‘No,’ said Frost, firmly. ‘She’s the only witness. The only person who can help us.’
Ada stood her ground, chin jutting defiantly, one arm protectively around her charge. ‘I’ve told you to go. This is neither the time nor the place.’
But, sniffing back her tears and biting hard on her lower lip, Jill spoke quietly. ‘It’s all right. I want to help. What do you want to know?’
Signalling Gilmore to get out his notebook, Frost dragged a wicker-seated chair to the side of the bed. ‘Tell us what happened.’
The detective sergeant gave a sharp cough and glared angrily. ‘This is my case,’ he reminded the inspector.
‘Sorry, son,’ said Frost mildly, moving his chair back a little.
Gilmore gave the woman a sympathetic smile. ‘Tell us what happened, Mrs Compton.’
She fumbled under the pillow for a handkerchief, dabbed at her eyes, then, twisting the tiny scrap of cloth in her hands, related the course of events. ‘We went to bed just before midnight. I woke up suddenly. Mark was using the phone by the bed. He was calling the police. He had heard someone prowling about outside.’
‘Did you see who it was?’ asked Gilmore.
‘Not clearly. We looked out of the window and could see a shadow of someone moving about. Mark was angry. He grabbed a heavy torch and said he was going to teach whoever it was a lesson.’
‘He was going to use the torch as a weapon?’
She nodded. ‘I imagine so.’
‘You didn’t go downstairs with him?’
‘No. He insisted I stayed in the bedroom with the door locked. I waited. Suddenly I heard shouting and crashing, as if there was a fight. Then it went quiet. I waited, hoping Mark would come back. I called him. No answer. Then I smelt burning so I unlocked the bedroom door. Thick black smoke. I could hardly see. I had to feel my way down the stairs. When I opened the lounge door, flames and smoke roared out. I could see Mark, face down on the floor. But the heat was intense. I couldn’t get to him.’
She paused, her face drawn and pained as she relived the moment. Frost started to say something, but Gilmore brusquely signalled him to be quiet.
‘I saw the lounge window was open, so I tried to get out into the garden through the back door. But the smoke was so thick. I was choking. When I found the bolts, they wouldn’t undo. I struggled and finally got them undone . . .’ She looked at her broken nails, then hid her hands under the bedclothes. ‘. . . but I must have passed out. That’s all I remember. There was a fireman . . . and then there was Ada.’ The effort of talking had exhausted her. Her eyes closed and her head dropped back on the pillow. ‘That’s all I remember,’ she repeated in a whisper.
‘The firemen found you collapsed just outside the back door,’ Gilmore told her. ‘Did you see anything more of the person who broke in?’
Eyes still closed, she shook her head. ‘No.’ Her body trembled with the reaction and she tried to sit up. ‘If only I could have got to Mark. He was so close. But the flames . . .’
Gilmore patted her arm. ‘There was nothing you could have done, Mrs Compton. He was already dead when you first saw him.’
She raised her face to the sergeant. ‘I pleaded with him to wait for the police. If only he had stayed with me . . .’ And then she threw back her head and howled in anguish, her sobs racking her body . . .
With a belligerent stride Ada pushed in front of Gilmore. ‘No more. She’s had enough.’
Gilmore replaced the chair up against the forget-me-not patterned wallpaper. ‘Thanks for your help, Mrs Compton. And I really am most sorry.’
Ada wrapped her dressing gown around her spare frame. ‘I’ll stay with her for a while. There’s tea and biscuits in the kitchen if you want some.’
The kitchen, with the coal fire roaring away, was almost overpoweringly warm and Gilmore had to fight hard to keep his eyes open as he sipped Ada’s hot, sweet tea. Frost had twitched back the curtains to reveal the early morning sky, part-streaked with smudges of smoke from the fire. He was sprawled in the chair by the kitchen table, using a saucer as an ashtray. He too was tired. He’d have given anything to be able to climb into bed, preferably with the naked