Saved By The Firefighter
Chapter 73

Josie's Point of View.

The sound of my work boots hitting of the staircase echoes around me, as I pull open the double doors at the top, entering the common room. Davey is sat, as usual his nose in the Sunderland echo, pretending to read it. Pots and pans rattle from the kitchen area, as Twinkle pulls them out, in preparation for whatever barely edible concoction he will make tonight with Wayne. Thank God this is their final shift on cooking detail, Ben and Davey will be on duty when we return for our four-day shifts. Ben is stood, his grey eyes glaring towards the corridor that leads to the Station Officers office, and I do not need a crystal ball to know why, not after my conversation with Joanne this morning. I cannot stop the small upturn of my lips, when I remember her question about 'fanny fashion,' only she is daft enough to come out with something like that. Wayne is standing looking out the large bow shaped windows, that overlook the carpark, when he suddenly shouts out in shock. "Woah." I turn to look at him, my brow crinkling in and unspoken question.

"Y'all, Josie's dude is running up the path past Macy D's chasing some other dude," Wayne shouts and begins to chuckle.

"What?" I shout over, striding across so I can take a look.

Sure enough, I see Anders running past the old, abandoned police station that no longer has windows, and is covered in graffiti, as he chases after someone dressed head to foot in black.

"What the hell?" I question, as Ben appears at my side, looking out the window as well.

"Maybe we should go help him," Ben suggests.

Davey, peers over the top of his newspaper, with a look that says, 'f**k off', when I see, Anders walking back, clearly out of breath, as he stops placing both hands on his knees, bending over to catch his breath, shaking his head in annoyance. Confused as to what the hell is going on, I move away from the window, heading straight to the double doors, then begin to run down the stairs, out the door into the carpark.

"I didn't f*****g catch her," Anders growls out, in annoyance.

"What is going on?" I ask him.

"f**k she was quick; didn't think she would be. Need to go inside, the coppers are coming over now," Anders states, before righting himself, and making his way up the stairs of the station.

I shake my head, following behind him, trying to ignore his sexy a*s as it moves from side to side with each step, but fail, as I momentarily forget the questions that I should be asking, as I take in the sight before me.

As we walk into the common room, I look at Anders.

"Okay, so please can you tell me what the hell is going on?" I ask, the fog of l**t finally lifting from my mind.

"Saw someone crouched down, in the bushes, staring at the station. I pulled over, and they stood up, still staring, then I recognised them. It was Linda," Anders states.

"I called the coppers, then gave chase, that woman is a lot quicker than I gave her credit for," Anders continues, shaking his head.

"Linda?" I question, as Anders slowly nods his head at me.

Anger starts to rise up from the pit of my stomach, bubbling up, threatening to explode like a volcano. Why was she stood staring at the station? And was she the one behind those fires? Hell, the woman was strange but was she psycho enough to put the lives of kids at risk, then move on to kill all of those people just a few days ago? I swallow down the lump of emotion that threatens to overflow, blinking away the angry tears that are stinging the back of my eyes. If it was Linda the randy-receptionist, I will f*****g do time if I get my hands on the b***h.

"Linda, Linda?" Ben asks a scowl on his face.

Davy then huffs, shaking his newspaper, and placing it on the chair.

"Who the f**k is f*****g Linda?" he asks.

"My first receptionist," Anders begins to explain.

"Yeah, she didn't like me much. Refused to put my calls through or give any messages," I inform him, unable to control the hiss of anger and utter rage from my tone.

"Oh, the one that was miserable as f**k, and looked like she had a pole stuck up her a*s?" Davey asked.

I nodded my head at him, I had forgot he had come across her as well when issuing the fire certificate.

"Lucy helped Anders fire her, as she was being inappropriate with him," Ben continued.

"She is a piece of work, threatened to sue me for s****l harassment, when the opposite was true," Anders growled out.

"I wish someone would sexually harass me." Headache chuckles, probably using humour to desensitise his own emotions regarding the arsonist.

"If they did, you would say, 'not tonight dear I have a headache," Davey quipped back.

Headache instantly flipped him the bird, as the Boss walked out of his office.

"I just had Jason on the phone, he is popping round now to take a statement Anders," the boss stated.

"Hey, Anders, I am making food, do you want some?" Twinkle shouted over, as he pulled down a catering sized tin of corned beef.

Anders flashes me a look, my anger supressed slightly, as I supress the urge to laugh at his pale face at the thought of tasting anything Twinkle and Wayne had cooked.

"Actually, we are on City Centre duty tonight again, so best just make some sandwiches and bag them up," the boss informs Twinkle, as an audible sigh of relief echoes around the common room.

"Josie, you go sit with Anders in the side room, whilst we wait for Jason," the boss instructs me, and nodding my head, I lead my boyfriend down the narrow corridor into the side room. Taking a seat, I look over at him, his face still filled with anger.

"So, what happened?" I asked, trying to get a handle on what the hell was actually going on.

"I saw a hunched person in black, head covered with a hoodie, and in th is weather, that is not normal, they were crouched down behind the bushes between the shop and McDonald's, staring at the fire station. I pulled out, as if I was leaving, then parked up at the side of the shop, and watched in my rear-view mirror, then saw her stand up, still staring at the building, looking pissed off as f**k. I pulled round, and got out of the car, asking what the f**k she was doing, and she took off faster than a hare, seriously, I could not catch her, and I am not unfit," Anders growled out.

"Does she live around here?" I asked, looking for a logical explanation, clinging to the fact there may yet be one, and not that this woman who was clearly unhinged was the one starting the fires, and she was stood just outside the fire station. "I cannot remember, but her HR file is in the office, so I can find out." Anders shrugged, clearly trying to remember where the woman came from.

"f**k Anders, what if it is her, and this is some sick revenge against you, and me for being with you. What if all this death and destruction is my fault?" I questioned, guilt flooding through me at a rate of knots.

"It is not your fault, even if it is her, we don't know anything yet, but it is suspicious." Anders reached out cupping my small hand in his big one and giving it a small squeeze as he tried to reassure me.

I felt like the weight of the world was sitting on my shoulders, as I rolled my lips together, staring at a hair line crack in the corner of the wall, shaking my head, attempting to control my emotions, and make sense of it all. The door opened, as the boss walked in with PC Jason Dale.

"Josie, we need to move out to the City Centre, Jason will take Anders' statement," the boss ordered, and I looked over to Anders as he reached out and took my hand in his.

"Stay safe," he whispered, clearly concerned.

Nodding, I turn towards Jason.

"If you need my account of what happened with Linda at the office, or even Lucy's to verify why Anders is concerned, just let me know. I can pop into the station when I am finished this shift." I smile at him.

"Yeah, I am on nights as well at the moment, finish at 6 same as you, but if I need anything I will let the front desk know you are coming in to speak with one of my colleagues." Jason smiles.

I head out to the engine, as Boss takes hold of my arm, gently pulling me to a stop.

"Are you okay Josie?" he kindly asks.

"Yeah, well no, if it is her, I feel guilty as hell, but we don't know anything just yet. We just need to find out who this fucker is and stop them." I sigh.

"Okay, well, I will come in the engine with you all tonight, all hands on deck so to speak. Hopefully it is quiet after the fire at cooper." The boss sighs.

As we walk through the corridor, and down into the garage to climb into the engine, the boss suddenly asks, "Have you been to that Asian fusion place on the sea front?"

I supress the small smile that threatens to consume my face, after all, I know why he is asking, but he doesn't know I know.

"Yes, a while ago though, we invited you," I say, after all, I invite him to all of the team's night out, and he rarely comes, maybe if he is with Joanne that will change, and I hope it does, because the boss is a good man, and needs to have something other than work in his life.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot, sorry, I was busy with paperwork. What was it like?" the boss asks.

"Nice, the views of the sea are great, and the food is lovely. Maybe now you have Joanne, you can find time to come out with us more," I say, as innocently as I can.

"Hum, yes maybe," he states, then speeds off towards the engine, as I roll my lips together once more.

We all sit in the engine, the City Centre is quiet tonight, as I pull out my corned beef sandwiches, and fresh fruit. The bread has half a tub of butter on each slice, making it taste almost sickly, how the hell do they manage to mess up a sandwich? I take a bite, swallowing the bread and fat with a minimal amount of meat in them down, then start on the apple I have in the bag. The boss's phone breaks the silence, as he exits the engine to take the call. We all watch as he paces up and down the side of the engine, before climbing back in.

"That was Jason, they have taken that Linda woman in for questioning, He is preparing paperwork to get a search warrant for her house as well," the boss informs us.

"So, it is her then?" Headache ask hopefully, wanting whoever is setting these fires behind bars, and halted before more death follows them.

"We don't know, but they are questioning her all the same, just like they did with Samantha," the boss states.

"Yeah, but they let her go, as no evidence," Ben growls, still not overly happy they had not held onto Cal's ex longer than they had.

"Well, I kind of hope it is her, and she is caught, so we can all f*****g sleep at night," Wayne sighs out.

"Amen to that," Twinkle agrees.

I just nod my head in silence, as there is nothing more I can add to that statement, not one single word.