Page 131 of Worse Than Murder
I run back into the bedroom and shake Adele hard awake while I’m hunting around for my jeans which I quickly put on and slip my feet into trainers.
‘What?’ Adele asks, grumpy. ‘If you tell me I’m snoring, I’ll…’
‘The restaurant’s on fire,’ I say over her.
‘What?’ She’s more alert now.
‘There’s a fire. We need to get out. Quickly, get dressed. I’ll wake the others.’
I run along the corridor and bang on Sally and Philip’s door. I open the door to Carl’s bedroom and see he’s already awake, sitting up, rubbing his eyes. I don’t want to panic him, but the look on his face tells me he’s heard the alarms. He knows something is wrong.
‘Carl, sweetheart, get dressed as quickly as you can. We need to get out.’
‘What? Why? What’s…’ he pauses and listens. ‘Is there a fire?’
‘Yes. You need…’
‘Matilda?’
I turn and see Philip coming out of his bedroom, hastily putting on jogging bottoms.
‘Philip, the restaurant is on fire. We need to leave now.’
He goes over to the stairs and looks down. He coughs as the smoke catches the back of his throat. ‘Oh my God! Carl! Sally!’
‘I’ve got Carl. Go and get Sally.’
Adele comes running out of the bedroom, mobile phone slapped to her ear. ‘Fire,’ she says, urgently. ‘You’ve put my jeans on,’ she says to me. I look down and see I’m wearing her indigo skinny jeans. ‘Hello, yes, there’s a fire at Nature’s Diner in High Chapel. We’re trapped inside. There’s five of us and two dogs.’
I turn back to Carl. There are tears welling up in his eyes. ‘We’re going to die, aren’t we?’
I bend down to his height and hold him by the shoulders. ‘No. I promised you I wouldn’t let that happen. I meant every word.’
‘We can’t survive fire. Nobody can.’
‘I’m going to get us out. You trust me, don’t you?’ He nods. ‘Good. Hold the dogs by their collars. Don’t let them go. Keep them calm.’
‘Carl!’ Sally screams as she races out of the bedroom struggling to put on her trousers.
‘It’s all right. He’s with me.’
Sally grabs him and holds him tightly to her chest. ‘What are we going to do? How are we going to get out?’
‘Is there any way we can drop down from up here?’ I ask Philip. He shakes his head.
‘The fire crew are on their way,’ Adele says.
‘There isn’t a local fire brigade,’ Sally says through her tears. ‘It could take twenty minutes. We’ll be dead by then.’
‘Mum,’ Carl whimpers, holding onto her tight.
‘We’re practically three floors up with the raised ground floor,’ Philip says. ‘We can’t jump down.’
‘Is there a ladder?’
‘Yes. In the garage.’
‘Okay. I’m going to go down, see if I can get out through the front of the restaurant. You all go to the other side of the building. I’ll put the ladder up and you all climb down.’
