few seconds could mean the difference between dealing with a fire that is easily containable and being faced with one already out of control.

  Suddenly there was a shrieking noise as Billy braked hard, and the big engine jolted to a halt.

  ‘Fuck,’ said Billy.

  ‘I don’t fucking believe it,’ said Bob Parsons, officer in charge and also Wellington’s station manager, who was strapped into his designated front seat alongside Billy.

  ‘What’s happening?’ called out Pete Biffin, one of the three firefighters riding in the back.

  ‘There’s a bloody great tree right across the drive,’ Billy shouted back. ‘Must have come down in the storm.’

  Bob Parsons jumped out for a closer look. In the beam of his torch he could clearly see that a dense stretch of woodland, flanked by iron railings, lined either side of the drive, eliminating any possibility of manoeuvring the fire engine around the fallen tree.

  Parsons whistled long and low, then turned back towards his crew.

  ‘Right lads, everybody out,’ he said. ‘Let’s see if we can shift this thing.’

  The crew, apart from driver Billy Prettyjohn who stayed ready at the wheel, quickly joined their OIC. The closer they got to the fallen tree, the bigger and heavier it looked.

  Pete Biffin stepped forward. Like all of the Wellington team he was a retained part-time fireman. His day job was farming.

  ‘It’s an oak, Bob,’ he said. ‘Look at the size of it. And damaged by lightning at some stage, I’d say. You can see the split in the trunk. That’s why it came down.’

  ‘Never mind why it came down,’ countered Bob Pa
rsons. ‘How the heck can we get it out of the damned way?’

  ‘We can’t,’ said Pete. ‘Haven’t got the gear. Not for that. We need specialist lifting equipment, Bob. Even a tractor with chains won’t do it. We’re going to have to call in USAR.’

  Parsons grunted his irritation. Urban Search And Rescue are a specialist part of the fire service, equipped and trained to deal with a vast range of challenges including lifting and moving large heavy objects. They even have their own fork-lift trucks. Pete Biffin was not really telling Parsons anything he didn’t already know. But Bob hadn’t wanted to accept the necessity to call in USAR to move the oak, because that would mean an unspecified delay in getting through to the manor. By which time a fire which, so far, appeared to be only a minor incident, might have turned into something else. And the Devon and Somerset Fire Service’s USAR team were based at Exeter, almost thirty miles away. Nonetheless, Parsons knew he had no choice.

  ‘Right, Billy, you get on to it,’ he instructed. ‘Call ’em in. Meanwhile, does anyone know if there’s another route to the house?’

  There was a muttering, nobody was sure.

  ‘There could be—’ began Pete Biffin.

  Tom Withey heard his own voice, interrupting.

  ‘There’s a light on in The Gatehouse, you can just see it through a chink in the upstairs curtains,’ he said. ‘Perhaps there’s someone there, someone who might be able to help.’

  ‘Well done, lad,’ said Parsons, as he strode across to the house and knocked on the door.

  There was no response.

  ‘I thought I saw movement,’ ventured Tom uncertainly. ‘B-but it could have been a trick of the light.’

  Bob Parsons hammered more loudly on the door. There was still no response.

  He turned back to his crew. ‘Any other ideas?’

  ‘Look, I don’t think this will help much, but I’m pretty sure there’s a track from Blackdown Farm leading to the manor,’ said Pete Biffin. ‘It’s meant for tractors, though. I don’t reckon we’d stand much chance of getting this beast through.’

  ‘I was on an engine once and the driver took it straight through a hedge,’ muttered Parsons.

  ‘I reckon we’d have to mow down hedges on either side, and a stretch or two of bank as well,’ said Pete. ‘No, the more I think about it, the more I can’t see that it’s worth even trying that track. We’d just get stuck.’

  Parsons turned to stare at Blackdown Manor. The moon seemed to be growing increasingly brighter. There was still little sign of a fire, although he was fairly sure that he could see some smoke now.

  ‘Anyone know if there’s any water close to the house?’ he asked.

  It was Pete Biffin again who answered the question. As a boy he’d helped his father deliver eggs and vegetables to Blackdown Manor.

  ‘There’s a big ornamental pond, right in front of the place,’ Pete volunteered, knowing exactly what his station manager was getting at. ‘We should be able to pump from that.’

  ‘Right,’ said Parsons. ‘Let’s unload the LPP and get on up there to check the place out properly.’

  Parsons was referring to the Light Portable Pump carried by all British fire appliances. Tom Withey – a big strong lad, who, along with all the other fire officers stationed at Wellington, trained at least three times a week – had already helped to carry one several times. He reckoned that most people would not regard an LPP as remotely light or portable. The pumps were basically adapted car engines, and weighed the best part of half a ton. Four fit men were needed to carry one of them. And the shorter the distance the better. On this occasion, the pump would have to be somehow or other lifted over the fallen tree, and then there was still a quarter of a mile of driveway to cover.

  As, along with the rest of the crew, he turned to run back to the engine and unload the pump, Tom just hoped he was up to the task. Bob Parsons was still speaking.

  ‘The way things are at the moment if there’s anyone inside we should be able to get them out,’ Parsons continued. ‘And at least we can assess how serious the situation is. So, the quicker we get there the better.’

  Within seconds the team had removed the portable pump from the fire engine and were attempting to lift it over the stricken oak, two men on top of the trunk pulling, and two with their feet still on the ground pushing.

  Then it happened. Boom. A blast, like a major bomb going off, ripped through the night air and the rear part of Blackdown Manor exploded. This was followed within seconds by an eruption of flames shooting into the sky, twenty maybe thirty feet high. Along with the ever-brightening moon, the flames provided terrifying clear illumination of the scene now confronting the shocked Wellington firefighters. It looked as if the top of the old house was simply no longer there, having been lifted by a force of unimaginable magnitude.

  Tom felt numb. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t think. What the hell had caused that? He and the rest of the crew remained stricken, straddled across the fallen tree for several seconds, still carrying the heavy pump between them.

  In the distance, Tom heard Bob Parsons’s voice.

  ‘She’s blown,’ said Parsons, shocked, but still in control, only the slightest tremor in his voice.

  Like all of them, he was staring at the blazing manor house.

  ‘Right lads,’ he continued. ‘We aren’t going to be able to do anything with an LPP now. So, let’s put the bugger down, shall we. Careful as you go.’

  Only then did Tom become aware of the pain in his arms and legs from muscles straining under the weight of the so-called portable pump.

  Once the pump had been safely lowered to the ground, Parsons spoke again. ‘Gas,’ he said. ‘Gotta be. Either that or it’s a terrorist attack. Which would be a first for these parts. Anyone know if they’ve got a gas tank out the back?’

  He glanced towards Pete Biffin.

  The younger man shook his head. ‘I dunno, Bob, but I shouldn’t be surprised. They must have something for heating, and there’s no natural gas out here. Either a gas tank or oil, and oil wouldn’t blow like that.’

  ‘No. And neither does a gas tank as a rule. Not without some help in my experience. But that isn’t our problem. Our job is to get help to those poor bastards—’

  Parsons was interrupted by another loud bang from the other end of the drive. Some kind of secondary explosion, or perhaps just the crash of the grand old house tumbling down. None of the crew were too sure.

  ‘Jesus,’ said Parsons.

  He spoke into his radio.

  ‘Urgent assistance,’ he demanded. ‘We have a major incident. There’s been a large explosion at Blackdown Manor, perhaps a double explosion, which seems to have lifted most of the roof, and we now have an out of control fire spreading rapidly throughout. We believe there are people still inside the building, probably trapped. We have already requested USAR to shift an oak tree blocking the drive. This should now be top priority. Virtually the entire house seems to be on fire, and we can’t get an engine near to it. Also, if they’re not on their way already, we need medics—’

  It was clear that Parsons had been interrupted by the co-ordinator. He listened for a few seconds.

  ‘You’ve just heard what?’ he said then, the surprise clear in his voice.

  He listened for a few seconds more.

  ‘Right,’ he said. ‘Got it.’

  He turned back to his men.

  ‘There’s been a development,’ he said. ‘We’re not going anywhere close to that burning house, boys. Even if we could find a way through. We have to back off.’

  Tom Withey, in spite of his youth and his newness to the job, was already trained to continue to function under devastatingly horrific circumstances. But, now, not only was the way to the blazing Blackdown Manor at least temporarily impassable, but the boss was instructing his men to back off.

  ‘It’s been reported that there are armed intruders on the property,’ Parsons continued. ‘We can’t take the risk …’

&nbs
p; Tom listened in a near daze. So, all he and the rest of the crew were going to be able to do was to stand and watch. And Tom knew, beyond any reasonable doubt, that he was watching people burn to death. He thought it was probably the most difficult thing he’d had to do in his whole young life.

  ONE

  Saslow picked up Detective Inspector David Vogel from his home, at Sea Mills on the M5 side of Bristol, at 6.15 a.m. It was still dark on a cold, wet, early-October morning. Pretty typical of the west of England, Vogel thought. He wasn’t looking forward to being driven halfway across Somerset on what could quite probably not be a police matter at all.

  Then there was the very slight awkwardness he sometimes felt nowadays with Saslow. The two officers had been working together since soon after Vogel transferred from the Met to the Avon and Somerset Constabulary’s Major Crime Investigation Team. In the beginning Dawn Saslow, small, dark, and clever, had been a uniformed constable. Vogel quickly formed a high opinion of her, and had been instrumental in her promotion to MCIT. But things hadn’t been quite the same between them since their last big case. And neither had Saslow, in Vogel’s opinion. She remained an exceptional officer, but had, he thought, lost more than a little of her raw, almost schoolgirl-like enthusiasm for the job.

  He settled into the passenger seat and turned towards the young DC.

  ‘How are you feeling then, Dawn?’ he asked.

  Saslow’s eyes were focused on the steering wheel. Vogel cursed himself as soon as he had spoken. Not so long ago he wouldn’t have bothered to enquire after her welfare, and Saslow would know that.

  ‘I meant, with such an early start,’ he added quickly.

  She answered equably enough.

  ‘I’m fine, sir,’ she said. ‘Could have done with a couple of hours more kip.’

  ‘Me too,’ said Vogel, with feeling.

  ‘You think this could turn out to be a wild goose chase, don’t you, boss?’ Saslow continued, as she eased her pool vehicle away from the kerb.