Playing With Fire

“When was it ever any different?”

“Tell your mother I don’t hate her.”

“Tell her yourself. Good night, Dad.”

And Tracy hung up.

Banks held the phone in his hand for a few moments and listened to the buzzing sound. He’d been about to tell Tracy that seeing the baby for the first time had been a shock, that he hadn’t been prepared for the way it made him feel. But she’d hung up on him.

He put the phone down and went into the kitchen to top up his glass. As he stood there pouring the Laphroaig, he felt an overwhelming sense of melancholy envelop him. But it came from the outside, not the inside. Though he didn’t generally believe in the supernatural, he had long believed that the kitchen contained some sort of spirit. It usually gave him a strong sense of well-being, and he had never felt its sadness before.

Banks shuddered and went back to the living room, turned up Jesse Winchester singing “The Brand New Te

He wanted to talk to Michelle. The way things had turned out, he hadn’t called her from London, hadn’t spent the evening in Peterborough. It was after one o’clock, but he would ring her anyway, he decided, reaching for the phone. But before he could pick it up, it rang. He thought it might be Tracy ringing back to apologize, so he answered it.

“Alan?”

“Yes?”

“Ken Blackstone here. Sorry to bother you at this hour, but I thought you might be interested. I just got a call from Weetwood.”

Banks sat up. “What is it?”

“Another fire. Adel. Patrick Aspern’s house.”

Banks put his glass down. “I’ll be there as soon as I can,” he said.

“I’ll be waiting.”

Banks took stock of the shape he was in. Luckily, he had only taken a sip or two of his second drink, and he knew he wasn’t over the limit. He put the kettle on and poured plenty of fine-ground coffee into a filter. While the water was coming to a boil, he stuck his head under the tap and ran cold water over it for a couple of minutes. Then he poured the boiling water into the filter and watched it drip through, filled it once again and brushed his teeth and sucked on a breath mint. Just before he left, he filled a travel mug with hot black coffee and carried it out to the car. The night was cold and hoarfrost had formed on the trees and drystone walls, giving them a ghostly white outline in the night. The sky was studded with stars.

There was no time for Jesse Winchester’s bittersweet musings now. Banks flipped through the CDs he carried in the car and went for The Clash’s London Calling. If that and the hot, strong coffee didn’t keep him awake all the way to Adel, nothing would.

Chapter 15

The fire engines were gone when Banks arrived at Patrick Aspern’s house shortly after two in the morning, and two police patrol cars were parked diagonally across the street, blocking it to all traffic. He hadn’t known what to expect in terms of damage, but from the outside, at least, the house seemed intact. The local police had sealed off the path, and a line of blue-and-white tape barred the gateway, where a young constable, who looked to be freezing his bollocks off, even in his overcoat, was logging everyone who came and went. Banks went up to him and asked for DI Ken Blackstone.

The PC wrote something on his clipboard and gestured with his thumb. “Inside, sir,” he said with a wistful tone.

Banks walked down the path. The front door was closed, but not locked, and there were signs of forced entry. The firefighters, or someone else?

Banks found Ken Blackstone and the local DI from Weetwood, Gary Bridges, in the living room. DI Bridges presented quite a contrast to Banks and the elegant, dapper Blackstone. In some ways he resembled DS Hatchley, though he was in far better shape. He was a big man in a baggy creased suit, an ex-rugby forward with arms and legs like steel cables, a head of thick sandy hair and piercing green eyes. The traces of his Belfast accent were still in his voice, even though he’d spent most of his life in England.

Banks looked around the room. There was no trace, or even smell, of fire or smoke damage anywhere. Sitting on the sofa, where he cut a slight and lonely figure indeed, was Mark Siddons. The room was warm, but Mark had a blanket wrapped around his shoulders and was trembling slightly. He looked over when Banks walked in, then quickly averted his eyes. What looked like streaks of dirt, or blood, stained his face and the hands gripping the blanket. There was also blood on the side of his head.

“What’s going on?” Banks asked, after greeting Blackstone and Bridges. “Where’s the fire?”

“Gary here rang me at home as soon as he heard the location,” said Blackstone. “His lads had been helping us check up on Aspern, so he knew I had an interest.”

“It started in Dr. Aspern’s surgery,” Bridges said. “At the back. An addition, really. The damage isn’t serious, and it’s pretty well contained.” He gestured toward Mark. “Seems this lad here snapped into action with the extinguisher real sharpish.”

Banks looked at Mark. “That right?” he asked.

Mark nodded.

“Was it you who broke in?”

Mark said nothing.

“Sure you didn’t start the fire yourself?” Banks went on.

“I didn’t start it.”

“I warned you to stay away.”

“I didn’t do it.”

“What makes you think he did?” Bridges asked. “What’s going on here? DI Blackstone said Dr. Aspern was involved in a case you’re working on, but that’s about all I know. Do you think this might be related?”

“The perso

“So what happened?” Banks asked.

“We’re still not clear yet,” Blackstone said. “But the fire’s not the main problem.” He looked at Mark. “And the leading firefighter told me the front door was already open when they got here. Do you want a look at the scene?”

Banks nodded. Blackstone glanced at Bridges. It was a courtesy to seek his permission because they were on his patch. “It’s okay,” Bridges said. “Looks like we’ll be working together on this one, anyway. I’ll take the lad here down to the station.”

“Why are you arresting me?” Mark asked. “I haven’t done anything.”

“Where else would you go at this hour?” Banks asked.

Mark just shrugged.

Bridges looked over at Banks. “Breaking and entering?”

“That’ll do for starters. And see if you can get a doctor to have a look at him, would you? We’ll talk to him tomorrow.”

“Okay,” said Bridges. “Be careful in there. The doc’s been and gone, but the photographer’s not finished yet, I think, and the SOCOs haven’t done their stuff. Can’t seem to get the idle buggers out of bed.”

“It’s pretty grim,” Blackstone said as he and Banks walked down the plush-carpeted hall to the back of the house.

Banks remembered the scene on the boats and in Gardiner’s caravan. He didn’t imagine it could be much worse than either of those. And it certainly couldn’t be worse than what he had witnessed in that tall, narrow terraced house all those years ago.

“There’s just one co