gone with him, shouldn’t I? If I had…’
She trails off, upset.
‘Which floor is Adam’s classroom on?’ Sarah asks.
‘The second. But it’s the other side of the hallway from the Art room. That’s where they said the fire started, isn’t it? I mean, it’s on the second floor too, but not close.’
She seems young and not terribly convincing as she tries to help Adam.
‘So you were in the office, while Adam went to his classroom?’ Sarah prompts.
‘Yes. Annette was in there and she chatted to me about something silly. As per usual. And then the alarm went off. It was really loud. I went out of the office, calling for Adam. And then I heard Mum calling for me.’
‘So you were with Annette in the office when the alarm went off?’
‘Yes.’
Sarah must be crossing people off her list of suspects. The office is two floors beneath the Art room. Neither Rowena nor Annette could be the witness who supposedly saw Adam. And neither of them could have started the fire. Though I can’t imagine Annette – let alone Rowena – as an arsonist.
‘I saw Adam running out of the school,’ Rowena continues. ‘Mum told me to go outside with Addie and then she went to help with the reception children.’
‘Do you remember if Adam was holding anything?’
‘No. I’m sure he wasn’t. I’d have noticed. Do you want me to tell someone that? Is it important?’
Sarah shakes her head. Presumably because DI Baker would say that Adam could easily have discarded the matches by then.
‘Did you see anyone else?’ Sarah asks.
‘I’m not sure. I mean, I wasn’t looking. I think I might have done. It was only a glimpse. I’m sorry, that’s not helpful at all, but I can’t remember any more.’
‘If you do-’
‘Yes, of course. I’ll tell the police. Straight away. I am trying to remember but the more I try and think about it, the fainter it becomes until I’m not sure if I saw anyone at all and just imagined it.’
‘OK,’ Sarah says. ‘So you went outside to join Adam. Can you tell me what happened then?’
‘He was panicking, looking for Jenny. He said that she wasn’t out at sports day. When I saw Annette come out, I asked her if she’d brought the office register. You know the book where you sign in and out? But she hadn’t. She said it was OK because there was no one else in the building. I asked her if she was sure and she said that she was. The fire was really bad by then. I mean, there’d been this big bang, and loads more smoke and flames.’ She looks upset. ‘I never even thought that Jenny might still be in there.’
‘Because Annette said everyone was out?’
‘Not just that. I wouldn’t have thought she was still up there in any case. I mean, I don’t know her well, never have actually, which is silly really when we were at school together, but I’d have thought she’d gone outside. I mean, it must have been broiling up there and it was such a beautiful afternoon. Well, I don’t think anyone would have expected her to sit in the medical room all afternoon in the baking heat. But she did.’
Was it because I’d implied she wasn’t responsible enough to be school nurse?
‘Then Adam saw his mother running into the building shouting for Jenny,’ Rowena continues. ‘He tried to go after her. I had to stop him. It was awful.’
‘And that’s when you went in?’
She nods. Sarah seems about to say something else then sees the awkwardness in Rowena’s face.
‘Before you went in, when you were still outside on the gravel with Adam, do you remember how long it was until Annette came out to join you?’
‘I suppose, yes, she wasn’t there straight away. I mean, I remember Mum helping Tilly, the reception teacher, and I was with Addie. I suppose if I had to guess, it would be a few minutes.’
‘Your mum said she had lipstick on.’
‘I don’t remember that. Is it important?’
‘It’s a little odd to put on lipstick,’ Sarah says, ‘in the circumstances, don’t you think?’
I think she’s confiding in Rowena to win her trust a little so that Rowena will confide more in return. Maybe she’s sensed Rowena is keeping something from her.
‘I don’t know if it’s odd,’ Rowena says stiffly. ‘And I didn’t notice. I’m not much good at things like make-up, actually.’
She’s so awkward and I feel for her. I bumped into her and Maisie in Westfield a couple of months ago. Her clothes were dowdy and despite being spotty she had no make-up on. I thought she was a plain girl who wasn’t helping herself look prettier. I’d hoped that Maisie was going to try and get her some nice clothes or make-up. I wince as I remember how superficial I was about appearances.
‘You said you were Adam’s classroom assistant last summer,’ Sarah says. ‘Does that mean you were assisting Silas Hyman?’
‘No. Addie was still in year two then. Mr Hyman teaches year three.’
‘Did you get to know him?’
Rowena shakes her head. ‘He wouldn’t have talked to someone like me. Wouldn’t have noticed me.’
‘But you noticed him?’
‘Well, he’s very good-looking, isn’t he?’
‘What did you think of him?’
Rowena hesitates a moment, then looks away from Sarah. ‘I thought he could be violent.’
‘Was that because of what he said at the prize-giving?’
‘I wasn’t at the prize-giving.’
‘So what made you think that?’
I think it’s the years of violence by her father, which makes her more perceptive to viciousness – like bruised skin being more sensitive to touch.
‘I used to watch him sometimes,’ Rowena says. ‘It was easy because he never looked at me so he didn’t notice me watching him.’
‘You saw through him?’
‘I don’t think it’s like that, like he’s hiding the real person inside. More like he’s two different people.’
‘One good, one bad?’
‘I know it sounds strange, silly, but if you read about it, I mean literature going way back when, it’s something that’s been happening for centuries. You know morality tales in the Middle Ages, the good angel and the devil? And the Jacobean plays with fighting for someone’s soul. It’s not the person’s
Was she talking about Silas Hyman or her father? She wasn’t doing English for A level so must have scoured books looking for something to make sense of it all – to make things better. Because if there is a devil and an angel in her father, then one day the devil can be banished and the angel will win out and her dad will love her.
‘You said to me that you weren’t really thinking,’ Sarah says. ‘When you went into the school.’
‘That’s right.’
‘You were thinking enough to get a towel and soak it in water.’
‘I should have taken three, shouldn’t I? And I didn’t do any good. Didn’t help.’ She starts to cry. ‘Sorry. Being a twit.’
The same word that Maisie uses about herself; a middle-aged, self-denigrating word.
‘Don’t say that, please don’t,’ I say to her. ‘It’s not a word that any teenager should use. Especially not you. You went into a burning building, for God’s sake.’
‘Mum?’
I see Jenny has come in.
‘She did. And don’t tell me it was all about Donald, and some wish to make her father proud.’
‘OK…’
‘You’re not a victim, Rowena, you listen to me! You’re
