Playing with Fire Read Free Page A

“What is it? Do you know something?”
    â€œTina…Did she get off? I haven’t seen her.”
    â€œIs that why you were hiding?”
    â€œI was watching for Tina. That’s what I was doing. Did they get her off?”
    â€œDid Tina live with you on the barge?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œWas there anyone else?”
    Mark’s eyes burned with shame. “Yes,” he said. “That’s where I was. A girl. In Eastvale. Tina and I had a row.”
    That wasn’t what Banks had meant, but he absorbed the unsolicited information about Mark’s infidelity. That would be a tough one to live with; you’re screwing another woman and your wife, or girlfriend, burns to death in a fire. If, that is, Mark hadn’t set it himself before he left. Banks knew that Tina’s was probably one of the two bodies the firefightershad found, but he couldn’t be certain, and he was damned if he was going to tell Mark that Tina was dead before finding out what he’d been doing when the fire broke out, and before verifying the identity of the bodies.
    â€œI meant, was there anyone else living with you on the barge?”
    â€œJust me and Tina.”
    â€œAnd you haven’t see her?”
    Mark shook his head and rubbed his nose with the back of his hand.
    â€œHow long had you lived there?”
    â€œAbout three months.”
    â€œWhere were you tonight, Mark?”
    â€œI told you. I was with someone else.”
    â€œWe’ll need her name and address.”
    â€œMandy. I don’t know her last name. She lives in Eastvale.” He gave an address and Annie wrote it down.
    â€œWhat time did you get there?”
    â€œI got to the pub where she works—the George and Dragon, near the college—a bit before closing time. About quarter to eleven. Then we went back to her flat.”
    â€œHow did you get to Eastvale? Do you have a car?”
    â€œYou must be joking. There’s a late bus you can catch up on the road. It leaves at half past ten.”
    If Mark was telling the truth—and his alibi would have to be carefully checked with the bus driver and the girlfriend—then he couldn’t possibly have started the fire. If it had been set before half past ten, there would have been nothing left of the barges by half past one, when Andrew Hurst reported the blaze. “When did you get back here?” Banks asked.
    â€œI don’t know. I don’t have a watch.”
    Banks glanced at his wrist. He was telling the truth. “How late? Twelve? One? Two?”
    â€œLater. I left Mandy’s place at about three o’clock, by her alarm clock.”
    â€œHow did you get back? Surely there are no buses running that late?”
    â€œI walked.”
    â€œWhy didn’t you stay the night?”
    â€œI got worried. About Tina. Afterward, you know, sometimes things start to go around in your mind, not always good things. I couldn’t sleep. I felt bad. Guilty. I should never have left her.”
    â€œHow long did it take you to get back here?”
    â€œMaybe an hour or so. A bit less. I couldn’t believe the scene. All those people. I hid in the woods and watched until you found me.”
    â€œThat was a long time.”
    â€œI wasn’t keeping track.”
    â€œDid you see anyone else in the woods?”
    â€œOnly the firemen.”
    â€œMark, I know this is hard for you right now,” Banks went on, “but do you know anything about the people on the other barge? We need all the information we can get.”
    â€œThere’s just the one bloke.”
    â€œWhat’s his name?”
    â€œTom.”
    â€œTom what?”
    â€œJust Tom.”
    â€œHow long has he been living there?”
    â€œDunno. He was there when me and Tina came.”
    â€œWhat does he do?”
    â€œNo idea. He doesn’t go out much, keeps himself to himself.”
    â€œDo you know if he was home last