‘I know. I thought it didn’t seem like much. Pearson seems to think they might be testing us to see if we’re willing to find the money. If we’re willing to find half a million then why not a million, or two?’
That didn’t seem right. ‘I thought the point of negotiating was to start high and come down?’
Penny sighed and ran a hand through her hair. ‘Maybe ransom demands are different? Who knows? Pearson didn’t seem to find it odd.’
‘So, what do you want me to do?’
Penny looked embarrassed. ‘Do you have access to the school accounts? I know Cam does, and the bursar but she’s been evacuated and Cam’s helping the detective. He said to find you and ask you to help.’
‘Why can’t you do it?’ Ruth asked.
‘I don’t have access,’ Penny said, revealing the reason for her embarrassment. ‘When we moved to academy status, Cam wanted as few people as possible to be able to see the accounts. He said it was because the files also had details of salaries and allowances. We argued about it, but he wouldn’t give in.’
It sounded just like Cam, Ruth thought. Control, control, control. And he wouldn’t want the other staff to know about his five per cent pay rise when they’d only been given two per cent. She was surprised that he’d not withdrawn her access to the files, but he’d never had reason to question her loyalty and she did have some responsibility for monitoring the pay of support staff.
‘Can you not ring the chair of governors? It’s really her call.’
Penny grimaced. ‘I could but I’d have to tell her why and I don’t want to risk any information about our situation leaking out before the police have assessed what’s going on.’
It made sense. The fewer people who knew about the masked men in the humanities block the better, for now. Ruth was willing to access the accounts as long as she didn’t have to make any decisions about moving money. She explained this to Penny who reassured her that this was simply an initial assessment of school funds to see if there was sufficient to meet the half million demand – if the police decided that it was appropriate for the ransom to be met.
‘We can go to my office,’ Penny said, standing up. ‘It’ll only take a minute.’
Ruth mutely followed the deputy head upstairs and through the corridors, the silent classrooms oppressive and strangely sinister.
‘Here we go.’ Penny ushered Ruth inside and gestured to the desk. ‘If you just log on to my laptop – that’s probably the quickest way.’
Ruth hesitated, trying to work out if she was being asked to do something that went against the best interests of the school. What could Penny gain from this? Nothing as far as Ruth could see but it still felt like she was doing something underhanded.
‘Can we use my computer in reception instead?’ she asked.
Penny sighed. ‘Of course. I just don’t want to waste any more time. I don’t want to see the figures, Ruth, all I want is a simple yes or no. Is there enough in the school’s main account to pay a ransom if it should come to that. I can leave the room if it’d make you feel more comfortable.’
She was being ridiculous. This was Penny, a woman she’d known for years. Ruth looked round the office, noting the contrast to Cam’s. Here there were no high-tech devices, no images of exotic holiday destinations, no mirror on the back of the door. Penny’s office walls were plastered with rotas and safeguarding reminders, coffee was instant and the kettle next to the jar had seen better days. The only concession to her personal life was a small photograph of Annie on the desk.
‘Okay, I’ll have a look. There’s no need for you to go.’
She sat at Penny’s desk and entered her details into the home screen of the laptop. Navigating through her files she found the link to financial information and logged on through the portal that Cam had set up for her.
‘Nearly there,’ she said to Penny as she waited for the information to load. Watching as a row of file names appeared on the screen, Ruth checked for any anomalies, but everything appeared to be in order. She clicked on the link to the main account for the day-to-day running of the school and scrolled to the bottom to assess how much money was in the account.
‘It looks like there might not be enough,’ she said, eyes scanning the rows of figures. ‘It’s not quite where I’d expect things to be at this stage in the school year.’
‘In what way?’ Penny asked from the doorway, the woman was obviously determined to keep her word about not looking.
‘There’s a huge payment been authorised but it’s not clear where it went.’
‘How much?’
‘£200,000.’ Ruth stared at the transaction, willing it to make sense. What would have warranted such an expense?
‘Where did it go?’
There was no recipient name, just an account number. ‘I don’t know.’ The hairs on the back of Ruth’s neck were starting to tingle – something was seriously wrong.
Penny took a step closer to the desk. ‘Can you find out who authorised the payment?’
Ruth clicked another link, then another, her sense of disbelief building with each new piece of information. ‘It looks like Mr Cleaver authorised it, but I still can’t find out where it went.’
‘Can you click on the account number it was paid to? That sometimes works.’
Ruth shook her head. ‘This is just a record of the account, it’s not live. Only Cam and the bursar have access to live information.’
Penny had obviously decided that there was no more need to keep her distance as she leaned over Ruth’s shoulder to stare at the screen. ‘That one there?’ she asked, pointing to the mysterious transaction.
Ruth nodded.
‘And only Cam and Jennifer have the ability and the authority
