She didn’t want to think about that.
She exchanged a glance with her mum, who was sitting beside her. They seemed to share a silent understanding that now was not the time to tell her dad what they’d all been keeping from him. He’d find out soon enough.
As soon as he was in the car, Kate put her foot down and skidded out of the driveway on to the road through the village, kicking up gravel in her wake.
‘Slow down!’ Rufus barked from the back seat, holding on for dear life. ‘This is not how you were taught to drive!’
Kate did slow down through the village. It was a single-track road, and anybody could be out cycling or walking their dog.
Rufus said, ‘Now, will you please tell me where we are all off to in such a hurry?’
Claire turned in her seat to look at him. ‘The Little Theatre by the Sea.’
‘The Little Theatre by the Sea? Why on earth are we going to that old dilapidated theatre?’
Bridie ran along the promenade, her friends following behind, Mabel and Marjorie trying their best to keep up.
Mabel shouted, ‘We’ll meet you there.’
Bridie could see two fire engines up ahead parked on the promenade outside the theatre, and worse still, as she neared there was the distinct smell of acrid smoke.
Bridie shouted out, ‘Oh, no, no, no!’ There was already a crowd gathering. She could see firefighters up ahead barring bystanders from getting any closer to the theatre.
One of the fire crew spotted Bridie and her entourage running down the promenade towards them. He held out his arms. ‘Stop!’
‘Please let me through. I own that theatre.’
‘I don’t care if you own the whole town, nobody is getting any closer.’
‘I need to know what’s going on – how bad is it?’
There was an ambulance there too. She cast her glance at her friends. Mabel and Marjorie were still purposefully marching down the promenade.
Bridie eyed them all. ‘We didn’t leave anybody behind in the theatre, did we, when rehearsals finished?’
Oliver shook his head. ‘No, I made sure everyone had left before you locked up.’
‘Everyone who was there for the rehearsal,’ Bridie said.
Oliver looked at her. They both knew what she meant. He cocked his head in the direction of the ambulance. ‘You know what they say about people who play with fire …’
They’re going to get burned,thought Bridie. ‘Please, don’t say that.’ She cast her gaze over to the ambulance too.
‘Sorry,’ Oliver apologised. ‘I’m just so angry. I can’t believe Jack would take it this far …’
Bridie couldn’t believe it either – but the proof was right in front of them; her theatre was on fire.
‘There was no one in the theatre, apart from the saboteur,’ said Mabel breathlessly as she muscled her way in to the front.
‘The what?’ the fire officer turned a surprised gaze on Mabel.
‘The person who has been trying to sabotage the theatre.’
‘Are you saying you think the fire was started deliberately?’
Bridie suddenly wondered if Jack had gone there himself, rather than sending someone else, determined to put an end to the theatre.
Her anxiety was rising. As much as she wanted Jack to have his comeuppance for doing this, she didn’t want it like this – for something to have happened to him. She might have acknowledged now that she wasn’t in love with him, if she ever had been, but they still had a history; he was her friend, and despite everything, she still had it in her heart to forgive him. She just wanted him to be all right.
