No Mark upon Her

whooping. Behind them, she heard the engine’s siren start. Blue lights flashed in the Volvo’s rearview mirror.

“Hurry, hurry, damn it,” she whispered, exhorting herself as much as the crew on their tail.

“What the hell, Tav?” said Ian through clenched teeth. “You trying to kill us?”

“I’m afraid—” That was all she could force herself to say. “Just hang on. The engine will have to go round through the Rowing Museum car park, but this will get us closer.” She went through the light at Thames Side with a turn that nearly put them through the corner of the Angel. At the end of the road, she shot the car straight through the gap in the bollards and onto the paved pedestrian path that ran between the river and Mill Meadows. If there was anyone out walking after dark, they had bloody well better be paying attention.

The car’s headlamps picked out park benches and rubbish bins on the right as they flashed past, the dark thread of the river steady on the left. There was a rustle and scrape as willow fronds brushed the Volvo’s roof. Across the water, a few lights twinkled in the houses and cottages on the island.

Then, as they cleared another willow, she saw it.

Chaos. Utter chaos. Ahead, flames and sparks shot into the sky. It looked as though the river itself was burning.

But it wasn’t the river, it was Kieran’s boatshed. She had known it in her bones, and now she was certain. She recognized the bend in the river, the cottages on the near side of his.

Dark shapes moved against the orange illumination. When she judged they were directly across the river from the shed, she pulled the car onto the grass and jumped out, her bag in her hand. In the silence as the Volvo’s siren died, she could hear shouts across the water, but the wail of the fire engine was still distant.

Ian came round the car to stand beside her. “Holy shit. How’re we going to get over there?” A narrowboat was moored a few feet downstream, but it was dark and apparently unoccupied. “And they’re going to have a hell of a time getting down here from the museum,” Ian added. There was no sign of the engine yet.

One of the dark figures had seen them and begun waving frantically. “Hey!” he called. “Can you help us? Where’s the fire brigade?”

“Coming. We’re medics,” Tavie shouted back. “Bring the skiff across. There’s nothing you can do about the fire until the brigade gets here.” She could see Kieran’s little boat, still tied up by the landing raft.

She saw the man hesitate for a moment, then he untied the boat, hopped in, and quickly rowed across to them. He handled the skiff’s oars easily.

“I don’t know what happened,” he said when he reached them and maneuvered the boat against the bank. “I live next door. My wife and I were watching the telly. There was a boom, then all hell broke loose.”

Boats were not Tavie’s forte. She stepped carefully into the skiff, followed more confidently by Ian, and the man pushed off.

“Did you—is Kieran—is anyone hurt?” Tavie asked. She’d been called ice maiden because she was usually so calm at a scene, but now her heart felt as if it might pump out of her chest. Suddenly she realized that this was how Kieran had felt while they were searching for Rebecca Meredith and his worst fears had been realized. Dread settled in the pit of her stomach.

“You know the guy who lives there?” Ian’s dismay registered on his face, even in the flickering light. “Don’t tell me it’s that bloke—”

She didn’t answer, focusing on the man rowing. “Please—what’s your name?”

“John.”

“John, is anyone hurt?”

“I don’t know. We couldn’t get close enough.” There was a crack and more sparks shot into the air. “Shit,” John said, pushing the oars harder through the water. The prow of the little skiff lifted from the force. “My wife— we’ve got to get people away from there. Where is the fucking fire engine?”

Glancing back, Tavie saw flashing blue lights moving slowly towards the shore. “They’re coming. They’ve got to go through the park.”

“If they don’t get here soon, there’ll be nothing left.”

Tavie could feel the heat as they neared the landing raft. As soon as the skiff touched, she scrambled out, nearly missing her step. She could see a woman now, in front of the cottage next door.

“John!” the woman shouted. “Are they coming? Everything could go up any—”

“Get away, Janet.” John tied the skiff to a bollard and he and Ian climbed out on Tavie’s heels. He motioned the woman towards the open ground to the right of their cottage.

Tavie looked back. The engine was aligned parallel to the river’s edge now. They’d be pumping soon.

“Go, both of you,” she ordered. Then she had no more thought for them as she ran towards the flames.

“Tav, are you out of your mind?”

She heard Ian’s words, but they seemed to have no connection to her.

She was close now, the heat scorching her face. There were only a few yards between the landing raft and the shed. Then she saw a dark shape and heard the high-pitched keening of a dog over the crackle of the fire.

“Finn! Finn!”

The dog yelped but didn’t come to her. Shielding her face with her arm, she took a few more steps and saw why. He wouldn’t leave his master.

Kieran lay facedown, legs splayed, arms beneath him, as if he’d fallen without trying to catch himself.

Tavie’s training took over. She pulled her torch from her belt and ran the last few steps. Behind her, Ian was muttering, “You’re mad, you’re utterly mad,” but he was right with her.

She knelt, playing the torch over Kieran’s prone form. Finn whimpered and tried to lick her face. “It’s all right, boy, it’s all right,” she said. “Easy, now. Sit. Good boy.” The dog sat, but he was trembling with distress. The torch caught the gleam of the whites of his eyes.

Tavie put a hand on Kieran’s shoulder and felt a reassuring movement in return. He groaned.

“Kieran, it’s me. Can you turn over? Can you move?”

He moaned again and rolled towards her. “I had to get—I had to get Finn—”

“Don’t talk.” She played the light over his face, and for a horrifying moment she thought one side was charred black. Then she felt moisture, saw the sheen of blood on the hand she’d placed on his shoulder.

“My head.” He reached up. “Something came down—”

“We’ve got to move you. Can you stand?” She slipped an arm beneath his shoulder as Ian took his other side.

They got him to his feet, but then he twisted away from them. “The boat—”

“Your boat’s fine—”

“No, the boat. The shell I was building—” He lurched towards a long, slender shape, made humped by the drape of a tarpaulin. “Don’t let it burn. Her boat—”

Shouts and the chug of the diesel pump carried across the water. Tavie recognized the captain’s voice as he yelled, “Clear the area, clear the area.” The force of the jet from the deck gun could do them serious damage—not to mention what would happen if the shed blew before the engine could get the fire under control. With a shudder, she thought of the solvents Kieran used on his boat repairs.

“Come on, Kieran.” She and Ian grabbed him again, half lifting him off his feet as they pulled him away. They staggered forward, a human caterpillar. Finn ran a few feet ahead of them, looking back and yipping. “We’ve got to get Finn out of here, right? You can do this.”

Kieran turned towards her, his face half obscured by blood, but for the first time there was recognition in his eyes. She felt a rush of relief.

“Tavie?” he said. “Tavie, somebody threw a petrol bomb through my window.” He sounded more baffled than outraged. “Some bastard tried to blow me up.”

Gemma sat at the kitchen table, her tea forgotten, her mind spinning with horror at what she’d just learned. Had she imagined the coldness in Angus Craig’s eyes that night, when he’d seen Toby and her mum? She didn’t think so. How close had she come to something she couldn’t imagine?

Across the table, Kincaid’s face was tight with anger. “I’d have killed him. I’d have killed him if he had even touched you.”

His tone made her shiver convulsively. She’d only heard him sound like that, icy and implacable, a few times. And they had been dealing with murderers.

“You didn’t know me then,” she said.

“That wouldn’t have mattered, if I’d found out.”