Read The Reckoning on Cane Hill: A Novel for Free Online

hoses, it was now smouldering in the morning sun.
    There were two fire engines parked out front – idle now, their lights off – and the street was crammed with locals, who had presumably emerged in the early hours to rubberneck the flames. They stood in groups, sharing gossip or conspiracy theories, or just shaking their heads in disbelief at the remains of their former neighbour’s property.
    ‘Out of the way, you fucking rats.’
    Sean Robertson, Groves’ partner, steered the car in slowly behind the nearest fire engine, forcing a cluster of teenagers to amble on to the pavement. They slouched and smirked, taking their time. In the passenger seat beside Sean, Groves thought his partner was going to blare the horn, but instead Sean just grinned through the windscreen at them, nodding sarcastically.
    ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jesus wept.’
    ‘Just kids,’ Groves said. ‘Doing kid things.’
    ‘Zero respect.’ Sean cricked on the handbrake. ‘You know what they say? No such thing as a bad dog, only a bad owner. Someone ought to arrest the parents. Not that half of these little bastards know who their fathers are.’
    Groves smiled. They’d been partners for years, and had long ago fallen into familiar roles and routines, Sean’s generally consisting of this kind of exaggerated outrage and disgust at the state of society. It was all for show. In reality, he would have given any of these kids not only his ear but his time if they’d needed or wanted it. Assuming nobody was around to see it, anyway. Sean always reminded Groves of the Charles Bukowski poem about the tough writer with the soft little bluebird he only took out when nobody was around to see.
    They got out and headed over to the scene. Closer to, Groves could smell the mulch of the scorched and soaked building. The windows had been punched out by the heat and the stone walls had browned like half-burned newspaper. One corner of the roof had fallen in slightly. It must have been an absolute inferno before the fire crews arrived. The air above the house still shimmered with the residual heat.
    ‘Robertson and Groves.’ Sean showed one of the firemen his ID. They were partners – equal rank – but today he was taking the lead. Sean hadn’t mentioned Jamie, and probably wouldn’t, but he knew the date, and this was his way of quietly taking some of the pressure off Groves. ‘Your commander about?’
    ‘There.’
    The commander was an old guy with small, wet eyes and an enormous grey moustache that protruded from beneath his visor. The moustache rolled back and forth as he filled them in, like it was chewing on the words. It was always strange, attending a fire scene as police. Groves was used to being in charge of a situation, but they were second fiddle here, and would only be allowed into the property if and when the commander said so. In reality, their presence was a formality; it was only in case anything came of it later, which rarely happened with house fires. But there was a body inside, so they had to show their faces at ground level just in case the investigation was one of those rare examples that grew more floors.
    ‘You can’t go upstairs,’ the commander said. ‘I’m not being pissy. You literally can’t; the stairs are gone. But straightthrough the remains of that front door yonder – that’s your lounge in there.’
    ‘That’s where the resident is?’ Sean said.
    ‘Unless he’s moved, yeah. Which I doubt. Coroner’s on his way.’
    Groves looked at the house again.
    ‘Hell of a blaze,’ he said. ‘What are your thoughts?’
    The commander shrugged. ‘That’s for the team to say, and then maybe you guys. There are no suspect containers aside from all the bottles. My guess? Well, you’ll see the remains of the ashtray by the settee.’
    ‘Cigarette?’
    ‘Yeah, I’d imagine so. Guy’s drunk and sleepy, and he drifts off with a dangler. You know what these builds are like.’
    Groves nodded. Most of the houses on the