She looks out of the window. Across the street, the guy with the baseball cap is still there, his head slumped against his chest. It seems his girlfriend hasn’t found a way to escape her parents yet. Well, at least the guy is keen. He deserves to get his leg over after such a long wait in the cold, dark night. You have to credit the guy with perseverance.
Dominica goes back to bed and eventually drifts off to sleep again. But only for an hour or two. During the night, she awakes unexpectedly. At first, she’s not sure what woke her. Usually she sleeps quite soundly after taking the sleeping pills, but not tonight. Did she hear a sound…or was it part of a dream? She looks at the digital clock on the nightstand.
3.04 am. The witching hour.
She listens carefully, but there is no other sound. The night is as silent as the grave. Even the owls have decided to call it a night and gone home to roost. Eventually, she decides it was just part of a dream, and she settles down to sleep again, hugging the spare pillow to her and pretending it is Max’s firm and muscly body. She would be more comfortable if he was here, but she can’t rely on him being there for her every second of every day. There is nothing more likely to scare a man off than being needy. Dominica has managed without a regular man in her life for ten years. Surely she can manage another night. After a while, she gets comfortable and slowly starts drifting under. Then there is another sound…a more familiar one this time. The sound of a text message arriving on her cell phone.
She wonders if it’s worth the effort of getting out of bed and going to read it. It must be from Max…he is probably just checking that they are OK. Honestly, it’s nice to have someone worrying about you, but at gone three in the morning? She reluctantly crawls out of bed and reaches for her purse which she left on her dressing table. She pulls out her phone and sees the ‘new message’ icon. But the message is not from Max’s number…it is from Darren’s. She hates having his number in her contacts, but she needs it now that Jo is staying at his house occasionally. Damn it all – she doesn’t want any communication with him at all. But now her curiosity won’t let her rest until she knows what the message says. She hesitates for a moment, then opens the text. Her eyes grow wide as the glowing message leaps out at her in the semi-darkness:
Burn in hell, bitch!
What the heck does that mean? Probably just his latest attempt at bugging her. Sending nasty text messages in the small hours of the morning? How childish. But that’s Darren all over – the big kid who thinks he is a big man. Dominica wonders whether she should call Max. After all, she did promise to contact him if anything worried her. But then again, she is not worried about this. She has plenty of experience of dealing with Darren. There’s certainly no need to disturb Max at this time of night. But she decides that if Darren sends one more message like this, she will definitely call the police. She doesn’t have to tolerate harassment. He is really pushing her right to the edge.
Oh boy, what a night! Now you really do need to get some beauty sleep, Dominica Dunn – you can’t afford to let those Miss Executive Girlfriends look more beautiful than you…
Dominica climbs back into bed and tries to settle back into the world of dreaMs But once again, sleep is elusive. She tosses and turns, trying to find a comfortable position. She imagines she is snuggled up in Max’s arms, and tries to relax. She lets herself drift into a semi-comatose state, and then…
…something else distracts her…
…not a sound, something else…
…a smell. A familiar, yet unpleasant one. What is it?
In her half sleepy state, it takes Dominica some time to recognize the odor. But when she does, she sits up smartly.
Smoke.
And smoke means fire.
She jumps quickly out of bed and looks out of the window. Maybe there is a forest fire, out in the hills beyond the town. But no, the night sky is clear. There is no orange glow on the distant horizon, no sign of smoke in the clear, still air. No sign of anything unusual in the streets around her, either. Everything outside looks quiet and peaceful.
But the smell is getting stronger now, much stronger. This is something she cannot ignore. It as sure as heck isn’t a dream. Dominica hurries across the bedroom floor and opens the door. A heavy cloud of smoke hits her in the face. My God, the fire is in the house. She tries to switch on the light, but nothing happens.
She tries again.
Still nothing.
Either the fire has killed the power, or someone has switched the power off. But who would do that? With a chill, Dominica remembers the text message from Darren.
Burn in hell, bitch!
No, surely even Darren wouldn’t set fire to the house where his daughter was sleeping, would he? But there is no doubt there is a fire. Looking down the stairway, Dominica can see a fiery glow licking around the base of the stairs. And the smoke…so much smoke, billowing up the stairs and making it hard to breathe. She starts to cough and splutter.
Oh my God…Jo. I’ve got to get her out of here.
Dominica rushes to Jo’s bedroom across the landing. She hammers on the door, then flings it open. She rushes across to Jo’s bed, shouting in a voice that is almost a scream.
‘Jo…wake up. We’ve got to get out of here.’
There is no reaction. Jo is a heavy sleeper. She is the kind of person who could sleep through an earthquake. Dominica shakes her roughly, and eventually Jo groans and opens an eye.
‘What time is it?’ she asks sleepily. ‘It’s still dark. It can’t be time to get up yet, Mom. I need a lie in. Let me stay here just a little bit longer.’
‘No, Jo…get up now. This is an emergency. The house is on fire. Come on, please…quickly. I’m serious!’
Jo opens both eyes wide and sits up. ‘Is this a joke? You’ve got to be kidding me.’
‘Can’t you smell the smoke? This is no joke. If we don’t get out of here pretty damned quick, we are going to end up dead. Hurry up before it’s too late.’
Jo is out of bed in a flash. ‘Oh, my God, Mom…how did this happen?’ She starts to cough as the smoke fills her lungs.
‘I don’t know, but don’t worry about that now. We just have to get out of here. We can’t go downstairs. The hallway is on fire and the flames are on their way up the stairs. If we go down there, we are dead. Keep down low, Jo. The smoke is the biggest danger, but smoke rises. We need to keep low and crawl along the floor.’
Jo nods, still coughing and spluttering. The next moment, they are both on their hands and knees.
‘Should we jump out of my window, Mom?’
‘We can’t, Jo. Your room is on the lower end of the slope. It’s a big drop down, and there’s concrete at the bottom. We would probably kill ourselves if we tried that. We need to get to my bedroom. My window is directly over the garage on the low side of the house, so we can drop down to the garage roof, and then down to the ground. Come on, it’s only a few yards.’
Dominica heads for Jo’s bedroom door, still crawling on all fours and keeping as low to the ground as she can. She turns her head to check that Jo is following her. They crawl through the open door onto the landing, but it is immediately obvious that they won’t be able to cross into Dominica’s room. The fire has already licked up the stairs and found its way into her bedroom.
Don’t panic…there must be another way out. There must be…
But try as she might, Dominica can’t think of one. They certainly can’t get down the stairs. She can’t believe how fast the fire has spread. She can feel the heat now, burning her face. A couple of minutes ago, before she had gone into Jo’s bedroom, the flames had been barely touching the bottom of the stairs. Crossing the landing seemed as safe as houses, relatively speaking. Now it was totally out of the question. But even worse than the flames was the smoke. The stink was acrid and ashy, and no matter how close she kept to the floor, she could still feel the sooty filth choking and scalding her lungs. They could get to the bathroom, but there would be no point. The only window i
n that room was far too small for either of them to crawl through. Her cell phone was out of reach in the bedroom, and they no longer had a fixed line phone in the house.
A thought crossed her mind. She turned to Jo.
‘Jo…where is your cell phone? Is it in your bedroom?’
Jo shakes her head in despair. ‘No, it’s on charge in the kitchen.’
That was that then, there was little they could do except wait for the flames to engulf the whole house and kill them. That’s if the smoke didn’t get them first, of course. Was this really it? The end of everything for both of them? Dominica would willingly sacrifice her own life if it meant Jo could get a chance to live, but there seemed to be no way out of this for either of them. Jo reaches out and hugs Dominica. Clearly she realizes the hopelessness of the situation, too. Jo coughs again and again. Dominica tries to keep the smoke out of her eyes so she can look for a solution.
But there is no way out. The flames are creeping closer, and the smoke is getting denser by the minute. She can hardly believe they are in this situation. Are they really going to die, right here in their own home?
An unexpected sound caught her attention. A loud thumping, cracking noise, coming from behind them – somewhere in Jo’s bedroom or beyond. It didn’t make any sense. What could be making that noise?
Then there was another sound – a voice, a human voice shouting. The sound is close, very close.
‘Dominica? Jo? Where are you?’
Dominica almost faints with relief. Jo looks up with an astonished look in her eyes. ‘Is that Max?’
‘It sure sounds like it.’ Dominica tries to shout, but the choking smoke strangles her voice, and barely a whisper comes out. ‘Here Max, on the landing.’ She bends her face right down to the carpet, takes a lungful of fresh air and tries again. ‘Max…we’re out here on the landing.’
She hears footsteps, and then a face appears in the doorway, crouching low. At first, she doesn’t recognize him, but then she realizes Max has ripped off his shirt and tied it around the lower half of his face, screening out the worst of the smoke.
Where the heck did he come from? How did he suddenly appear here to rescue them?
No time to worry about that now. They had to get out before it was too late. Max beckons towards Jo’s bedroom and shepherds Dominica and Jo inside. The smoke is not as bad in here, but the open window where Max broke in is feeding the fire with oxygen. Within a few minutes, this room will be engulfed in flames, too. They will have to make a hasty exit.
‘Over here to the window,’ he shouts. This time, Dominica has no problem with obeying his instructions. Max takes Dominica by the hand and pulls her to her feet.
‘As quick as you can…through the window,’ he says.
‘But Max, there’s a big drop outside. We can’t escape that way.’
‘Yes, you can. I borrowed a set of ladders from your next door neighbor. He’s standing at the bottom ready to help you. The fire service is on their way, but we don’t have time to wait. The smoke will kill us before the first engine gets here. We have to get out now. You go first, Jo next. And this is no time to be afraid of heights, OK?’
‘OK. Max helps Dominica through the window and onto the ladder. ‘Don’t look down,’ he says. ‘Just feel for the next step with your feet, and take it one step at a time.’
‘I’ll try.’
It’s not easy. Standing at the top of the ladder is terrifying. The whole thing shakes and wobbles, as if it is likely to collapse at any moment. But Jo and Max can’t escape until she reaches the ground, so she focuses her attention on descending, one slow step at a time. At least she is out in the fresh air again, and she takes some big gulps of air in relief. It seems to take an eternity to reach the ground, but eventually she feels hands around her waist, guiding her down the last few steps. As she steps off the ladder, she hears the sound of sirens in the distance. The fire service is getting close. Looking round, she sees it is Herb from next door who helped her down. Maryanne rushes up to hug her.
‘Thank God you are OK,’ she says.
It feels so good to be standing on firm ground, safe from the fire and able to breathe easily. But what about Jo? Dominica looks up the ladder and sees Jo descending, more confidently than she did. A short time later, she reaches the ground and Dominica squeezes her tightly. Max bounds down the ladder behind her, reaching the ground in no time at all.
‘Great. We’re all safe. Now let’s get out of here before the fire spreads.’
They retire to Maryanne’s house as the first of several fire engines pull up outside the house. They watch the firemen leap out to tackle the blaze, but it is obvious from the beginning that there is no chance of saving Dominica’s home. All they can do is prevent the fire from spreading to surrounding houses.
Maryanne is busy making coffee for everyone. It’s her fallback solution for every problem. But after inhaling all that smoke, any fluid is welcome. She pours coffee into big mugs. ‘How did this happen, Dominica? How on earth could a fire start in your house? Did you leave something on the stove?’
‘No, this was no accident, Maryanne. This is Darren’s doing.’
‘You’re kidding me?’
‘I wish I was, but I’m not. A short while ago, he sent me a text message saying, “burn in hell, bitch.” It was after I received it that I noticed the fire. That’s no co-incidence. Hey, wait…that reminds me. Where the heck did you come from, Max? You just appeared out of nowhere.’
‘Not quite,’ Max says. ‘I was afraid Darren might try something tonight, although I had no idea it would be anything so crazy. To tell you the truth, I’ve been sitting in a car across the street, keeping an eye on you.’
‘Hey, wait a minute. Was that you in the Ford, wearing the baseball cap?’
Max nods. ‘Yes, it was. I guess it wasn’t that good a disguise, huh?’
Dominica doesn’t know what to say. ‘I can’t believe that was you…but I’m so glad it was. If you hadn’t been there, there’s no telling how this would have turned out. Well, actually there is – Jo and I would both be dead by now.’
Max puts his arms around her.
‘Well, you’re safe now, and that’s all that matters. And as you don’t have a home to go to, you can’t refuse my offer to put you and Jo up, at least until we get this mess sorted.’
Dominica doesn’t resist too much. After all, what other option does she have?
‘I guess you’re right. Thank you so much.’
13: Sex in the Shower
Once again, Dominica finds herself at Max’s house, but this time with Jo in tow, too. Soon they are all showered, dressed in clean clothes and sitting in Max’s expansive living room. It is past dawn now, and none of them have any intention of sleeping. There is too much happening, too much to think about, too much to sort out.
Max looks concerned. He speaks to the girls in an unusually serious tone.
‘Ladies, I’m so sorry that your home has gone. There is no hope of saving it. It will have to be razed to the ground and rebuilt.’
Dominica is resigned to the situation. ‘Yes, there’s no doubt about that. But we are all alive, so the house isn’t a big deal. It’s insured, so we won’t be homeless. It’s only bricks and mortar, after all.’
‘That’s true, but it was still your home. Well, you are welcome to stay here as long as you need to. There’s plenty of room. And it will be fun, having the two of you here. What do you think, Jo?’
‘I love it here,’ she says. ‘This is an awesome house. I can’t wait to tell my friends about it. They will be so jealous. It’s such a shame about our house, though. I still can’t take in the fact that it has gone forever. But like Mom says, it’s only stuff. We can replace all that. But Mom, do you really think it was Dad who did this? I know he can get pretty crazy, but we nearly died in there. Has he completely flipped?’
‘I’m sorry to say this, Jo, but I think it was your father, I really do. I don’t believe in co-incidences, a
nd that text message came in at the same time the fire started. I mean, what are the chances?’
‘The evidence points in that direction, Max says. ‘But we can’t be sure, yet. That is a matter for the police. And speaking of the police, I believe that’s who is pulling into the driveway right now.’
Dominica looks out of the window and sees a pair of headlights coming up the driveway. A well-worn Buick pulls up under the house. The exterior lights of the house come on automatically, and the familiar face of Lieutenant Frost is lit up as he gets out of his car. A few moments later, he is led into the living room. He nods politely to everyone, and Max gets up to shake his hand.
‘Good of you to come out to see us, Lieutenant,’ Max exclaiMs ‘I’m afraid we have been keeping you rather busy lately. One thing after another.’
The Lieutenant takes a seat. ‘It’s been a hectic couple of days. But we are making progress. I’ve come to update you on a couple of things. First of all, I’m so sorry to hear about your house, ladies. You’ve had a rough time of it lately. But thanks to the information passed on by Mr. Rockford earlier, we already have a suspect under arrest for arson.’
‘Do you mean my ex-husband, Darren?’
‘Yes, that’s correct. We followed up the tipoff about the text message, and we paid him a visit a little while ago. He claimed to have been home all night. But when we fingerprinted him, we got a match with prints from a gasoline can found in your back yard. We also have security camera footage from a gas station near your house. It shows your ex-husband filling an identical can shortly before the fire started. We have enough evidence to put a solid case together.’
‘Good work, Lieutenant,’ Max interrupts. ‘Do you have any idea how the fire started?’
‘Well, that’s’ for the fire service to decide, of course. It will be a day or two before we have conclusive information on that. But the initial evidence suggests gasoline was poured under the kitchen door and set alight.’
The Domination of Dominica Dunn: Discovering New Worlds of Sexual Sensation Page 18
