In a recent post Jack Riston suggests that one way of starting a novel is to write the ending first.  I like the logic of this so I thought that for this novel I would follow that approach.

But before I can write the last chapter I probably need to know where we are starting so a little drafting has to be done.

I have already decided that the story is about an arsonist called Flame Blair.  She is a successful Lawyer with her own practice.  She is married to an accountant, Randolf, and has two children, Ben and Anna.

They have a very nice home in the hills zone near the city of Port Pirie.  She and Randolf are regular church attendees and consided to be pillars of the community.  They are involved in many community activities both in a hands on role and with financial support.

In short they are what appears to be a perfectly happy family, moderately successful, engaged with their community and liked by most as you would expect.  Completely ordinary in almost every way apart from possibly more financial success that most but that is explained by Randolf’s careful financial management.

One of the reasons he is well patronised by the community for his professional services is exactly that, he is just as careful with his clients finances as he is with his own.  Those who follow his advice find that their assets grow steadily, not flashy like some of his peers, but then there are no sudden reversals either, unlike some of his peers.

Flame is feeling uneasy, she doesn’t know why but she has the feeling that she is being watched and followed.  It doesn’t make sense and she knows it but the feeling just won’t go away.

One trip to see a client in Port Broughton brought things to a head.  On the return trip it was quite dark, the moon hadn’t risen and there was a slight fog.  Normally Flame enjoyed the solitude of driving in the fog but tonight it just seemed opressive.  Fortunately there wasn’t any other traffic so she could crank up the radio and just allow the sound to wash over her, cleansing her mind of the complex real estate develpment plans she had just been discussing.

Bang!  Was that one or two noises?  The steering became more and more difficult and the Nissan Dualis began to fight her for control.  Fortunately modern cars have many safety features built in and, even though Flame stomped both feet hard on the brake, the Nissan stopped without sliding across the road.

Shaking hard Flame stepped out and walked around to inspect the left front tyre.  Absolutely flat as a tack and looking very much the worse for wear.  When were they last replaced?  She couldn’t remember but thought they were only about 6 months old.  Shit, shit, shit.  How do you change one of these?

Where am I?  What caused that tyre to go flat so fast?  Getting back in the car, Flame locked the doors and checked the mobile.  That’d be right, shows 1 bar of signal.  OK, just send a message to Randolf, he’ll come out and change the tyre for her.  Where is this, I remember Wandearah East turn off and that was about 15ks back so I must be almost at Davis Road.  Not so bad, only about 10ks from Pirie.

********************************************************

4 days later Flame was found in a confused and dishevelled state wandering along the Port Davis Road heading to the Gulf.  For several days she said nothing, just sat on her hospital bed with a blanket wrapped tightly around her rocking and crying.

For the next week she still said nothing but the rocking and crying stopped.  Randolf wasn’t sure which activity bothered him the most, bath made him very uneasy but the solid, palpable silence was scary.

A telephone call from the hospital brought him running.  Flame was back to her old self, apparently.  This morning she had woken from the first solid sleep since she had been found, asked for the morning paper, knew what day it was, had her usual breakfast of fruit and yoghurt and seemd to be completely back in this world and totally under control.  The doctors, as usual, had no explanation or understanding.

They put it down to the wonderfully resiliant human mind.  How little they know.

*******************************************************

When George got the call he asked the caller to repeat the location.  He had lived in Pirie all his life but didn’t even know there was anyone living on the banks of the Lower Broughton River.  There wasn’t even a track into the area.  He had been up the river, in a wet year and at high tide in a flat bottommed tinny but had never seen any signs of human life there.  Not that you can go very far but still.

He did eventually find the shack, or what was left of it, they weren’t kidding when they said it wouldn’t have taken long to burn down.  There wasn’t going to be an insurance claim on this one so that made it easier.  As he approached on foot, the only way in, George realised that this was going to be the subject of an inquest.

No-one had mentioned that there was a body.

*******************************************************

How could this be?  The fifth house fire in 4 months.  All deliberately lit, all heavily insured, all empty at the time of ignition and every owner had a rock solid alibi.  Pirie had never had 5 house fires in a year let alone in 4 months.  George knew they were deliberately lit but he couldn’t find the evidence and he couldn’t find enough cause to even acuse the owners of fradulent arson.

They were genuinely distressed by the loss of their homes, they lost valuables that any self-respecting arsonist would have removed before burning down their homes or getting someone else to burn them.  No, these were arsons but they weren’t insurance fraud.  These people were victims and targets not perps.  But why? And by whom?

*******************************************************

OK, I think we are up to the last chapter now.  As you can see I have written snippets which will need to be fleshed out further to create the whole book but I think I have a reasonably good idea of where this is going.  I have a trigger for aberrant behaviour, I have evidence of potential metal illness, I have a conspiracy or plot with results but no causes or reasons yet.

I may find that when I go to write the final chapter I need other chapters to introduce things or explain actions.  I don’t really know yet but I feel that this is coming together nicely right now.

Time for more input from you, can you add to the plot?  Would you like me to put this into the Books section as a community story?  Then anyone who is a registered member can add to the story.  Thoughts anyone?