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‘You idiot. Do you realise what you’ve put me through?’
‘Hey, I went through it too. Can you imagine how I felt when I heard about the fire? I thought I’d killed you. I drove over and you weren’t there. There was no sign of you at the hospitals. And you weren’t answering your phone. I thought you were in the morgue. It was an awful evening for me.’
‘You are unbelievable.’ Holly’s whole body shook and her voice vibrated as she spoke. ‘How does that compare to what I’ve been through? You’ve ruined my whole life.’
‘You can’t prove it was me. It could still have been an electrical fault. I’ll say that the painting wasn’t even in the studio.’
‘Oh, I’ll prove it alright.’
‘There are no witnesses. The insurance has paid out. What’s the big deal?’
‘The big deal is, that you can get done for arson.’
‘Only if I did it on purpose. It was an accident.’
‘So you say. And I can prove you took the portrait that day because I logged all of my paintings with dated photographs.’ Holly reached for her phone and brought up the pictures flashing through them one by one until she got to his portrait. ‘There we are, the fourteenth of May.’
Tom leaned forward trying to grab the phone. Holly pulled her hand out of the way. ‘It’s on the cloud, brainbox.’
Tom walked towards the painting and lifted it off the wall. Holly quickly snapped a shot of him, with her phone.
‘Another dated photo.’ She paused as she tapped her phone, then looked at Tom. ‘Uploaded.’
Tom walked towards her.
Holly watched his face twist. Then it changed, his eyes opened wide, as did his mouth. She heard Grace’s voice behind her.
‘Tommy, what’s all the shouting about?’
‘Why are you here?’ Tom’s face turned crimson.
‘I was coming to talk about us getting back together. But you seem to be with your – wife.’
Holly spun around. ‘Don’t leave on my account.’
Grace pouted. ‘Forget it, Tommy.’ She left the office.
Holly swung back to Tom and crossed her arms. ‘So you came back to me because you got dumped?’ She laughed, then spoke slowly and quietly. ‘You burned down my home, all the memories of my family are gone. You snuffed out everything I had. Call off the solicitor.’
‘It was an accident.’ Tom slumped into his chair and put his head in his hands. ‘Honest, babe.’
Holly observed his cowering body.
‘I lit the candle and forgot about it. Maybe it fell as I closed the door. I’d never have done it on purpose.’ He looked up. ‘You’ve got to believe me.’
Holly sighed. ‘Save the excuses for the police. It’s up to them to decide whether you’re lying or not.’
Tom frowned. ‘You wouldn’t.’
‘You ran off with another woman, you wanted out. I think it’s probably for the best that the police are informed, don’t you?’
Tom stood up. ‘Look, I’ll call my solicitor now.’ He took his mobile phone out of his pocket.
Holly listened as he spoke to them, asking for his case to be withdrawn. ‘Happy now?’ he said as he slammed his mobile on the table.
‘Nearly.’ Holly turned and walked towards the door. ‘There’s just the matter of that money you owe me. I know you have eighty thousand in your savings account.’
Leaving Tom’s office, she found Grace standing outside leaning against a wall, biting her thumb nail. Holly did not feel badly towards her, she had no energy for that. Grace looked up.
