It was a panic room he had installed three years previously when Julie decided to dump her ex-boyfriend Craig Dawson, and after he had been released from prison after serving just three years of his six year sentence and he became a bit of a nuisance.
The house originally had five bedrooms, and there was only him and Julie, so he had people from his engineering company alter one of the bedrooms and install a safe room ‘just in case’ because at the time it looked like the boy could turn into a stalker.
Luckily, after a while, he got a new girlfriend and stopped standing outside the front of the house all night. And then the threats had ceased. By then the work had already been undertaken.
As his company specialised in metalwork engineering, everything in the hidden room had been lined with metal, and it included a staircase that led down into the basement and along and out to the triple garage to the side of the house.
The smoke was getting through, but the metal kept the flames at bay, although the walls were becoming hot. Roger covered his face and mouth with the dressing gown and felt his way down to the basement and then along to the garage. Luckily there was a short passage from the house, and the smoke and flames hadn’t got to the garage yet.
Roger could hear sirens in the distance getting louder. He pressed the button on the wall to open the garage door, and when it had risen up enough, he clambered out into the front driveway. Just as he did, he saw two fire engines and a police car arriving in the driveway. He didn’t notice Kevin and his two sons standing in the crowd that had gathered to see what was going on, but they noticed him.
“C’mon, let’s get out of here,” said Kevin.
Chapter Thirty-Two
FIRE
Two fire engines filled the driveway at the front of Roger’s house both with ladders extending towards the front of the house. Yellow fire hoses crisscrossed over each other like giant worms stretching to the back of the house where firemen fully rigged with breathing apparatus stood aiming each hose with total precision through the windows on both the ground and upper floors.
The noise levels from both the firefighters communicating with each other and the damage being created by the flames meant anyone within a hundred metres was probably not going to be able to sleep for some time.
There were around thirty neighbours and onlookers standing on the pavement and spilling into the road. A few even had their phones and were videoing the event like it was Guy Fawkes Night.
The fire officer had informed the two police officers of the safe distance to maintain, and they were standing to ensure none of the onlookers got too close.
The road either side of the house had been blocked off by police cars. Detective Eden Gold parked as close as he could, and together with his colleague DS Tracy Archer, walked to the front of the crowd, both showing the PC their ID badges.
Roger Maynard was sitting on a fold-up chair one of the firemen had grabbed from the garage and placed to the left side of the front garden about halfway between the fire engines and the road. He was being attended to by a paramedic.
As Eden spoke with the firemen, Tracy walked over to where Roger was sitting.
“Hello, Mr Maynard. Can you tell me what happened?”
Roger indicated his burning house. “Someone set fire to the house, with me in it, is what happened. And I think I can guess who that was.”
“I don’t suppose you saw them.”
“No. But it’s obvious, isn’t it?”
Eden sighed. “To you and me perhaps, but not to a jury. He will have an alibi with a dozen witnesses.”
“I thought he would forget about me.”
“Mr Maynard, off the record, I’ve been dealing with this family for more years than I care to remember and they are ruthless, especially Kevin. I don’t know what keeps the blood flowing round his body, but it’s sure not a heart because he hasn’t got one that I’ve ever seen. And I’m afraid this won’t be the end of it.”
“How does he get away with it?”
“We have to act within the law, and he knows how to play the system. Believe me, there are probably twenty cops who would give half their pension to see O’Connor locked up but unless we catch him in the act, we can’t touch him.”
Roger bit his lip. “I bloody can.”
“Sorry, I went deaf for a second there. I didn’t hear what you said. Just be careful, Mr Maynard, or you could be the one ending up in court. We’ll get him one day, believe me.”
“If I can get to my car in the garage, I’ve got some spare clothes. Plus I left my mobile in there.”
One of the two mobiles had been in the house, and Roger guessed that one would be have been destroyed, but he had left the one with the number given to the police in his car. He didn’t mention to the detective about having two and the reason.
When the problems had first begun for Roger, one of the first things Phil Jones had advised Roger to do was purchase two mobile phones and to tell everyone he had lost his old one.
“You don’t know who is on your side. Give out the number of one phone to people like the police, your solicitor’s office and legal people. Then give out the second number to family and for work-related matters.
Now, we need to find you somewhere to stay.”
“I have somewhere I can stay that will be safe.”
“If you are sure? Not somewhere connected to your family, I hope. Once O’Connor learns you’ve survived he will try other ways.”
“There are only my parents and my ex-wife. No other family. My parents are due to go on holiday tomorrow so that they will
