Her travel schedule ruined, she thought she may as well visit Danny, whom she’d been ringing to no avail ever since the party, worried about his feelings in the wake of Ingrid’s appraisal on the landing. Having driven back across town and into the more neglected side of Glasgow, she turned onto the field of flattened earth, where she caught her first sight of thick grey smoke, billowing from somewhere among the derelict tenements up ahead. Reaching the junction for Danny’s street, her way was blocked by a police squad car, parked across the road, blue light flashing. Kids on bikes were hurtling into the street unobstructed, so she abandoned her vehicle and jogged behind, towards the dark mist and deep buzzing sound of fire engines. Reaching the outer ring of what must have been fifty onlookers — many dressed in black — she heard an exasperated voice through a loud hailer, repeatedly imploring people to move back. Standing on tip-toes, she caught her first glimpse of violent flames, but it was impossible to tell from which part of the building they were coming exactly because of the smoke, and so it took another whole minute before her worst fears got confirmed.
