‘I’m waiting for Cam to sort out the bus companies so we can let the students go home. We haven’t told the kids what’s going on – I just hinted at a water leak and left it at that.’
Natalie wished she could make notes – what Raynor was telling her was possibly the best story of her career so far but it would be counter-productive to record him now that the teacher seemed willing to talk. ‘And the students are all in the theatre?’
Raynor nodded. ‘The police were called as soon as Cam knew what was going on.’
‘So the police are on site?’
The teacher nodded. ‘There was a detective inspector there before I left. Sounds like they got there pretty quickly. I think he was waiting for specialists from Kendal.’
So there had been little point in Natalie calling Kit after all – he’d only confirm what Raynor had just told her. But why hadn’t she seen police vehicles in the school car park? There hadn’t been even one marked car and nothing that suggested a specialist team.
‘How are the students? I bet they’re excited to be out of school for the day.’
Raynor gave her a genuine smile. ‘Of course. It’s an extra day’s holiday. Not quite Christmas come early but not far off. One or two have started texting their parents because I told them that they’re not going back today – they’re all just waiting for the buses to arrive.’
‘And will you go back – to see what’s happening at the school?’
Raynor seemed to give it some thought. ‘My car’s there. In fact, most of the staff will have cars there – so I suppose we’ll all have to go back once the police sort it out. I expect the place will be crawling with police cars and probably journalists by now.’
He’d obviously either not listened to Natalie’s account of her visit to the school or he’d forgotten.
‘There’s nobody there,’ she said again. ‘I couldn’t see any police cars. No vans, no reporters.’
Raynor frowned and checked his watch. ‘It’s still early. If they’re coming up from Kendal it’ll take a while. At least there are a couple of them on site – they’ll know what they’re doing.’ His words were convincing, but Natalie could read the doubt in his eyes. ‘And it’s winter. There’s always some sort of delay on the M6 – even the police wouldn’t be able to get through quickly if there was an accident or something.’ Raynor’s voice was quieter, almost as though he were talking to himself.
She was about to suggest that something might have gone wrong when her phone rang. Kit Pierce. She listened to what he’d found on the police computer system, thanked him and hung up.
‘That was somebody from the local police,’ she said. ‘He’s just searched their computer system for me.’
Raynor nodded for her to continue.
‘Mr Raynor, there’s no log of a call from Fellbeck Academy to Cumbria police this morning. There’s nothing from the last week. Whoever’s taken charge there, it’s definitely not the police.’
21
Harley kept his eyes lowered. He thought he must have been in shock for a while as he couldn’t remember much after stabbing Tom. Shit, he’d stabbed Tom Cleaver. Of all the people in the class he’d had to attack the head’s son. He knew that the repercussions would be bad, really bad, but something had happened while he’d been sitting with his back to most of the students. Harley could feel the weight of their eyes on him, their judgement and their fear, and he hated it. He’d genuinely believed that he wanted to be different; to be the sort of man that people respected and feared but he knew now that other people’s fear wasn’t sustaining – it was suffocating, stifling. These people didn’t have any respect for him because he’d wielded a knife, they had only contempt. That’s why Harley couldn’t look at anybody in the room.
He’d been an idiot – all that parading round while he was collecting the phones – and then pulling a knife on Tom. He thought he’d impress the masked men, that maybe they’d see a kindred spirit and he could be like them. Now, he didn’t want to be like them, he just wanted to go back to a time when he thought he knew who he was, when he was happy and safe.
He wasn’t sure why he’d done it. Was it bravado? If he was brutally honest with himself it was just selfishness. He’d taken all the other phones but, when he realised that nobody had noticed that his own wasn’t amongst them, he decided to keep quiet about the iPhone in his pocket. If one of the men had challenged him, he would have just said he’d forgotten all about it and handed it over. They just hadn’t noticed.
Then things had got out of hand. One minute he’d been squaring up to Cleaver and the next Tom had been lying on the floor bleeding. He hadn’t meant to stab him – he was just sick of him and his superior attitude about everything.
Harley risked a quick glance at what was happening in the room. No change. Miss Frith was still at her desk, looking paler by the minute. He’d admired the way she’d stood up for Tom and had insisted that the men get some first aid supplies sent over. But her reaction to the fourth man, the one who’d brought Annie back, was just weird. Who the hell was he to her? He risked a quick look at the man near the window, the one in charge. He looked a bit lost, his eyes were all over the place like he didn’t know what to do next
