“No, I imagine he won’t.”
“But I don’t understand.” The young man shakes his head, his brows drawn together. “Archie is many things, but a murderer? I can’t imagine him doing that to Mia.”
I frown at the ground, and a niggling thought that has been sitting at the back of my mind since I got the phone call about Mia starts to take a more solid shape.
“She wasn’t meant to be there,” I mutter, and Adedayo blinks at me.
“Come again?”
“Mia.” I scrub my fingers through my beard, trying to piece it all together in a way that makes even a shred of sense. “She wasn’t meant to be there. She’d gone home after a meeting, to take Tank for a walk and collect some of her clothes. She was tired and took a nap.”
“And Archie knew this? That she was not there?”
“I-I don’t know. I imagine he’d have expected it. With the whole story about… us breaking, he’d know she wasn’t there.”
Adedayo crosses his arms over his chest and chews his lip. “But then… he didn’t want to hurt Mia. What was his motive?”
“He said he wanted her back.” The hairs on the back of my neck stand up. “And I think this was his way of trying to scare her into going back to him.”
“That’s ridiculous.” Adedayo frowns deeply and shakes his head. “What was he thinking?”
“I don’t know, but whatever it was, if that was his motive, he’s going to come back to try and make good on it.” The uneasiness that set my hair on end deepens. Something is very, very wrong. “I need to go.”
“Please call me if you need anything!” Adedayo calls after me as I stride from the field.
I pull out my phone and call Mia, but it goes straight to voicemail. My panic intensifies. I call Charlotte, and the phone rings three times before going to voicemail.
“Shit!” I dial Jordan’s number, and he answers after two rings.
“Hey, boss.”
“Have you heard from Charlotte or Mia?” I bark as I reach the underpass and break into a run towards the car park.
“Uh, no, I didn’t have any messages when I finished up training. Are you still here?”
“Yes, I am, but I’m heading to Charlotte’s now.” I reach the other side of the tunnel and pull my car keys from my pocket.For a split second I weigh up just how much I should tell Jordan to avoid setting off a full-blown panic. “Something’s wrong.”
“Wrong?” Jordan’s voice is strained with worry. “Fuck, wait for me and I’ll come with you.”
“Listen, I could be completely off base here,” I say as I unlock my car and drop into the driver’s seat. “But if I’m right, I need you ready to call the police. Alright?”
“Jesus Christ, Dominic, what’s going on?”
“I think it was Archie.” I speed out of the carpark and out onto the road. “The fire.”
Jordan mutters a curse, and I hear the jangling of keys in the background. “I’m on my way.”
“Don’t come up.” I’m going to cop a fine at this rate, I’m driving too fast and someone’s going to catch me. “Wait downstairs until I say.”
“Yes, boss.”
Jordan hangs up and I continue my erratic driving to Charlotte’s flat.
I’m a fool. I should have known it was Archie. Hardcastle made no sense. He’d have followed Mia relentlessly and known she was in the house. He wouldn’t try to kill her. But Archie is stupid enough to do something like this, even if he didn’t want to hurt her. He’s reckless and idiotic enough to try and burn down a fucking terrace house to try and get his own way.
The drive isn’t long but it feels like years. By the time I get to the flat, my nerves are proper frayed, and I’m sweating despite the icy breeze. I hit the doorbell downstairs, and the camera whirs as the shutter opens. The door buzzes open, and I storm up the stairs. Charlotte is waiting at her front door with a warm smile.
“Hiya, she’s getting out of the shower.” She steps aside for me to come in, her smile dropping when she looks at my face. “Dom,what’s the matter?” She tries to close the door behind us, but something blocks it.
