AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 29
Margo
A car pulled up outside my house. I peeked out the window, hoping against hope that Dad and Dorian had quietly returned home to surprise us. No such luck.
A police car parked right in front of my gate. Two gardaí got out and lingered next to the car, glancing at my house as they spoke to one another.
Taking a deep breath, I went to the front door and opened it. One garda, a tall man with bright blue eyes, beckoned me over. I went to the gate but remained behind it, my hands on the wrought iron, clinging to it for support.
“Margo Harding?” the shorter garda asked, looking me over.
I nodded. “What’s wrong? Did something happen to—“
“No, no,” he said. “It’s nothing like that.”
“You’ve witnessed a few of the arson attacks now, Margo,” the blue-eyed garda said in a congenial tone. “Bit of a strange coincidence, isn’t it?”
“Still a coincidence.” My stomach felt like lead. I looked from one man to the other. “You don’t think I started any fires, do you? Because I—“
The shorter one held up his hands with a smile. “Now, now. Don’t get excited. We’re not here to accuse you. We only want to have a chat after seeing you, coincidentally.”
“You parked outside my house.”
He cocked his head to the side, an unappealing smirk on his face. “Funny, that.”
The blue-eyed man patted the other on the arm. “You’re relatively new in town, aren’t you? Were you brought here by Byron Evans by any chance? I heard you’re close to one of his boys.”
I narrowed my gaze. “I didn’t meet him until after we moved here. I had nothing to do with any fires, and neither did my boyfriend’s family.”
“Quite the temper there,” the short one said. “And he’s a boyfriend now, is he?”
“Yes,” I said sharply. “Is that against the law now?”
“Careful of that tone,” the tall one murmured, scribbling something in his stupid notebook.
“You don’t know anything about the fires,” the shorter man said. “But you know Emma Crane, don’t you?”
“Emma? Yeah, of course. We’re in the same year at school.”
“And the same drama club,” the blue-eyed garda said. “Here’s something I’ve heard: you took over her role after a bit of nastiness. Is that right?”
Seriously? “You hear a lot,” I said. “Did you not hear that we’re friends now, and she was never interested in the role.”
He tapped a pen against his notebook, then continued in a sympathetic tone. “I didn’t hear that, no. But a little bird told me that Emma has a lot of problems with her neighbour, the one whose house was set on fire, that she wished harm on that neighbour, and what was the other one?”
The shorter garda grinned. “Our little Emma quite likes playing with lighters. Drawn to fire, so she is. Wouldn’t be the first time she started a fire either.”
“Why would she…?” I shook my head in disbelief. “There’s no way. You’ve got this all wrong. People got hurt. Emma wouldn’t do that. It has to be an adult who started those fires.”
“Oh?” The blue-eyed man perked up. “And what makes you say that?”
I crossed my arms. “Because only adults are that cruel. And isn’t this a bit weird? Two grown men questioning a minor without her parents’ consent.”
They exchanged a glance. “Questioning?” the short one said in a baffled tone. “Sure we’re just having a friendly chat after happening upon you in the neighbourhood. What’s wrong with that?”
“Even so, we’d like to see you down at the station with your parents,” the blue-eyed one said after a moment. “We should go over things in case you forgot something important.”
“My father’s out of town, and my mother isn’t here, so I can’t help you,” I said sullenly.
