Some By Fire

It cost four quid and didn't work, and now I smelt like an apothecary's pinny. I came out of the toilets and went back upstairs to my office.

Dave was busy on the phone, pencil poised over a half-filled page. I reread the list of Fox's shady dealings that Crosby had given us and extracted any relevant names. If they were really on Fox's payroll we'd need a jemmy to prise it from them, but it was worth a try. They'd be relaxed, not expecting a call from us. When they say they'll only talk in front of a solicitor you know you've struck paydirt.

Dave knocked and came in. He sniffed and said: 'Cor, have you been using fly spray? I've found a couple of locals, if you want to be getting on with it.'

'Who are they?' I asked, leaning back.

'Terence John Alderdice read chemistry at Leeds Uni with Duncan Roberts. He lives in Leeds and will be home after about six, according to his wife. And, wait for it, Watson Pretty, who was the ex-boyfriend of Daphne Turnbull, Jasmine's mother, now lives in Huddersfield, right on our doorstep. He's out on licence after serving five years for the manslaughter of one of his subsequent girlfriends. They had a quarrel and she fell down the cellar steps and broke her neck. Oh, and she had a ten-year-old daughter.'

'He sounds a right charmer,' I said. 'What do they see in them?'

Dave shrugged his shoulders. 'Want me to see Alderdice tonight?' he asked, but my phone rang before I could answer.

I listened, raising a finger to Dave to signify that this was interesting. 'Grab your coat,' I told him as I put the phone down and unhooked mine from behind the door.

'What is it?' he shouted after me as we ran down the stairs.

'Halifax Central have just arrested someone for using Joe McLelland's Visa card in Tesco. He'll be in their cells by the time we get there.'

If my geometry was any good he wasn't the one in the video. He had the build, but was only about five feet six. They brought him from the cell to an interview room and sat him down with his packet of fags before him. He was about twenty, wearing torn jeans and a T-shirt from the Pigeon Pie English Pub on Tenerife. They served Tetley's bitter and Yorkshire puddings and I could hardly wait to go.

'So where did you get the card?' Sparky demanded. I've told him before about being too circumspect.

'I found it.'

'Where?'

'In t'car park.'

'Which car park?'

'Tesco's.'

'When did you find it?'

'Just then.'

'Before you went shopping?'

'Yeah.'

'What were you doing in the car park?'

'Goin' shoppin'! What do you think I were doin'?'

'You had no money on you.'

'I'd left me wallet at 'ome. I didn't realise until I was in t'shop. I was goin' to 'and t'card in, but I'd filled me trolley by then and I din't know what to do, so I used t'card.' He whined his well-rehearsed story as if it were the most self-evident explanation in the world.

'You fell to temptation,' I said.

He swivelled to face me and jumped on my words as if they were a life raft. 'That's it! I fell to temptation!'

'Does your weekly shop normally run to four bottles of Glenfiddich?'

Dave wondered.

'We'saving a party,' he replied, lamely.

'And six hundred cigs?'

'I'm a 'cavy smoker.'

'And two packs of fillet steak?'

'You've gotta eat.'

Dave was silent for a few seconds, then he asked him if he had form. He had.

'What for?' Dave asked.

'Thieving.'

'Have you done time?'

'Yeah.'

'How was it?'

'Orrible. I'atedit.'

'You could go back in for this.'

'It was a mistake! 'Onest! I din't mean to use it, it just 'appened. Things just 'appen to me. Like 'e said, I was tempted.'

I clunked my chair back on all four legs. 'You made a good job of Mr.

McLelland's signature,' I said.

'I just copied it.'

'Whoever stole this card from Joe McLelland left him tied in his chair, and his wife, for ten hours,' I told him. 'They are both elderly. It's a miracle they were found. This was nearly a murder case. Now I'm prepared to believe that it wasn't you who tied them up. I'm prepared to believe that someone sold you the card. That's what I think, so if I'm right you'd better tell me a name, or we'll just have to assume you took it off them yourself. What do you say?'

His elbows were on the table, his fingers interlocked and both thumb-nails between his teeth. He chewed away for nearly a minute, then looked straight at me and said: 'I found it. If I'm lying may my little lad be dead when I go 'ome.'

It's always someone else they want dead. 'He might be,' I replied. 'Of old age.'

I pulled into the nick car park and suggested we have a fairly early night. Dave said: 'I could do another window frame round at the mother-in-law's, or I could cut the grass.'

'You're spoilt for choices,' I commented.

'Or…' he began,'… or I could nip into Leeds after tea and talk to Mr. Alderdice, former student at Leeds University and erstwhile friend of Duncan Roberts.'

'Uh-uh,' I said, shaking my head.

'Why not?'

'Because I don't want your Shirley blaming me for you never being there.'

'I can handle her. I'd like to find out about this punk bird, fast as possIt's niggling me.'

'I know what you mean,' I replied. 'Fair enough, you see Alderdice and I'll have a word with Mr. Pretty. That'll be two names fewer to investigate. Do you want to meet in a pub afterwards and compare notes?'

'Er, no, if you don't mind. I know I said I could handle her, but there are limits.'

When he'd driven away I locked the car and walked into the town centre and had a teatime special in the Chinese restaurant. I enjoyed it, all by myself, with no one to entertain or worry about. Maybe this was my natural state, I thought.

But I didn't really believe it. Back in the car I rang Jacquie and told her I was on my way to a meeting. We could grab a quick drink later, if she wanted. I moaned about my midge bites and she said:

'Lavender oil.'

'Lavender oil,' I repeated. 'What will that do?'

'It's aroma therapy Lavender oil will cool you down and de-stress you, then you need aloe vera to soothe the damaged tissue. I'll show you, when you come round.'

'Ooh! I can hardly wait,' I said.

Watson Pretty lived on the edge of Huddersfield town centre, not far from where I did my probationary training. Not much had changed. The main difference was that now both sides of every street were lined with cars; some worth much more than the houses they stood outside, some rusting wrecks standing on bricks, awaiting the