‘Two minutes,’ he said, walking back to the door. ‘I’ll be outside. If you’re not done when I shout, I’ll come and get you, finished or not.’
The door closed behind him and Annie allowed herself a couple of deep breaths, thanking a God she’d never believed in that Mo wasn’t overly bright or observant. Keeping the exit in view, Annie tiptoed towards the cleaners’ cupboard and turned the door handle hoping that it didn’t make too much noise. Silently she stepped inside the cramped space, made smaller by the two buckets on the floor and the mops leaning against one wall. Overalls hung from hooks to her left and a sink with a grate covering it lurked at knee height, waiting to catch her legs and trip her up.
What Mo hadn’t noticed was that the back wall of this cupboard wasn’t a wall at all. It was a door. The handle had probably been out of his line of view and it was painted dark blue so he might not have even considered that he was looking at a second exit. Annie knew that it had been constructed in this way to allow male cleaning staff access without having to go through the girls’ toilets, even though the school currently had no male cleaning staff. The outer door opened around the corner from the main entrance to the humanities block, out of sight of the door. If she could get out and hide somewhere the men couldn’t find her, she might be able to escape if they stopped looking or, if she could lock a classroom door behind her and find a window, she might be able to get away and find help for her friends. At least she’d be able to tell the police how many men were in the block, how they were armed and exactly where they were.
Heart thumping, she grasped the handle of the cupboard’s outer door and pressed down on it. What if it was locked? What if one of the men had spotted it and was waiting in the corridor outside?
The latch clicked quietly and then the door opened.
Annie took a deep breath and stuck her head out into the corridor anticipating a yell or a rough hand on her neck. Nothing. They didn’t know. Just twenty feet away the corridor turned ninety degrees and the men would be standing waiting for her. Twenty feet, but they couldn’t see her. Annie stepped out and almost doubled over with fear and indecision. Should she close the door? Did it matter if they knew how she’d escaped? Listening intently, she could hear them talking in hushed tones and then one of them laughed and she used the noise to cover the sound of the door closing.
Back against the wall, she crab-walked to the next corner and slid round. There was only one room here, a large geography room, and then a dead end. Annie had been taught here all the way through years ten and eleven. She knew the layout of the room and she knew that the windows only opened a few inches because she’d been among the students who’d complained vehemently during baking summer months when the room had felt like a greenhouse. The senior leadership team had responded by having air conditioning installed which had been a huge improvement but, before the aircon, one of her friends had taught her the trick to opening the windows further. The point of a pair of compasses could be inserted into a tiny hole in each hinge to release the locking mechanism. The problem was that Annie didn’t have a pair of compasses or time to look for them.
At the back of the room was a store cupboard where Mr Tillotson kept spare paper, his DVD collection and a range of textbooks. The cupboard was generally kept propped open so students could help themselves to whatever was required for the lesson and Annie could see that the teacher had found time to unlock it at the start of the day. She crept inside, kicking away the wedge of rubber that propped the door open and groped for the lock. When the door had been installed it had been fitted with a latch that could be turned from the inside, locking the occupant in. Numerous boys of various ages had found it entertaining to hide inside and pop out when a teacher unlocked it to get supplies. She assumed that was why the teacher kept it propped open.
Hopefully, if the men searched and couldn’t find her, they might assume she’d managed to sneak out. Once they’d looked in this room and left, she could find something with a sharp point, free the window hinges and seek help.
Desperately trying to control her breathing, Annie flipped the latch and sank to the floor with her back against the door. Despite their recent arguments and recriminations, how she wished she had her mobile and could call her mum.
Before
‘Why him though?’ Annie had yelled as soon as Cam Cleaver had left the house. ‘Of all the men in the world why did you have to shag Tom’s dad?’
‘Annie! Watch your mouth. Mr Cleaver and I are in a relationship. We’ve been seeing each other for a few months.’
‘So why the secrecy? Why wait until I was away to invite him round?’
The look her mum gave her was familiar. Annie had seen her use it on new year sevens who’d dared to step out of line so early in their Fellbeck careers. Half disbelief and half disappointment.
‘This is why. I knew you’d overreact so I wanted to wait and tell you properly when Cam and
