Nevertheless, she had to be here. Being a loving and attentive mum. Agoodmum. Lord knows she seldom felt like that, but today she had to at least pretend that things were normal, that she and Steve had a normal life and were making a go of things.
Steve remained silent as they walked up the pretty, picket-fenced path to the nursery. Truth be told, he didn’t need to say anything—it was clear they were both thinking the same thing.
Had Charlie made a mistake returning to the force? And, if so, what were they going to do about it?
68
“We’ve met before, haven’t we?”
Helen didn’t believe in soft-soaping suspects and, having consulted with Sanderson, decided to go straight for the jugular. There would be plenty of time later to talk about his unhappy childhood or low self-esteem. “At Travell’s Timber Yard. We had quite a long chat, didn’t we?”
Richard Ford looked at her blankly, while his lawyer, Hannah Shapiro, just seemed puzzled, wrong-footed by this opening salvo from Helen.
“I don’t recall,” Ford finally said, his voice listless and monotone.
“Oh, come on, you can do better than that,” Helen countered. “I turned up at Travell’s and you told me to leave.”
“I’m sure my client was just concerned for your safety,” Shapiro interrupted.
“Too right he was,” Helen said. “The roof was about to give, he had other fires to be at and he didn’t want my death on his conscience. That’s right, isn’t it, Richard?”
Ford looked at her suspiciously, then shrugged.
“You seem a bit uncertain,” Helen continued, keeping the pressure up. “But you were very sure of yourself that night. You certainly seemed to know a lot about the fires.”
“Inspector... ,” Shapiro intoned, the warning note in her voice clear.
“What was it you said to me? You said to me that the fires weren’t an accident. You seemed sure on that point, despite the fact that, at that stage, you’d only been to one of them. Why was that, Richard? Why were you so sure?”
Shapiro shot a look at her client and, when it was clear he wasn’t going to reply, waded in on his behalf. “My client is an extremely experienced firefighter. He has attended numerous scenes of arson in the course of his duties and, besides, it was the assumption of pretty much everyone in Southampton that night that three major fires in under an hour was suspicious.”
“And while we’re reminiscing,” Helen went on, ignoring Shapiro’s speech, “let me remind you of the final words you said to me. You said: ‘Someone’s been having a bit of fun.’ Why do you think you used those words, Richard?”
“Can you prove my client actually said any of this?” Shapiro interrupted.
“Why, Richard?”
“Because it was obvious. Like she said, three fires in under an hour...”
“Were you supposed to be working that night?”
A little pause, then Ford answered:
“No.”
“Like many other off-duty firefighters, he volunteered as soon as he became aware of the scale of the problems facing the emergency services that night,” his lawyer elaborated.
Helen looked at her blankly, then turned her gaze back to Ford.She really was a piece of work, determined not to let her client speak if she could possibly prevent it. Helen could understand why. Close up he was not an attractive specimen. He had a shaved head, bad skin and teeth that could have done with more regular brushing. But more than his physical appearance, it was his demeanor that was off-putting. He refused to look you in the eye, his gaze seeking out the farthest corners of the room—when he wasn’t staring at his feet. He spoke in a gruff whisper and his whole manner was furtive, secretive and suspicious. Had he ever had a girlfriend? Did his mother love him? He gave off the distinct vibe of having turned against the world, having found it not to his liking.
“So according to your watch captain you arrived at Travell’s at just after midnight,” Helen said. She was pleased to see that Ford flinched at this. Perhaps he’d thought that this was going to be a cozy chat. The fact that Helen had already grilled his boss for the particulars of his movements showed that it would be anything but.
“That’s right.”
“Other volunteers met at the station, but you turned up at the scene by yourself in full battle dress. Why was that?”
“Because I live nearby. I had the uniform at home—”
“So you live near to the first fire site? It’s convenient for you?”
