George Barnabas - 04 - Fourth Attempt by Claire Rayner Read Free Book Online

is lethal, you know. And in a hospital an’ all! Shouldn’t be allowed. You could have had the fire spread — the whole lot could have gone up, and with all these petrol tanks it doesn’t bear thinking what might have happened to the rest of the hospital!’
    ‘I can imagine,’ George said grimly. ‘But what
happened
? Cars don’t just catch fire like that, do they? There has to be a reason.’
    The fireman shrugged. ‘Electrics, most probably, like I said. They can short for all sorts of reasons. You won’t know why this one did till someone’s had a look and even then, p’raps not. You’ll need an expert. The state the car’s in under that, it won’t have much to offer.’
    ‘What’s happened to Sheila?’ George turned to Zack who was still standing beside her, though most of the other watchers had drifted away by now, reassured that their own cars were safe. ‘Was she burned?’
    It was the fireman who answered, a little reprovingly, clearly feeling he was the one to be consulted first. ‘I was telling you, madam —’
    ‘Doctor,’ Zack said, hearing the fireman’s tone. The fireman flicked a glance at him and then at George and relaxed.
    ‘Well, yes, doctor. The thing is, when the electrics go, the first thing you get is this awful smell. Really acrid and thick. And it gets worse if the damage is affecting all the car’swiring. It sends out choking smoke after a while. Now, that’s bad enough — does nasty things to the throat and lungs — but the worst bit is that the whole thing can go up. Like this one did.’
    He looked mournfully at the snowy heap, which was now drooping sluggishly and looking less pristine than it had.
    ‘If the driver’s got time to get out, well, that looks good. Just a bit of breathing damage done. That’s what happened here. She got out, and she’s got her skinniness to thank for that, I can tell you. Some of us wouldn’t have managed it’ — he looked briefly at Zack — ‘but she did. And rolled away just in time. Someone saw what was happening and called us. Don’t know who. We got here just as the flames went up. So we pulled her away and did the necessary. Hope she’ll be OK.’
    ‘I’m sure she will,’ Zack said. ‘As long as she isn’t burned, and I don’t think she was. It’ll just be the fumes. She’ll be back on her feet in no time.’ And he closed one hand warmly around George’s elbow and pulled her back out of the way as the fireman nodded and moved off with his equipment.
    ‘She might have been killed,’ George said blankly.
    ‘But she wasn’t,’ Zack pointed out as though they were speaking of the weather or something equally banal. ‘So that’s all right.’
    ‘Why should a car’s electrics go up like that?’ she demanded, standing still even though she knew from the pressure on her elbow that he was trying to lead her away. ‘I don’t know much about cars — not as much as I should, I suppose. I’ve never had a case killed in an incident like this, and I thought I’d seen most sorts of violent deaths.’
    ‘Lots of reasons,’ he said. ‘Too much pressure on the system, so it’s overloaded — you know, CD players and stereos and all that. Neglect, or damage or —’
    ‘Neglect? Sheila’s car? Never. She loved it like a mother. You’d have thought it was a sentient being, the way she fussed over it. I just don’t understand it.’
    ‘Well, the garage will no doubt sort it out when they get it in,’ he said soothingly. ‘Look, you’ve had a shock. Come and have a drink as we planned and then we can —’
    She shook her head. ‘It’s kind of you, Zack, but I have to go over to A & E and see how she is. It’s such a — it’s bizarre! I can’t imagine such a thing happening to Sheila, of all people.’
    ‘Accidents can happen to any motorist,’ he said, and again she shook her head sharply.
    ‘Not to Sheila. She’s been driving for years and never had so much as a scratch, I swear. I told you, she