As Adam finished what he was saying, Ms Halford abruptly looked away to focus her attention on the entrance to the room.
“Dmitry,” she said with a firm voice, “what are you doing over there?”
“Sorry to disturb your conversation,” said the ghost, “I had no intention of doing such a thing.”
Adam took a moment to look Dmitry up and down, taking in the sight of the young man - with his youthful but badly scarred face, thin frame and transparent body - who was stuck forever in the tatty black shirt he had perished in following a motorcycle accident. They both knew - as did almost everyone who had spent any amount of time working at the school - that Dmitry was the ears of the deputy and that he had probably heard more of their conversation than either would be comfortable with.
“Be that as it may,” added Adam, “as you have disturbed us, you might as well tell us why you’re here.”
“Of course, Adam. You don’t need to worry about that. I’m just making the rounds to say that the teachers don’t need to worry about having to look for the boy anymore.”
“Has someone found him?” asked Ms Halford.
“Sorry Ms H, no. It’s just that the deputy’s pulled the teachers off the search.”
“But what about the boy?”
“No need to worry, the deputy’s got it sorted. He’s got someone from outside looking into it and so things around here can just get back to normal. I think he was going to send in a couple of the teachers as well but decided against it. He feared this might not just scare the locals, but that the staff might end up using the wrong words and do nothing but ensure that the boy never comes back again.”
Dmitri regarded the two teachers for a moment and gently fought with himself to prevent a smile from curling across his lips.
“Well, now that you know, I’ve got to go. No rest for the living dead.”
Adam and Ms Halford looked at each other and waited in silence until Adam took the initiative to walk over to the door to check whether Dmitri was still in the corridor outside.
“That little shit!”
“Adam!”
“Oh, I don’t care. How dare the deputy use that boy to keep tabs on us, and any of the other teachers and students for that matter. What’s just as perverse is that all the deputy will have done is to send his hacks and another bunch of inexperienced ex-students to do a job they have no idea how to do so he can keep everyone where he, and he alone, wants them. Sometimes I despair for this school.”
Ms Halford came up to Adam’s side. She wished she once again consisted of something more than what she had become so she could reach out to console the man with more than just her words and the transparent shadow of her presence. She told herself that she would just have to make do.
“I know, Adam,” she said. “I know.”
***
The Blue Bell Inn, which was situated just beyond the dirt-spattered welcome sign for Caldborough, had shut like so many of the pubs of the town during some time in the recent past. Though it had not been such a long time since the place had last closed its doors, the loss of its own sign of a dark blue bell; the untendered flower baskets and the algae that was growing across the wooden sheets that boarded up the windows all made it seem as if the place had been closed for decades. It was true that the place was not entirely out of use as the owner - who had been trying to get someone to buy the property for some time, even if it meant tearing the old building down – had come up with a plan to charge people to use the ample gravel covered car park behind the pub. But even the car park was rarely used.
It was here that Amanda pulled up in her little Clio and, after rummaging around in her boot to find her anorak, started her journey to the centre of Caldborough to find Brenden. The sheets of soft rain that Amanda had to walk through to get to the town made the short walk seem all the longer and only contributed further to a frustration that was building up inside her as she pondered over why the deputy had not just sent someone, even if it was just another student, into the town to look for the boy in her stead. When she reached the shops that had once been the commercial heart of the little town - the main elements of which were now situated in a shopping centre near the exit to the closest dual carriageway - she finally decided she had had enough. She stationed herself under a grand Victorian glazed canopy that hung over the frontage of a pound shop and then called the deputy once more to find out what, if anything, had happened in the search for Brenden while she had been on her way to Caldborough. She also called in the hope that as her mood was starting to turn foul, she would have the courage to tell the deputy what she thought of his plan for her to trek halfway across the country to do something the man could have done himself in half an hour.
After getting through to
