Morningstar Manor

It was the woman who's saved him.

Urquhart had gone to fetch some coffee from the Auberge, and when he returned and unlocked the door to his garage to go on with tinkering on his Harley (and finalising some plans he had), he'd seen a woman from the corner of his eye, short and sweet and Indian, chatting into a pink-covered iPhone while passing the mouth of the alley.

He'd stepped back, and turned to crane his neck and look at her, instead of going inside.




Burning fiery flames shot out of the door, sad pieces of defunct motorbike, tools, computer hardware and half-restored furniture rained down on the pavement and on Urquhart, who found himself flat on his back in the alley.

Meticulously timed device -- if he'd gone inside instead of backwards...

Damn, he'd have to call the police and the fire department on that. Everything else would be terribly suspicious.

When he got to his feet, he saw that the woman at the mouth of the alley was already doing that.