Saved By The Firefighter
Chapter 127

Ben's Point of View.

Davey glances over at me, as Kathline whispers to us both about Josie being arrested.

"What the actual f**k!" Davey exclaims.

"Shut up Davey, keep it down, there is more." Kathline hisses at him, then looks around to the table, and pulls us further away towards the toilets, out of the way of prying ears.

"What is going on?" Davey asks, clearly as shocked as I am about Josie being arrested for assault. I mean Josie? She would no more assault anyone than go to the bloody moon.

"I have called my old boss, Pete Lane. He is a criminal defence barrister, the best in these parts. He is doing me a favour, but it is going to cost her and Anders a pretty penny." Kathline sighs.

"I don't think that will be an issue, but who the hell did she assault?" I ask.

"Twinkle's Mrs." Kathline's voice barely audible.

"What, why?" I ask, I mean we all know Twinkle's Mrs is a b***h with a capital B, and is treating him like shite at the moment, but that is not enough to make Josie assault her.

"Josie and Anders went back to the flowers. Josie wanted to say a final goodbye to Wayne, when they got there, Twinkles Mrs was there, apologising to Wayne, saying it wasn't supposed to be him that died. Ander's father turned up, telling her it was always the risk they took setting the fires. She knew that, but the next time they would kill Twinkle." Kathline whispered.

I stood looking at Kathline, as Davey looked like he was about to upturn the whole bar. I am shocked, the words not fully registering in my brain. Then, as the reality dawns that one of our own was the arsonist, rage begins to pulse through my veins. I stagger backwards slightly as once again my mind transports me back to that factory.

The flames grow increasingly hot, as we watch in horror as the fire takes hold of the part where the batteries are. I had no other option, we had to get out of the fire escape, the door opening giving a fresh wave of oxygen, feeding the flames. We rushed out together, as the back draft blew me, Davey, Josie, Headache and Twinkle free, before the flames sucked back inside the building, pulling Wayne with them. I can hear his scream echoing in my ears. The sound of all of us shouting his name repeatedly, before members of the Marley pott's squad rushed round, pulling us off the ground, to the ambulances.

I closed my eyes, concentrating on my breathing in a bid to bring myself back to the here and now. I am not there, I am here, at the wake of Wayne, hearing how Twinkle's wife had caused the fire with her lover...Anders' father.

"How did she know him?" I suddenly ask the question that my mind goes to, not that it matters.

"Don't know, but she or they set fire to a school full of kids, my own son inside, to try and kill her husband, for what?" Kathline said, tears pricking her eyes.

"His pension," Davey growled out.

I looked at him and nodded my head in agreement. If a firefighter is killed in the line of duty, the pay out is massive, plus I know she has a massive life insurance policy for Twinkle. He often complained about the amount of money it cost each month. "s**t, who is going to tell him?" Davey asks.

"The police will, they will need to search his house. They will probably arrive here shortly. I don't want him finding out in front of everyone." Kathline sighs.

"No, me neither, plus we have to go support Josie." I said, worried about the girl who is like a sister to me.

"Listen, Kathline and I will go get Twinkle, we will tell him away from this place, and take him home. If you and Lucy can head back to the police, see if Jason will give you any information," Davey states.

I nodded my head in agreement.

I head back to the table, offering a small smile to Lucy, who furrows her brows at me.

Not many people can read me, only she can, and my mother. However, the mother is busy fussing over whip-me, worrying that this is getting too much for him. I don't blame her, the guy damned well flat lined before they shocked him back to life. "Listen guys, we are going to head out now." I smiled at Headache and Twinkle.

"Yeah, sure, I am going to go myself. Find out where the 'Mrs' has disappeared too." Twinkle sighs.

"Twinkle Why, don't you come to ours? Kathline hasn't had a drink, we need to get Andy home, she can drive you home from there." Davey offers, our eyes meeting for a split second.

"Aye, thanks Davey lad." Twinkle nods his head, then downs the last of his pint of Guinness.

"Let's say goodbyes to Anne." Lucy smiles up at me, but I can see the questions in her eyes.

We walk towards Wayne's mother, as she smiles up at me.

"We are heading out now." I simply told her. Part of me wanted to avoid her. After all it was my decision to open the fire door. But, I know that choice saved five lives. We would all have perished if I had not taken it. "Thanks for coming, Ben. Wayne thought the world of you." She smiled at me, as I bent down and gave her a kiss on each cheek, making a mental note to always ensure that I am there for her, anything she needs.

"He was a good lad; we miss him so much." Lucy offered a sad smile, before hugging Anne herself.

"Thank you. Ben, did he suffer?" Anne asks the question I had been dreading.

"No, it was over with before he even knew what was happening." I lie out of my back teeth, but I am not about to tell her that his scream's haunt all of our thought's day and night. She doesn't need to have that playing in her mind.

Lucy slips her hand in mine, giving it a squeeze. My girl knows what happened. We have talked and talked about it many times. Mostly when I wake up in the night in a cold sweat, crying out for Wayne. It used to be two little girls that haunted my dreams. But now it

is my colleague that keeps me up at night. However, that said, I know that Wayne would want me to work to not blame myself, and so thoughts of him help me function, unlike the last time I struggled with PTSD.

"Thank you, Ben." Anne smiles, and I get the feeling she knows I have been less than honest to save her from her own nightmares.

I walk over to the mother, who looks at me, then with a nod of her head, she stands up, gathering me in for a hug.

"I know something is going on." She whispers to me.

"Its fine, I will message you later. I am okay, Lucy is okay. The baby is okay." I told her, so she is not worried about me, my future wife, or the baby.

The mother looks at me and nods her head, as I go shake Whip-me's hand.

"See you tomorrow night when you have finished work, Ben. Your mother is making a roast chicken dinner. No red meat for me, I am afraid." He smiles.

"Yeah boss, see you tomorrow." I smiled at him, the man who was my boss, who I now see more as a father figure than anything else. He is a good man, and clearly loves the mother, and I, for one, am grateful he is in her life.

I walk out of The Chester's ordering a taxi, on my app, as Lucy stands looking up at me. I gather her into my arms, placing them around her swollen tummy, rubbing my child fondly.

"I will tell you when we get to the station." I whispered.

"We are going to the fire station?" she quizzes me.

"The police station. Josie has been arrested." I told her, keeping my voice low.

"What!" Lucy exclaimed.

I simply nod.

"She heard the arsonist confess to the flowers at the cemetery. Then beat the crap out of her." I whispered again, taking a quick look over my shoulder to double check nobody could overhear me. "Her..." Lucy asks and I simply nod.

"Yes, her, and the man she was having an affair with." I explained, hoping Lucy could read between the lines.

The taxi pulls up, halting our conversation, as we climb inside, and he takes us to Farringdon Police station. Which, sits next door to the fire station.

Lucy remains quiet for the ten-minute journey. I climbed out of the taxi, going to pay the fayre.

"No worries mate. I didn't put the meter on. My nephew worked in that factory, and I can tell by your uniform you are a firefighter. He got out, and is okay, but he could easily not have been." The driver waved me off. "Oh, wow, thank you." I said, feeling a little bit embarrassed at not paying the fayre.

"No worries, like I said. The least I can do is give you a free ride." The driver shrugged.

I thanked him again, as we walked down the small steps that lead into the police station.

"Who was it?" Lucy asked me.

"Twinkle's Mrs." I tell her.

"Who was she having the affair with?" She pushes.

"Anders father." I said with a deep sigh.

Lucy inhaled a deep breath, shaking her head in dismay.

"I knew it, don't ask me how, but I just knew as soon as you said it was a woman." Lucy declares, and I can tell by her eyes, she really had worked it out.

"So what is happening to Josie?" Lucy asks me.

"She was arrested. Kathline has gotten in touch with some hot-shot barrister for her. Anders has access to his own firm, but he was arrested as well, so they cannot represent them both. I want to see if Jason is about to get an update." I told her. Lucy nods, as we walked to the hatch for the public.

"Hey Ben. Josie is in with Jason and the Sarge now." Mable, the civilian at the front desk, tells me the moment she sees me.

"What about Anders?" I asked.

"He will be out in a moment, they are just releasing him now, without charge. He has given a full witness statement against the two suspected arsonists. Between you and me, the computer systems are down, and the CCTV around the crematorium has only uploaded to where the suspect hit Josie first. After that, it seems like the file has been corrupted." Mabel shrugs, then winks at me.

"That is unfortunate," Lucy tells her.

"Hum, yes isn't it. Sergeant Tanner has been looking at it, but it seems it is hopeless. I think it was Sergeant Smith who first tried to access the files." Mabel grinned.

"Take a seat, I believe Mr Maxwell is on his way out now." Mable continued, motioning to the red chairs at the back of the small square entrance to the main police station.

Lucy and I take a seat, and wait, both of us watching the double doors that lead to the main station. Finally, the doors open, and Anders walks out, his face pale, as he shakes the hand of who I presume is his own solicitor, before nodding to us. "Ben, Lucy." He states, then takes a seat, slumping down, his face ashen white.

"Are you okay Anders?" My girl asks him.

"Yeah, I got off scot free. The CCTV showed that f*****g bastard hitting me first, repeatedly. It also showed the b***h hitting Josie, but then the file becomes corrupt, and they cannot play it, to find out why Josie was kicking her on the floor." Anders whispers. I take an inhale of breath, s**t, Josie has gone to town on Twinkles Mrs, and I can only hope she has done the b***h some damage.

The doors to the station open, and my mother walks in with Haley in tow.

"Haley, what are you doing here?" I ask the girl who was on the reality TV show.

"I am, as you would say, pulling rank." She simply states, then shows something to Mable, and the doors open, as Stan walks in behind her, nodding in our direction, following her into the station.

I glance at Anders, who gives me a quizzical look, and I shrug my shoulders. I have no clue how Haley and Stan, who run the self-defence classes, can help, or do anything, or even how they knew. But given their connections, it is not a huge surprise thinking about it in the cold light of day.

We all sit and look at each other, waiting for any sort of news, when the door opens, and Josie walks out with a smiling Jason. She runs to Anders, who holds her tight to him, as Lucy looks up and smiles at me. I wrap my hand around her waist, relief washing over me like a tidal wave.

"Come on, I think we all need to get out of here," I said.

"No, we need to go see Twinkle, they have a search warrant for his house. He needs us, Ben," Josie declared.

"I agree." Lucy and the mother say together, as we make our way to Davey's to go be with Twinkle when he finds out that his 'Mrs' has killed tons of people, including our own Wayne, in a bid to murder him.