All the Alven High School pupils
shared a common ability – exiting faster than entering. Rosie and Alicia were
lagging behind Katy by at least five minutes. Mr. Linfield had tried to see if
they were interested in going on an upcoming trip to Ermyngor Castle. Both
girls shook their heads and returned to checking their Twitter accounts via
their phones. Between them, they’d received 17 tweets before a minute was up.
Rosie smiled broadly at the most recent.
“Jake’s become a follower!”
“So, he’s way into you, after
all!”
“He must be – all my
tweet-buddies are female!”
“Are you gonna tweet him back?”
“When I get home, Ali”
Alicia attempted to peek at the
tweet Jake sent to her friend. Rosie had anticipated this move and placed the
phone’s display screen against her chest. It was almost a reflex action. She
moved it away from her jumper when Alicia’s eyes were facing forward again.
Katy was talking to Geena Bryant when they reached the schoolyard. She handed
her a copy of ‘The Taming of the Shrew’. Alicia was open-mouthed when she saw
the title on the cover.
“So not PC, Katy”
“It’s Shakespeare” said Evelyn
sternly. “Drama & literature shouldn’t be judged by today’s standards.”
“Yeah, but it’s like well sexist,
Ms Bryant” said Alicia.
“I pity this generation” muttered
Evelyn as she made her way over to her car.
“Once more with zero sense of
humour!” said Rosie.
“What is her deal?”
Nobody answered Alicia’s
question. Katy was flicking through the book Evelyn had given her. Rosie was
reading Jake’s tweet again.
“Hottie alert at three o’clock”
Alicia said, half-grinning.
Alicia made that facial
expression as sultry as possible. She’d only been without a boyfriend for two
days straight, but she was already getting withdrawal symptoms. An eye-candy
fix was in order. Possibly ready to supply that was a friend of Jake’s, Mark
Beaumont. He was a second away from catching her eye, when he caught a football
instead. Someone, she didn’t spot who, had thrown it in his direction. It
seemed to Alicia that he had more interest in footie than flirting with her.
“Offside!” she yelled.
He looked her as if she was
mental. She’d already been on the receiving end of that sort of glance. Her
ex-boyfriend was the one who’d looked at her in that light. Witnessing her
moment of romantic bad luck was DCI Stoneham.
“Wide of the net, Ali”
“More like own goal, mum” she
replied, frowning.
“Is Mrs. Davidson still in her
office?”
“I guess so – why do you want to
go see her?”
“I can’t go into details, love”
“I get it – police business!”
“I want you home tonight by 8pm
at the latest, Ali”
The anxiety in Jennifer’s voice
gave Alicia the clearest clue as to what was driving it. The second victim of
this new serial rapist was the local TV news’s main headline.
“You’re gonna be working late
again, mum, aren’t you?”
“Until around midnight, maybe for
a bit longer – what do you want for tea?”
“I hadn’t thought about it”
“What about fish fingers and
chips?”
“I fancy something Italian...and
I’m not going to The Glass House tonight”
“Something Italian it is then!
Tell you what, if you stick around school until I’m done talking to Paula, then
we’ll swing by Sterling’s, so we can check out whether you want pasta or
pizza.”
Having finished viewing her
Twitter page, Rosie came back to chat with Alicia. Jake wasn’t going to be the
reason for her to be neglectful towards one of her friends. She said “Hi” to
Alicia’s mother as she approached.
“Hi Rosie, I’m glad I ran into
you – I need you to pass on a message to your mum.”
“Pass away”
“Tell her I’ll be dropping by her
office tomorrow morning to discuss manpower and funding. Chief Constable
Matheson wants assurances from her over council spending.”
“I’m glad I’m not in CID” said
Rosie. “I’ll make sure she gets the message.”
Paula was two minutes away from
wrapping things up for the day, when the school secretary knocked on her door.
“Yes, Miss Franks, what is it?”
“DCI Stoneham’s here to see you”
the secretary told Mrs. Davidson through the half-open door.
“What – oh yes, show her in, Miss
Franks”
She held the door open for
Jennifer as she entered.
“Have you brought the file with
you?”
DCI Stoneham held it up for a
moment and then slid it across the desk to the headmistress. Paula started
reading its contents.
“So, one of our ex-pupils is a possible
suspect”
“A person of interest is more
accurate right now. You know I can’t speculate on that.”
“I’ll have to show this to my
deputy head”
“Where is Geena? I thought she’d
want to be in this meeting.”
“Family business – she had to
leave ten minutes before home time.”
Evelyn kept looking at the clock
in Matt’s Cafe rather than check the time on her phone’s display menu. She
thought that having more than one use for it was absurd. She was a decade
behind other people in embracing the telephone’s technological evolution. Lucy
was late. A hangover from her boarding school career, Evelyn found disregarding
punctuality as intolerable. She didn’t draw attention to it. To do that would
show how far away she was from today’s world. She knew she was a youngster in
other vampires’ eyes, but she still proudly carried the values of her
generation with her. Lucy’s less than impressive timekeeping skills weren’t
mentioned when she did walk into the cafe.
“Sorry I couldn’t get here
sooner, Geena” said Lucy as she sat down across from Evelyn. “I had county
council documents to update – so dull! It makes me appreciate my night job even
more”
“We’re not here to discuss what
kind of employment you prefer, Tina! You said over the phone there’s a problem
with the Sudfield situation – so what is it?”
“Holly Pearce”
“Who’s Holly Pearce?”
“She saw the sisters through one
of the third floor windows.”
“Did she tell you this directly?”
“No”
“Then how do you know that was
what she’d come to see Councillor Trennell about?”
“She definitely had something
preying on her mind. Holly said she’s a volunteer at Sudfield, so I made an
educated guess it was to do with Emma and Sophie Walsh.”
“Julian only accepts hard
evidence of containment issues, not guesswork.”
“I know that, Geena, but I don’t
think we should ignore this. Holly could possibly arouse Councillor Trennell’s
suspicions about what’s really going on at Sudfield.”
“Did Holly’s visit have that
effect?”
“I don’t think it did, no. From
the look on her face, I sensed Pippa didn’t take what she said seriously. Are
you going to inform him about it?”
“Not until I’m sure it qualifies
as a major problem.”
“Well, I’m going to tell Skye
about this”
“I don’t think that’s wise”
“I know you don’t, but I do,
Geena.”
“That’s breaking protocol!”
“No it’s not, Geena! Our
objectives remain identical – making sure the line between our world and theirs
holds firm. If it disintegrates...”
Geena didn’t urge Tina to finish
what she started to say. The silence spoke volumes to her, and alarm started to
show in her eyes. It stayed there as Evelyn asked “What are you going to do
about Holly if you’re intuition is correct?”
“That’s what Skye and I are going
to talk about, this evening.”
The end of afternoon period at
Sterling’s biggest branch was experiencing a surge in trade. Special offers on
certain items were tempting people to come and shop when they normally
wouldn’t. Jennifer decided to take advantage of a few of them. If there was a
chance of saving a few quid, she’d happily go for a bargain. This didn’t mean
she was thrifty. Eight times out of ten, she recognised that quality
merchandise had to be paid for, expensive or not. The items Alicia and her mum
took off the aisles’ shelves and put into the trolley totalled nine. When they
neared the checkouts, DCI Stoneham saw Doug handling groceries at one of the
tills.
“I thought you’d be in your
office”
“Three people called in sick. I
decided to man one of the tills for a few hours. Hi, Alicia”
“Hi, Mr. Trennell” Jennifer’s
daughter said.
“Ali, why don’t you browse the
magazine section?”
“Cool”
Alicia headed that way
enthusiastically. This month’s issue of a teen magazine she’d seen advertised
was due out today.
“You know, Jennifer, you could’ve
used one of the 10 items or less tills – you’ve got one less than that”
“I know, but I wanted to talk to
you, anyway.”
“What about”
“Keeping women under 40 safe to
walk the streets at night”
“I see”
“Glad you do – you’ll need to
alert your daughters. I’ve already talked to Katy Lonsdale’s parents on the phone,
so they’ll tell her to be home before dusk sets in.”
“I’ll tell them of the danger –
Skye Linton too.”
“Is that the girl who bolted from
Sudfield?”
“How did you hear about that?”
“Ali told me over breakfast.
Anyway, Doug, I’ll just get these groceries scanned, paid for, and I’ll let you
get on. I’ve got to get Alicia home – I’m working late, probably until early
the next morning.”
“Are you making her dinner before
you head out?”
“No, she’s making it herself –
Alicia’s idea. She suggested it on the drive over here. Her domestic science
grades are pretty high. She knows how to use the oven, grill and hobs, so I
think it’ll be safe.”
Doug efficiently whisked each
item from the conveyor belt, over the beeper and onto where groceries are
bagged.
“That’ll be £16.27”
His I-Phone began to ring. The
face in the centre of the screen and the number he saw both belonged to Pippa.
Despite it being slightly inconvenient, he took the call.
“Hi, Pips”
Pippa was walking to the
reception area as she started the phone conversation with her husband.
“No eviction! The Hicks are pissing
well here to stay – for now! Shit! I don’t know how Councillor Gilbert was able
to gloss over all the complaints made against them, but he did. Who cares if
they make homeowners’ lives a misery, just as long as his pockets are
well-lined! Jesus – can that man get any fucking greedier!”
“Careful, Pips, the corridor
housing the offices echoes. He might hear you through his office door” said
Doug, his voice coming through the receiver.
“I don’t care if he does – the
whole county council will get it in the neck from the press!”
Her tone was edging towards a
rant.
“Do you think there’ll be another
vote on this?”
“I’m seriously hoping so, Doug!
If I can present solid evidence that the Hicks’ behaviour crosses into
law-breaking, then I can get more support for evicting that scum than I have at
this moment!”
“You sound stressed, Pips”
“Holly Pearce’s visit didn’t
help. Her pal got fired, and she tried to make out there was something dodgy
going on. I sent her packing. I’ve no time for silly personal grievances right
now!”
“You’ve never had time for that”
“She even said Skye Linton’s not
Skye Linton!”
“That sounds really daft!”
“Tell me about it! I showed her
the photo I took when I first brought her home. Holly didn’t recognise it at
all, or says she...”
Some inner curiosity overcame
Pippa at high velocity. She brought up the ‘Menu’ screen and the touched the
photo album. With her right forefinger, she enlarged that photo of Skye,
glancing at it from all angles.
“Pips – are you there?”
“Yeah I am. Can I call you back,
Doug?”
“What’s up?”
“I need to go back to my office.”
“Why”
“I just want to look something up
on the internet – I’ll give you a ring a little later.”
“Hello, Pips – are you there?”
Dial tone was all that could be
heard on his end of the line. He selected ‘End Call’ and started passing the
next lot of groceries over the barcode scanner.
“Demoted already” said Ms
Farnham.
Doug looked up and to see Diane
clutching a sliced brown loaf. For him, her turning up here was completely out
of the blue. He wanted to greet her with a hug, but he was still on duty.
Behind her, Doug saw another woman queuing up to be served after Diane. Each
item was passed over the glass panel, prompting beep after beep. The pace was
quicker. When he’d dealt with his school friend and the customer behind her, he
put up a ‘Checkout Closed’ sign on top of the conveyor belt.
“What are you doing, Doug?” she
asked, as she placed the last shopping bag in her trolley.
“Inviting you for a coffee in
Sterling’s restaurant, upstairs”
Doug came back to the table he’d
found for him and Diane with a couple of brown sachets.
“There were no sweetener sachets,
so it’ll have to be brown sugar”
“That’s fine, Doug”
Diane ripped them both open, pouring
the contents into her hot drink, and then taking her first sip.
“I heard Darcy isn’t well”
“Her getting headaches and
passing out is all I’ve heard from Canroth College recently, regarding my
daughter.”
In Diane’s voice was the veneer
of a mood that was getting sourer, day-by-day.
“Is she taking anything for it?”
“Pills that seem to have no
effect”
“None at all”
“Her sore heads and fainting
spells are getting more and more frequent, instead of diminishing”
“What does your GP say?”
“Nothing that’s any fucking
help...sorry, Doug – I didn’t mean to swear.”
“We’re adults...we’re allowed to”
“Can we please talk about your
family?”
Her question was irascibly
delivered. Doug tried not to be perturbed by her tone’s increasing sharpness.
“Charlotte’s seeing someone”
“What’s his name?”
“Martin – he likes the same wine
as me”
“A potential son-in-law”
“Depends on Charlotte’s feelings
for him: she’s had boyfriends before, but they didn’t feel like they were
serious relationships”
“And this has that vibe?”
“It kind of does, but you never
know with these things, do you.”
“If a wedding’s imminent, Darcy
and I would love to be at the ceremony.”
“I’d love you to be there, Diane.
I...”
Ms Farnham’s phone interrupted
him.
“Hello? Yes, this is Diane
Farnham. What?”
The hand that was holding the
phone started to wobble.
“I’ll be right there”
A significant amount of colour
disappeared from her face. Doug easily acknowledged Diane had received news
she’d hoped not to get.
“Is it Darcy?”
“Her roommate called. They were
in a popular culture seminar. Her nose started bleeding and she complained of
having a headache...then she said Darcy just collapsed. She’s at Canroth
General.”
Diane’s manner was detached, as
if in a daze. Doug saw she was on the verge of hyperventilating.
“Take some deep breaths”
She breathed in and out for the
best part of a minute. Her eyes then drifted over to the shopping trolley
filled with supermarket goods. He saw what his friend was looking at.
“I’ll have a member of staff keep
hold of your groceries.”
“I’ll pick them up on my way back
from hospital”
“I’m driving you there”
“You don’t need to”
“I want to”
Diane put a grateful hand on
Doug’s.
“You’d do the same, if I were in
your shoes” he said softly.
No comments:
Post a Comment