Playing With Fire

It was hard to think with his brain so numb, but there was something very wrong with the picture he was seeing. What did he think he was trying to achieve? Did he have any control over his life at all? He’d run away from Le

He had been thinking about putting his life back together. Getting back to work on the building site. Living with Le

But with Tina gone, nothing could ever be normal again. He felt that as he sat there in the Swainsdale Centre staring into space.

And all the things he had been aiming for, trying to do – the job, Le

In the Queen’s Arms that lunchtime, Banks, A

“Lunch is on me,” Banks said.

A

Banks wasn’t very hungry, but he ordered chicken in a basket anyway, while A

“And there’s no doubt this Masefield is dead?” Banks asked, after he’d digested what she had told him.

A

“So someone stole his identity?”

“Looks that way,” A

“Where to?”

“A post office box in central Birmingham.”

“I see,” said Banks. “And the credit card company had no way of knowing about this?”

A

“He used a bank account in Masefield’s name?”

“Yes. And he paid all his bills from Masefield’s bank account over the Internet, so no signed checks. There’ll be a trail, but these things are complicated.”

“We’ll get computers on it,” said Banks. “Why did no one in the post office spot what was going on?”

“Why should they?” said A

“Are we certain it’s the same car?”

“Well,” said A

“Good.”

“But there is one small problem.”

“Oh?”

“The petrol in the Cherokee’s tank matches the petrol from the garage – it’s Texaco, by the way – but not the petrol used to start the Gardiner fire. That’s Esso.”

“Interesting,” said Banks. “Maybe he used his own car, for some reason?”

“I suppose that’s possible,” A

“Anyway, whatever the explanation, forensics can tie the Jeep Cherokee that this ‘Masefield’rented to the scene of the boat fires, right?”

“Yes.”

“Thank heaven for small mercies. We’re still in business, then.”

Je

“No, sir,” said Winsome. “We ate at McDonald’s.”

Banks looked at A

“And those two good-looking businessmen bought us the second round, didn’t they, Guv?” Winsome added.

“Yes,” said A

“It’s ACC McLaughlin gets his underpants in a knot over things like that,” Banks said. “Not me. Did you find out anything else about Masefield while you were down there?”

A

“And the fire?”

“Chip pan. There was no accelerant and no reason to treat it as suspicious at the time. The only thing even remotely interesting was that one of the other lecturers at the university where Masefield worked said he’d recently lost some money in a bad investment. I also got the impression that he was in a bit of trouble at the university over his drinking, that he might have stood to lose his job. But you know what academics are like when it comes to giving out information.”

“A bit like us,” Banks said.

“Anyway, there was a lot of alcohol in his system. The general assumption in the fire investigator’s office was that he’d passed out and left the chip pan on. It happens often enough, especially with alcoholics and drug addicts. You come home pissed or high, put the frying pan on, pop another couple of pills or take another stiff drink, and the next thing you know…”

“No traces of Rohypnol or Tuinal?”

“No. Just alcohol.”

“So it could have been an accident?”

“Yes.”

“And someone, a colleague, friend, whatever, could have taken advantage of Masefield’s demise and stolen his identity?”

“Or helped him along a bit. I mean, nobody saw anyone, but that doesn’t mean whoever did it didn’t leave Masefield passed out on the sofa with the chip pan on full heat.”

“True,” Banks agreed. “Did anyone have any ideas at all about exactly who might have taken Masefield’s identity?”

“Unfortunately not,” said A

“What about this bad investment? Who did he make it with? Was he swindled?”

“Don’t know, sir,” said Winsome. “That was all his colleague could tell us.”

Banks sighed. He knew they could get a forensic accountant to look into Masefield’s finances and a computer expert to track down the Internet banking records, but that would all take time. There would no doubt be all kinds of false trails and blind alleys. As it stood right now, they still didn’t have very much to go on. The first big lead, the rented Jeep Cherokee, had led them to a dead end. Or so it seemed at the moment.