“I’ll leave you to it,” Dr Harold says, and slips out of the room.
“Gave us a right old fright, you did,” I say, stroking a hand over Mia’s hair. “Going and getting yourself set on fire.”
“I’m hot stuff, what can I say?” Mia coughs and sucks in a breath.
“Oh my god, how can you be making jokes at a time like this?” Charlotte rears up, furiously wiping tears from her face. “I thought you were dead! And now you’re here laughing?”
“Better to be laughing than dead though,” Mia says, and Charlotte throws herself on her with a strangled cry.
“I was so scared!” Charlotte sobs into Mia’s shoulder. “I didn’t even know I was your emergency contact anymore!”
“Of course you are, you daft cow,” Mia says, stroking Charlotte’s hair before erupting into a cough that sends Charlotte thumping back into her seat, her face blanching.
“Alright, enough talking, you two,” I say sternly, and Mia waves a hand, attempting more sass but having to focus on her breathing instead. “Come on, nice and calm now. I think we’ve had enough excitement for one evening.”
“Who the hell would have done this?” Charlotte asks, looking over at me with red-rimmed eyes. “Who’d go and set your house on fire with you in it?”
“Deranged… fan?” Mia grits out over a sharp breath. “Who knows.” She squeezes my hand, and I reach out to stroke her cheek. “Where’s Tank?”
“He’s with Sally, my dad’s carer.” I give her a smile. “Emergency vet came by and checked him over, he’s absolutely fine. Now, you stop talking, you need to rest.”
“I’m fi-” She starts coughing again, and when she stops she simply rolls her eyes at me and nods.
“Kasia’s organising an apartment for you, for when you get out.” I lift her hand to my lips, gently planting a kiss on her warm skin. “We’ll have your things cleaned and moved. The house is going to need a lot of work to rebuild it, but we’ll get there, alright?”
Mia shakes her head.
“No?” I frown. “You don’t want to go back there?”
She shakes her head again. “No.”
“No talking,” Charlotte snaps softly. “It’s OK, babes. We’ll sort this all out when you’re better.”
There’s a gentle tap at the door, and I look over my shoulder to see Dr Harold.
“The police are here,” he says softly. “They’d like to speak to you, Mr Graves.”
I turn to Mia and press another kiss to her hand, before getting to my feet and planting a kiss on her forehead.
“I’ll be right back.”
I follow the doctor out into the waiting room, past all the expectant faces, and to the front desk, where the police are waiting for me. Two constables in bright yellow vests and blue uniforms nod as we approach.
“Good evening, Mr Graves.” The one with short curly brown hair gives me a curt smile. “I’m PC Noakes, this is PC Sayyid. We attended the call out for the burn at your daughter-in-law’s house.”
“Do you have any idea what happened?” I ask, and Dr Harold excuses himself.
“The detectives are working on it, but all we know right now is the fire was started on the right side of the house by the kitchen,” PC Sayyid says. “It appears to have been deliberately lit, they found evidence of an accelerant being used.”
“Did your daughter-in-law have any enemies?” PC Noakes asks, and her tone is just a little too high, a little too questioning, and I know I’m looking at someone who keeps up with the gossip rags.
“Enemies? No. Obsessed fans, maybe.”
“And what about…” PC Sayyid pulls out a notepad, his eyes scanning the page. “A Mr Paul Hardcastle, goes by Paulie. Works for The Sun?”
I stare at him for a moment. “Paulie Hardcastle? You think he could have done this?”
PC Noakes shrugs and exchanges a glance with her colleague. “He seems to be known in the paparazzi community for being something of a vulture, especially when it comes to your daughter-in-law. And I do believe there was an incident between them a couple of weeks ago that landed her in the hospital?”
