Beth laid the folder with her notes onto the table and listened as O’Dowd went through the formalities for the benefit of the tape.

‘Mr Fielding, we are interviewing you under caution regarding the murder of Nick Langley and three others. Do you understand what we mean by that?’

Fielding glanced at his lawyer, an earnest man who carried the air of someone who’d seen every possible outcome of a police interview.

‘Yes, I understand. How may I help you?’

Beth noticed how calm Fielding was. There were no trembles to his voice or his hands. The looks he cast them were assured and there was no stress on his face.

‘Can you account for your whereabouts on Monday evening?’

‘I was at home most of the time.’

‘Can anyone verify you were there?’

‘No.’ Fielding tilted his head. ‘I’m not married and I have no kids. Maybe one of my neighbours saw me putting something in the bin or noticed my lights on.’

‘May I ask why you are asking my client about these murders?’

‘Mr Langley had a brawl with your client last year. Apparently Mr Fielding took it upon himself to cut Mr Langley’s hedge.’ O’Dowd shifted her gaze from the solicitor to Fielding. ‘Care to tell us why you were cutting another man’s hedge?’

‘I wasn’t cutting another man’s hedge. All I was doing was making sure that my garden got plenty of sunlight. Vegetables need light, you know. He wanted to grow the hedge to six feet high and I wanted it at four maximum. I cut it at five and he went off his head. Called me all kinds of names. That wasn’t acceptable.’

‘So you just went ahead and cut the hedge at the height you deemed was a fair compromise. Except Mr Langley didn’t see it that way and the two of you came to blows.’

Fielding spread his hands wide. ‘It was wrong of me, I know. I got beat up for it at the time. I shouldn’t have done it, and I paid the price. But if you think I’ve waited a year to kill him, then you’ve got to be joking.’

‘Excuse me for butting in.’ Beth put a hand on O’Dowd’s arm. ‘I read the reports from the arresting officers. It would appear that Mr Langley did indeed win the fight you had. That upset you at the time. You made threats. Threats against his life to be specific. What do you have to say about that?’

Fielding lifted his right hand from the table and used his forefinger to point at Beth. ‘Pardon me for saying so, but you look as if you’ve been in the wars yourself. I’d say that judging by the scar on your face, like me when I fought Langley, you got a silver medal. Do you remember feeling angry, wanting to hurt the person who done that to you? Did you at least want them to feel as scared as you were? I was angry at myself for getting into a fight. Disappointed that I lost it, and scared that I’d cross swords with him again and get another pasting. Because my emotions were running high, I said some stupid things that I didn’t mean. When you got that scar, did you say anything you now regret, even though it was said in the heat of the moment?’

Fielding had a good point and Beth knew it. She had been angry and scared after the bottle had been thrust into her cheek. In the first few weeks after it happened she’d entertained many thoughts of vengeance and retribution. Yet she’d never wanted the perpetrator killed, just punished.

‘Don’t try to deflect this, Mr Fielding. You threatened to kill someone, and lo and behold, that person is murdered.’ Beth glared at Fielding as she waited for his answer.

Fielding smoothed his moustache. ‘Over a year later. I’m sure you’ve checked me out in your database. You’ll have found that in my fifty-two years on this planet I have collected one speeding ticket, three parking tickets and one caution for the fight with Mr Langley.’

The lawyer leaned back in his chair. ‘My client is innocent of the murder of Mr Langley. He is more than happy for you to check his whereabouts by triangulating his mobile phone signal.’

Beth looked at O’Dowd and saw uncertainty. A man Fielding’s age wouldn’t necessarily use his phone the way someone her age would. His might well get left in the house for days.

He had it with him now; she could see it wedged into his shirt pocket. It looked to be similar to the old Nokia her father had. He’d kept the same phone for years as all he wanted it for was making and taking calls.

‘We’ll take you up on that.’ O’Dowd pressed on regardless of their confident smiles. ‘Let’s be clear though, it proves where the phone was, not Mr Fielding.’

‘Of course.’ The lawyer’s smile was like an oil slick. ‘Is there anything else, or is my client free to leave?’

Beth seized the opportunity before O’Dowd let Fielding leave. ‘One thing. Do the names Angus Keane and Rachel Allen mean anything to you?’

Beth watched Fielding closely as she posed the question.

‘I heard something about Angus Keane on the news. Wasn’t he the guy whose body turned up with wings attached to his back?’

His eyes widened. ‘If you’re asking me about him as well as Langley and whatever the woman’s name was, it means you think their deaths were connected. I’m sorry, but you’re asking the wrong man. I didn’t know any of them, and I’m sorry I ended up brawling with Mr Langley.’

O’Dowd wrapped up the interview, and they returned to the office.