He looked at his son, sitting in silence on his bed, lost and confused, and realised that Tom could never find out what his father had offered to do to help Penny Bainbridge.
14
Annie froze. The voice in her ear was carried on warm, moist breath that repulsed her as much as frightened her. She could feel the warm length of the man pressed against her back as he held her tightly against him. There was nobody else here. He could do anything he wanted and there was nobody to stop him. Suddenly the gun wasn’t the thing that Annie feared the most; his body was far more threatening.
‘You’re not going to say a word or make a sound. Nod if you understand.’
Annie nodded, the movement impeded by the gloved hand across her mouth and the metal pressing against her neck.
‘Good. When I remove my hand, I want you to explain what the hell you think you’re doing. Got it?’
She nodded again and gulped in air as soon as her mouth was unobstructed. ‘I was hiding,’ she gasped. ‘I thought, if you believed that I’d escaped, you’d stop looking for me and I could get out and get help for Tom.’
The man’s grip loosened, creating space between their bodies. ‘Who’s Tom?’
‘Tom Cleaver. He’s the head’s son.’
‘Why does he need help?’
The question exposed the man’s identity. He wasn’t the one who’d been in the classroom with them then; he was the one who’d been guarding the door – completely unknown.
‘He got hurt. Stabbed.’
This time the man’s grip loosened completely, and he thrust Annie away from him as though she’d given him an electric shock. She took a couple of stumbling steps forwards and then turned to face her captor. She could only see his eyes and mouth, but she could tell from both that he was stunned by her revelation.
‘How did it happen?’ This time his voice lacked authority. ‘Who stabbed him?’
Why did he want to know? And why was he so shocked? Annie was confused. She thought the men had been communicating and that the one on the door had been the recipient of the various texts that Larry had sent. If this man didn’t know what had been happening in the classroom then who was being texted?
‘It was one of the other students. Him and Tom got into an argument and Harley had a knife. He just… he just stabbed him. That’s why they let me out – I went to the toilets to get some sanitary towels for the bleeding.’
The man nodded as if her story made sense, but she could see his eyes flicking from side to side as he digested the information. ‘But, if you’re worried about Tom, why didn’t you just get the… the sanitary towels and go back?’
The way he stumbled over the reference to sanitary products was odd. There was uncertainty there and he was clearly uncomfortable talking about ‘women’s things’ as Annie’s gran referred to periods. None of this tallied with the dark clothes, the gun and the ski mask. Could she risk telling the truth? So far he’d made no attempt to call for his colleague or to march her back to the classroom although she couldn’t work out what he wanted from her and the possibility of rape was still in the forefront of her mind.
‘He’s not as bad as I thought at first. The bleeding slowed down. It was an excuse to get out of the room and try to get some help.’
The man stared at her, his eyes widening. ‘Well that was fucking stupid.’
‘I know.’ She backed even further away from him and flinched as something struck the back of her legs. A chair. She’d half expected it to be the other man, the one she’d escaped from in the toilets. More by instinct than judgement she sat down to give her trembling legs a break and was surprised when the man hitched himself up onto a desk to sit opposite her.
‘I need to know who else is in that classroom,’ he said. ‘You’ve mentioned Tom Cleaver and this other student who stabbed him. Who else? Which teacher?’
‘Miss Frith,’ Annie said.
‘Donna?’
‘You know her? Is this all because of her?’
‘Is she okay? She’s not been hurt?’ The man ignored her question, battering her with ones of his own.
‘She seemed fine,’ Annie said. ‘Worried, but she’s not been physically hurt. Tom’s the only one–’
‘Thank God for that.’ The man sighed. He hunched forward slightly, resting the butt of his rifle on the floor and using it to prop himself up as though he were suddenly exhausted. Annie watched him closely, trying to assess whether she could cover the short distance to the classroom door before he could raise his gun.
He looked down at her. ‘Thinking of making a run for it?’ He barely sounded interested. ‘Be my guest.’ He held out one arm, gesturing grandly towards the door. ‘Doubt you’d get far though.’
Annie eyed him, suspicious. ‘How come?’
‘My “colleague” will be back in a few minutes. He’s convinced you’re still in the building.’
Annie suddenly realised the implication. ‘You knew, didn’t you? You knew I hadn’t escaped.’
He nodded. ‘I heard something shifting in the cupboard. I came in here first and heard something that sounded like somebody trying to move position in there.’ He flicked his eyes towards the door of the cupboard. I knew if I waited long enough that you’d have to come out. I told the other one that I was going to look upstairs but, after he’d gone, I just waited by the door. And out you came like a tortoise out of hibernation.’
