Under Mary's Oak

  ‘I’ve only been here about half an hour. I thought I’d check the e-mails before the meeting.’

  ‘Yes, good idea. I had a quick look yesterday from home and there was nothing too bad. Is there anything new?’

  ‘Not really. Mr Walsh is asking what arrangements we are making to ensure his daughters are not in any danger, but surprisingly that’s the only one so far. The others are all expressing concern and sympathy.’

  Mr Walsh was one of those parents who was always on the phone or on the doorstep. He believed that the money he paid to educate his two daughters, Sophie and Charlotte, gave him unlimited access to any member of staff day or night. And he was seen by one or two of the other parents as someone in the know; that was certainly the impression he tried to give. Recently he had been elected as Chairman of the Parent Teacher Association, and Laura had no doubt he wanted information that he could then send on to other parents. She needed him on her side.

  ‘See if he would like to come in and see me this afternoon,’ she instructed. ‘Maybe by then we’ll know more. Especially if you can talk to your friend, Sergeant Todd.’

  ‘I wouldn’t call him my friend exactly.’

  ‘Well maybe not, but remember we need to cultivate him. The inspector is coming to see me at 9.30. Hopefully the sergeant will come with him. See if you can find out anything about the case, maybe see if they have any suspects or leads.’

  ‘He’s hardly going to tell me anything important, is he?’

  ‘Just do your best. I have every faith in your feminine wiles!’ laughed Laura.

  9.30 on the dot, the inspector was being shown into Laura’s office.

  ‘Good morning, Mrs Jessop,’ he said.

  ‘Good morning, inspector. How are you?’

  ‘Fine, thank you. I’ve come to update you on the enquiry.’

  ‘Please sit down. I hope it is going well?’

  ‘Well, these things always take time,’ he replied cautiously. ‘We’ve confirmed that he was hit over the head and that is what killed him. There’s very little forensic evidence of any use, and we’ve finished searching the grounds round the Pavilion. We’d like to keep it cordoned off though for the time being.’

  ‘That’s fine. I can’t think anyone will want to go down there anyway. What about the sports store and the equipment shed? Can we have access to them?’

  ‘It would be better if you could arrange to remove what you need rather than going in and out all the time. I can arrange for one of my officers to supervise if you let me know when.’

  ‘Yes, of course. Have you managed to speak to Josh yet? I know Shirley, Mrs Hart, is very concerned about him.’

  ‘Not yet.’ The inspector seemed unwilling to expand. ‘I believe you spoke to Mr Hart about his possible retirement?’

  ‘Yes,’ agreed Laura. ‘He had a heart attack last year and although he had recovered quite well, he wasn’t able to do as much as he had before. You’ll realise that caretaking can be quite a strenuous job. We had managed to rearrange his duties so that he took more of a supervisory role but he was worried he wasn’t pulling his weight. He asked to speak to me about it, and wanted me to look into what benefits he might be due. Bob Hinchcliffe had a word with him, but Richard was worried he wouldn’t be able to manage financially.

  I did reassure him that he could still live in the cottage because, of course, Shirley would still be an employee. Anyway, the last conversation I had with him on that matter was about a fortnight ago. He said he had managed to sort out his finances, and he was seriously considering retirement on the grounds of ill health. Of course, we didn’t do any more because he never confirmed it with me.’

  ‘He didn’t give you any details about how he had sorted out his finances?’

  ‘No, and it wouldn’t have been appropriate for me to ask,’ replied Laura.

  ‘Quite so.’

  ‘The girls will be back in school tomorrow, and we can make sure they don’t go down to the south edge of the site. Are there any special arrangements you want us to make?’ Laura asked.

  ‘No, I don’t think so. We’ll continue to use the Pavilion if we may.’

  ‘Of course. Did you manage to speak to the PE staff on Saturday afternoon?’

  ‘Yes, thank you.’

  Laura realised she was going to get nothing more form him and he left, shouting to his sergeant as he went, ‘Come on, Todd.’

  Laura went through to her PA’s office.

  ‘Well?’ she asked.

  ‘Well,’ replied Josie. ‘It seems as though Richard’s death is not the only one the inspector is interested in. There are two other cases which are similar and they’re looking for links. Apparently they were all hit with a baseball bat.’

  ‘That is interesting, and that would mean Richard’s death wasn’t connected with school. Let’s hope the inspector can solve the case quickly. I wonder if that’s why he asked me about Richard’s finances?’

  ‘Gary didn’t give any more detail,’ said Josie.

  ‘Gary?’ questioned Laura.

  ‘Well, you did ask me to cultivate him,’ said Josie with a smile.

  ‘Yes, I did, didn’t I? Well done. The inspector wasn’t forthcoming at all. In fact, I don’t think he told me anything I didn’t already know. Have the SMT arrived?’

  ‘Yes, they’re all here. They’re waiting in Jack’s room. Shall I ask them to go the Board room?’

  ‘Yes, thanks. And will you join us again? Have we got coffee in there?

  ‘Yes, it’s all organised.’

  Five minutes later and all were assembled. Jack Gibson had been brought up to date by the others, and apologised for not being there on Saturday.

  ‘Don’t worry about it,’ said Laura. ‘We managed quite well without you.’

  ‘Yes,’ laughed Amy, ‘but you get the lion’s share of the work today!’

  ‘We’ve got quite a lot to do,’ agreed Laura. ‘The e-mail we sent to parents seems to have done the trick. There’s been no real response except from Mr Walsh.’

  ‘Surprise, surprise!’ interrupted Amy.

  ‘Yes, well, I’ve invited him in this afternoon,’ continued Laura. ‘By then we should have worked out our strategy for tomorrow. But I want a personal reply to every e-mail from either Jack or Amy. It will show we’re on top of things. Split them between you, and keep an eye on it as the day progresses.’

  ‘Reena, well done with the press release. You seem to have contained it well. Be prepared for future contact, but we won’t initiate anything ourselves. Josie, make sure that anyone who answers incoming calls has a copy of something simple to say, and don’t let them elaborate. And we might have press on the doorstep tomorrow morning, trying to get comment from the girls and parents so we’d better be out there in force to control that. Bob, make sure the caretakers are on the main gates. We don’t really want reporters on the site, but we can’t stop them from being in the road outside.

  We’ll have a staff briefing first thing tomorrow morning and I’ll take assembly. I don’t suppose that will be a very pleasant occasion! Richard was quite well-liked by the girls. Some of them are bound to be very upset, and the last thing we need is any kind of mass hysteria, especially as some of them are close to their GCSEs or A levels. Jack, do we have any speaking tests planned?’

  The language examinations tested speaking, reading, writing and listening skills and the girls seemed to find the speaking tests very stressful. It was surprising really as most of them spoke very fluently and had a good command of the languages taught in the school. Speaking was always the first thing to be tested, and perhaps it was this fact that added to the stress. It made the long anticipated examinations finally arrive and become a reality.

  ‘Nothing till Thursday,’ said Jack. ‘We’ve got Spanish first, and then French and German.’

  ‘That’s good,’ said Laura. ‘Perhaps by Thursday things will have become a
little easier. Jack, will you contact the examination boards and let them know what has happened, just in case anyone throws a real wobbly in their exams?’

  Jack nodded to signify his assent.

  ‘Amy, will you contact Sara and see if she can come in tomorrow?’

  Sara Jackson was a freelance counsellor used by the school, and Laura wanted someone extra available if any of the girls or staff needed support. It was so difficult to predict how people would react, but Laura really wanted to be well prepared. If just one girl or teacher became very emotional it could start them all off!

  ‘Right, then,’ said Laura. ‘Let’s get started. Jack and Amy, can we meet at 12 to think about what we’re saying at the staff briefing? Does anyone have any questions?’

  Amy looked up. ‘It’s not really a question. I had a phone call last night from Stella. She was a bit on edge, and asked if she could see me tomorrow morning.’

  Stella Carstairs was the Head of Science at the school. She was an attractive young woman who related well to the pupils. In an all girls’ school science was seen as a subject just like any other and many of the girls chose to pursue at least one of the sciences at A level. But there was no doubt that Stella had been personally responsible for the rapid rise in popularity of Physics, her main subject. She was the perfect role model, pretty, young and with a bubbly and infectious personality. The girls loved her, and she was a fantastic teacher always willing to go that extra mile to make sure they understood the difficult concepts associated with her subject.

  ‘Did she say what it was about?’ asked Laura.

  ‘Not really,’ Amy replied. ‘Other than to say it was connected to Richard.’

  ‘OK,’ said Laura. ‘We’ll have to wait and see then.

  Chapter Eleven

  ‘Todd,’ said the inspector, ‘let’s see all the caretakers and groundsmen again and see if we can put flesh on our theory about Richard Hart. If he was a gambler, someone will know.’

  ‘Yes, sir,’ replied Todd and went off to organise the interviews.

  The inspector sat on the decking outside the Pavilion looking over the school fields towards the main school buildings. It really was a very pleasant environment. If he had a daughter he wouldn’t mind sending her to school here, although he knew he wouldn’t be able to afford it in a month of Sundays. Luckily it wasn’t something he had to worry about. His wife had long gone taking his son with her, fed up of the long hours and the bitter resentment that was growing inside of her husband.

  As a young copper, Dave Jenkins had been so full of enthusiasm. His future was bright, and he quickly transferred to CID, on his way to the very top. Only it didn’t quite work out like that. His first two sergeants were real pieces of work, keen to prove to the inspectors that they did all the work and taking credit for anything Dave came up with. When he became a sergeant himself he made sure he let his DCs take their own credit, but a couple of them had even passed him on the promotion ladder.

  He eventually made it to inspector but that now looked like the end of the road for him. And it had not come without pain. The loss of his marriage and family life caused him to seek solace in the whisky bottle, and although he mostly managed to keep it under control he suspected it was one reason why any further promotion always seemed to be blocked.

  But maybe, just maybe this case would be his salvation. It surely couldn’t be a coincidence that three men had died in similar circumstances in a matter of weeks. And the gambling link looked more and more likely. He hadn’t yet shared the information with his Chief for fear of alerting the other teams, but he couldn’t keep it from him any longer. He was due to meet him that afternoon and would have to come clean then otherwise the withholding of information would be held against him whatever the outcome.

  The only worry was the disappearance of the son. It didn’t fit his preferred solution. They needed to find him and eliminate him from their enquiries if they could. And the sooner the better.

  By lunchtime he had the desired information about Richard Hart. John Grainger and he had worked together for a long time and often shared a pint or two at the Masons’ Arms. It had all started innocently enough with the odd flutter on the horses. Apparently they often used to joke that they would make their fortunes after an outsider won against the odds. John kept his involvement with the odd bet here and there, but Richard became more addicted after a couple of big wins, and as is typical his fortunes oscillated. For a long time he had just enough wins to break even, but then about a year ago, just before his heart attack, he had a really bad run of luck and was down quite badly.

  ‘He said he knew he could turn it round,’ said John. ‘He only needed one win, but it didn’t seem to happen. Then his mate Tony introduced him to some sort of loan shark.’

  ‘Who’s Tony?’ asked the inspector.

  ‘Tony Banks. He lives in Gosforth. He and Richard go way back, and he’d meet up with us in the Masons’. I think they might have gone to school together. Tony’s a bit of a loser, in and out of work, but he always seems to have money.’

  ‘What happened then?’

  ‘Well, it was all right for a while, and Richard started winning again, enough to pay back the first loan anyway. And then he started to gamble a bit more seriously. Now he was winning again he decided to join that new Casino, The Crazy Lady, in town. He and Tony would go there once a week. Shirley didn’t know. She thought they were still going to the Masons’.’

  ‘And did he keep winning?’

  ‘Well, he became a bit more secretive, I suppose. He kept things more to himself, unless he won and then he’d tell us. So, I don’t really know about him losing, but gamblers never win in the long run, do they?’

  ‘You said ‘first loan’. Did he borrow again?’

  ‘I don’t really know. But it’s a mug’s game, isn’t it? He was never going to win enough to stay out of trouble so, yes, I expect he did.’

  ‘Did he talk to anyone else?’

  ‘No, only Tony, I think. He seemed worried that someone would find out and he would lose his job. Quite paranoid at times, he was. And he didn’t want to mess up with Shirley. She didn’t know anything about his gambling. Well, she probably thought he still had the odd flutter on the gee-gees, but she didn’t know about the casino.’

  ‘Did you know he was thinking about retirement?’

  ‘Yes, he told me that. He didn’t think he could afford it, and then a couple of weeks ago, he said he’d come up with something and everything would be all right.’

  ‘He didn’t say what?’

  ‘No, he didn’t.’

  ‘Why didn’t you tell us all this on Saturday?’

  ‘Well, I didn’t think it was connected, and I was a bit shocked what with finding the body and all that. I wasn’t thinking straight. Is that what you think, that there’s a connection?’

  ‘We’re pursuing all lines of enquiry at the moment,’ said the inspector pompously.

  Jenkins could hardly keep the glee out of his voice. It was all starting to come together. And then, to crown it all, Sally Walker phoned.

  ‘Yes, Walker. What have you got?’

  ‘Hi, guv. Mrs Hart has just called in. Josh has been in touch. Apparently he’s been away with a mate to a gig in London. It was all a big secret from his mum, and from everyone else it seems. Richard knew but because Mrs B. would be away for the weekend they decided not to bother her with it. They’ve just got back to his mate’s house and Josh found out about Richard from the local paper.’

  ‘So, why didn’t we know about this mate? I thought we’d checked up on them all?’

  ‘Yes, this wasn’t a regular. It was someone Josh had met through some internet thing.’

  ‘And why didn’t he answer his mobile?’

  ‘He left it at his mate’s house by mistake.’

  ‘Right, well you’d better check it all out, but it looks as thou
gh Josh might be in the clear.’

  ‘Looks that way, guv,’ agreed Sally Walker.

  Jenkins smiled at Todd.

  ‘Right, Todd. We’d better find this Tony Banks, and see what he has to say for himself. You chase him up and get him back to the station while I go and see the Chief.’

  ***

  Chief Inspector Philip Manton was not in a good mood. He had just been hauled over the coals by his Super for failing to meet targets for solving crimes in his area. Targets had suddenly become the main topic of conversation. It was almost as if they were the only thing that mattered. Manton understood that a good clear-up rate was important but sometimes it wasn’t that simple. It wasn’t surprising therefore that when Jenkins arrived in his office his first question was:

  ‘So Jenkins, when will you have this all wrapped up then?’

  ‘Well, sir we’re doing quite well. It seems as though our Mr Hart had a bit of a gambling problem. That coupled with the MO might link it with two more murders in the area.’

  ‘Have you spoken to the other teams to work with them?’

  ‘Not yet, sir,’ admitted Jenkins. ‘I wanted to get a bit further with ours first and then tie theirs in with ours rather than the other way round. That way, we get the credit.’

  ‘Good thinking, Jenkins,’ agreed Manton. ‘It would do us no harm to clear up three murders for the price of one, would it?’

  ‘That was what I thought,’ said Jenkins.

  ‘Right, well you’d better get moving then. If you’ve made the connection they won’t be far behind you. And we can’t keep this quiet for long. And, of course, it goes without saying that if anyone asks I shall deny that you told me anything about a possible connection.’

  ‘Of course, sir,’ said Jenkins.

  Chapter Twelve

  Laura sat back in her chair, and exhaled slowly through her mouth. She had once been told that she should imagine all her bad thoughts being expelled from her body with that breath, and she closed her eyes as she visualised a large black cloud leaving her mouth. Mr Walsh had just gone, and it had been a difficult meeting. It was as if he expected her to take over the enquiry and solve the crime before tomorrow morning. Anything less and she wouldn’t be doing the job she was paid to do, and of course, he made it perfectly plain that her salary came from the fees he and other parents paid, and so of course they could dictate what she did.