Tony Hill u Carol Jordan 08 - Cross and Burn

this to do with the bus? Only, that was just by chance that occurred to me. I bought more shopping than I intended and I had to get the bus.’
    Now it was Fielding’s turn to look baffled.
    ‘Tony,’ Paula said. ‘All in good time. The first thing I have to ask you is to cast your mind back three Saturdays ago. Can you tell us where you were that Saturday afternoon and evening.’
    ‘Saturday three weeks ago?’ Theoretically, it should be easy. A day when he had no appointments. A day when he could please himself. But with nothing to differentiate one Saturday from another, how could he say what he had actually done?
    ‘Bradfield Victoria were playing Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, if that helps.’ Knowing his love for the Vics, Paula had checked the fixture list ahead of the interview.
    His face cleared and he smiled. ‘Of course. Ashley Cole conceded a penalty and looked like he was going to cry. I thought about watching it live at the pub, but I didn’t fancy fighting for a seat and all that relentless camaraderie. So I watched the game at home. I had a couple of beers. Then I walked up to the chip shop on Mistle Row and bought cod and chips for my dinner.’
    ‘Will they remember you?’
    ‘Three weeks on? I shouldn’t imagine so for a moment. It was busy after the game, I didn’t talk to anyone.’ He gave a hapless little shrug. ‘I didn’t know I was going to need an alibi.’
    ‘And afterwards?’
    ‘I went back to the boat.’ He smiled at Fielding. ‘I live on a narrowboat on Minster Basin. I spent the evening alone. I’m finally catching up with Scandinavian noir , so I probably watched a couple of episodes of The Bridge or The Killing then chances are I played Arkham City or Skyrim on my Xbox.’
    ‘Do you enjoy violent computer games?’ Fielding butted in.
    ‘I enjoy computer games,’ Tony said. ‘Nobody gets hurt. It’s fake, DCI Fielding. Whatever the Daily Mail likes to think, the jury’s still out on any direct correlation between gaming and IRL violence.’
    ‘For the tape, what’s IRL?’ Paula asked.
    Tony rolled his eyes. ‘In real life.’
    ‘Did you make any phone calls?’
    ‘I shouldn’t think so. You have my permission to check my records with my mobile provider though.’
    ‘Did anyone phone you?’
    He locked his fingers behind his head and leaned back, making it obvious that he was thinking. At last he said, ‘I think that’s the Saturday when the Clinical Director of Bradfield Moor Secure Hospital phoned me but I didn’t pick up the call. I was in the middle of my game and I didn’t want to be interrupted by work on a Saturday evening.’
    ‘It might have been an emergency relating to one of your patients.’
    Tony inclined his head. ‘Not very likely, but yes, it might have been. But I’m not the only clinical psychologist on the staff. I’m learning not to be indispensable.’
    ‘You’re sure that’s what you did that Saturday? You didn’t go shopping?’
    ‘I don’t do shopping, not in the sense of a leisure activity. I buy most of what I need online, and I buy my food at the supermarket. And I don’t go there any Saturday. I go weekdays when it’s quiet. Sometimes in the middle of the night, if I can’t sleep. I went there yesterday evening. As you know, Paula, because I phoned you up afterwards to tell you to look at the bus CCTV to see whether you could spot Bev McAndrew.’ He smiled at her, to remind her he was on her side.
    ‘Like I said, we’ll come to that. You didn’t go to see a movie that Saturday, did you?’
    He shook his head. ‘No. I definitely didn’t do that. I can’t remember the last time I went to a cinema to see a movie. Either I stream them or I watch them on DVD. I hate the smell of cinemas. Popcorn and hot dogs.’ His face echoed his disgust.
    And so it crawled onwards. On Monday evening, when Bev had been abducted, he’d been at home, working on a parole report on his laptop. ‘You can get some techie geek to check the time stamps on my computer.’
    ‘Time stamps can be faked,’ Fielding said dismissively.
    The previous night, when Bev had been killed and dumped, he’d explained that he’d walked across town to Freshco and come home on the bus.
    ‘Why did you go all the way to that Freshco? There are plenty of places you could have shopped closer to home,’ Fielding asked.
    Tony frowned, his eyes flicking back and forth between the two women. ‘Because that’s where Bev was most likely to have