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“And it was too late by then.”
“What do you mean?”
“Everybody was dead.”
“Yes… well, I tried to tell them how dangerous it was, living there. I suspect one of them must have had a dodgy heater of some sort, too, as well as the turpentine. I know it’s been a mild winter, but still… It is January.”
“Mr. Hurst,” A
Hurst looked at her, a puzzled expression on his face. “That I had to find out what was happening, of course.”
“But you said you already knew at once what was happening.”
“I had to be certain, though, didn’t I? I couldn’t just go off half-cocked.”
“What else did you think might have been causing the orange glow?”
“I don’t know. I wasn’t thinking logically. I just knew that I had to get down there.”
“Yet you didn’t do anything when you did get down there.”
“It was too late already. I told you. There was nothing I could do.” Hurst sat forward, chin jutting aggressively. He looked at Banks. “Look, I don’t know what she’s getting at here, but I-”
“It’s simple, really,” said Banks. “DI Cabbot is puzzled why you decided to cycle a mile – slowly – down to the canal branch, when you already knew the boats were on fire and that the wood they were made of was so dry they’d go up in no time. I’m puzzled, too. And I’m also wondering why you didn’t just do what any normal person would have done and call the bloody fire brigade straight away. From here.”
“Now there’s no need to get stroppy. I wasn’t thinking clearly. Like I said, you don’t when… when something like that… The shock. Maybe you’re right. Looking back, maybe I should have phoned first. But…” He shook his head slowly.
“I was waiting for you to say you hurried down there to see if there was anything you could do,” Banks said. “To see if you could help in any way.”
Hurst just stared at him, lower jaw hanging, and adjusted his glasses.
“But you didn’t say that,” Banks went on. “You didn’t even lie.”
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know, Andrew. You tell me. All I can think of is that you wanted those narrow boats and the people who lived on them gone, that you didn’t call the fire brigade the minute you knew they were on fire, and that as soon as you got home you put your clothes in the washing machine. Perhaps nobody can fault you for not jumping on board a burning boat, but the fifteen minutes it took you to cycle down the towpath and make the call could have made all the difference in the world. And I’m wondering if you were aware of that at the time, too.” Banks looked at A
Banks wasn’t the only one who saw his weekend fast slipping away. As A
A
This morning, though, in the clinging January fog, the area took on a creepy, surreal air, the tall houses looking like a Gothic effect in a horror film, rising out of the mist with their steeply pointed slate roofs and elaborate gables. Through the bare trees across the park A
She walked up the steps and peered at the names on the intercom box. Mandy Patterson. That was the person she wanted. She pressed the bell. It seemed to take forever, but eventually a sleepy voice answered. “Yes? Who is it?”
A
“Police?” Mandy sounded alarmed. “Why? What is it? What do you want?”
A
“First landing, flat three, on your left.”
A
A
The girl who opened the door looked as if she had just been woken up, which was probably the case. She rubbed her eyes and squinted at A
“Afraid so.”
A
“You woke me up, you know,” Mandy said over her shoulder.
“Sorry about that,” A
“Cup of tea? I’m having one myself. Can’t think in the morning without a cup of tea.”