she said significantly. “She had a major fire in one of the outbuildings at her house just over eight years ago. It spread to the garden and she lost a large number of tools, including some pretty pricey things like mowers and generators. It also took a swipe out of the kitchen.”
Jonah stared at her, trying to process the description. It was all but identical to what had happened last night.
“That doesn’t sound accidental,” he said slowly.
Hanson shook her head. “The insurance company suspected foul play and put an investigator on it. It looked like she’d done it herself. There was a can of petrol for the mower, which was sitting open, and it had clearly been used on the fire. They found a set of Jojo’s overalls bundled behind one of the greenhouses, and they stank of petrol. There was a long wrangle, but they eventually paid out. Her solicitor did a good job, I think.”
“That’s interesting,” he said with a nod. “Well done.”
He felt a little disconnected as he remembered the can of petrol, and Jojo beside it. Jojo, fully dressed, her bed not slept in, doing nothing to stop the spread of the blaze.
“It seems more than convenient that it’s happened again just as Jojo is being investigated for murder,” she added. “She gets to play the victim when we’re looking for a killer. And I’d want to have a good look at what was being burned, too.”
“Agreed,” he said, trying to smile. “We should take a good look. As long as you’re prepared to accept that it might just turn out to be a peculiar coincidence, of course.”
In his office, he slowly lowered himself into his chair. He thought further: from Jojo’s lack of reaction to it all to her love for her garden. He wondered whether she could bring herself to damage it in order to distract them, or whether she’d angered somebody enough to do this. And that creeping sense of threat resurfaced. He had to restrain himself from going back out to warn Hanson to be careful. She wasn’t going to come to any harm in CID. But, he decided, the team had better know that their thirty-year-old case had reared its head into very modern-day activity.
* * *
—
HANSON FELT UNEASY. It was profoundly unlikely to be a coincidence that Jojo had suffered vandalism twice, and the petrol threw a very suspicious light on the current damage to her property. But the DCI didn’t seem to be excited about that. Which could have been caution, or could have been something else.
DCI Jonah Sheens was on scene….
She couldn’t help thinking about the way he had interacted with Jojo, and about the trip to the climbing wall to interview her alone. She wanted to feel enthusiastic about solving this case, and instead she felt a weight of worry descend.
She could tell that the slight ache in her head was going to step up into a full-on throb soon. She pulled up the various reports into the arson, and pressed the Print button, and then sat and kneaded her temples for a while.
She was still in the same pose when she heard a cheerful “All right, Juliette?” from beyond her shoulder, and realized that O’Malley had arrived.
She looked up, slightly disoriented, and tried to smile at him. “Fine. But painkillers definitely needed. Have you got any?”
“Oho! Rough night, was it?” He beamed at her, bent to open one of his desk drawers, and threw a packet of Tylenol at her. “Knock yourself out.”
“Tempting,” she replied, and rose to find water.
She met Lightman leaving the kitchen with two mugs, and felt a rush of embarrassment as she realized that he’d probably come into the office while she’d had her head in her hands.
“I got you one,” he said, holding up one of the cups.
“Oh…thanks.” She took it with a vague smile.
“You look like you’ve been in a while.”
“Yeah. I woke up early, and I figured I might as well.” And then she added, on impulse, “I’ll send you some stuff about Jojo shortly. It’s interesting. A previous arson, probably deliberate.”
Lightman, at least, might think it was exciting.
“Thanks,” he said, “send away.”
* * *
—
JONAH REALIZED IT was almost time to brief his team, and he’d done very little to work out what they were focusing on. He tried to snap himself out of his unsettled daze by pulling his notes out. He’d been reading for only a couple of minutes when O’Malley knocked on the door.
“Matt