Nell frowned. “Who is he?”
“Good question.” Mattie zoomed in on the picture. “I interviewed a lot of the local residents, and he wasn’t one of them. Nor is it the neighbour who helped to rescue the mum and her kid.”
“That doesn’t make sense.” Thoughts raced through Nell’s mind as she worked through myriad possibilities. “Can I look at all your photos and video footage from the fire in sequence?”
“Sure.” Mattie handed her the phone.
Nell flicked through them. The stranger was turning away from the fire and was clearly anxious to get away. Could he be the arsonist? There were dark smudges across his high forehead and cheeks. It was possible that they were flashback wounds caused when he’d used petrol or some other kind of accelerant. If only the photo was clearer. Her heart sped up. Having evidence of a suspect at the scene of the crime was invaluable. Even if there was an innocent explanation, they needed to speak to him as part of the investigation. “Are you sure you didn’t see him at any other time?”
Mattie frowned. “Not that I can remember.”
Nell honed in on the tremor in Mattie’s voice. “Are you doubting yourself?”
“There was so much going on and the smoke... It was...triggering.” Mattie shuddered, her eyes darting away from Nell.
Nell’s heart contracted at the sudden look of fear on Mattie’s face. Clearly the traumatic events in Kenya still affected her. She wanted to hug Mattie but reminded herself she was on duty, and physical touch might not be welcomed. “These photos have the metadata attached to them, I presume?”
“Yes. I always keep the time and location switched on.” An element of certainty returned to Mattie’s tone, and she lifted her chin.
“I’m going to need to do this officially, of course. I’ll get all of your footage and a witness statement from you, but for now, could you email me the photo of our mystery man, please? I need to share it with my colleagues in CID as soon as possible.”
“Sure.” Mattie typed out Nell’s email address and attached the photo. “Done.”
“Thank you.” Nell forwarded the email to the head of the CID team and highlighted her suspicions about the black smudges on the potential suspect’s face.
“Could you keep me in the loop as to whether the photo is useful and how the investigation is progressing as a whole?”
Nell’s jubilant mood from the possibility that Mattie’s inadvertent photo might be the highly prized breakthrough came crashing down. Mattie was a journalist: of course she wanted something in return. “I thought this wasn’t your story anymore.”
“Yes and no.”
Nell failed to keep impatience out of her tone. “Care to explain?”
“I’m keeping tabs on events. My gut instinct tells me there’s a better story behind the story.”
“Ah, a journalist with a theory.” Nell couldn’t prevent the irritation from bleaching into her voice. “I’m struggling to understand why a journalist of your calibre is interested in a non-fatal house fire in a seaside town, which many of your viewers would struggle to find on a map.”
“You do our viewers a disservice.” Mattie folded her arms over her chest in a move that shrieked defiance. “I’m intrigued as to why you’re involved.”
Nell clenched her jaw. “Excuse me?”
“As you said yourself, it was, thankfully, a non-fatal house fire. Nothing to see here, move along. So why send in the cavalry with someone of your high rank? Thatintriguesme.”
“Because?” Nell asked, her voice intentionally sharp.
“Because it’s what you’renotsaying. Truths are often found in the words that people leave out. I’m going to take a punt that this wasn’t just a block of bedsits. It was a safe house. Witness protection? Domestic violence shelter? Most likely the latter, as it appears the residents were women and children.” Mattie gestured at the photo. “There’s a strong chance of him being the arsonist. And if I’m right about the house being a refuge, then I’d say there’s a huge likelihood of there being a link between him and a woman who was living there.”
“You’re making an assumption,” Nell said. Mattie spoke with far too much conviction, and her accuracy grated.
“Almost certainly the correct one.” Mattie gave her a small smile. “How’s Lexi doing?”
Nell steeled her gaze and willed her face not to betray her shock that Mattie knew Lexi’s name.
“I was there, Nell. I saw it happen. I heard one of the women shouting to Lexi when she was trapped by the flames. You were very careful not to name her, so I chose not to either.”
Damn. Nell had to put a stop to this. “Does your news editor know about this photo?”
“I’ve told them, yes.”
