‘So, ask him.’
‘Chas is doing that now, hang on.’
Penny heard a muffled conversation, then shouting which sounded like ‘Find it!’ before Mike came back on the line.
‘He says he hasn’t seen it. Says there was no phone when he found the kid. She might be lying but then where did the texts come from?’
‘Have you checked that she hasn’t still got the phone? Have you searched her – I thought that would be the obvious course of action, and one you’d enjoy.’
‘I can’t do that. I need you to come over here, now.’
Bloody incompetent, Penny thought. How hard would it be for him to check whether the girl still had the phone and, if she did, check its contents.
‘Look, I’m on my way. Find out if she’s still got the phone before I get there. Use force if you have to. Make the silly cow see sense.’
‘Okay,’ Mike responded, his tone suddenly much more cheerful. ‘If I have your permission. I think you should know something though.’
Penny knew even before he said the words.
‘The girl with the phone is your daughter.’
27
Cam watched Pearson as he paced the room, desperately trying to work out what he could say to get the man to free his hands.
‘Why don’t you just tell me what you want?’ Cam said again. ‘If it’s money I can arrange something. If you want me to say sorry for the way I treated Chrissie then I am, I am genuinely sorry.’ He was lying. Getting money wasn’t too difficult, but he hadn’t done anything to drive his wife into the arms of another man and, if anybody thought he had, he’d willingly put them straight when this ordeal was over.
Pearson walked back to Cam’s desk and stood behind his chair, out of sight. ‘Nice chair,’ Pearson said. ‘Comfy. Must’ve cost quite a bit.’
It had. Nearly £1,000 from school funds to ergonomically support Cam’s back. Cam stayed quiet. Something had changed, the man’s demeanour was subtly different.
‘You want to know what I want?’
Cam nodded. Pearson moved back to the seat opposite and his eyes drifted to the window and softened as though he were remembering something fondly. ‘I want to kill you,’ the man said, his expression unaltered by the brutality of his words. ‘I’ve wanted to kill you for years.’
Cam strained helplessly against the plastic ties that kept him bound to his desk. He’d thought this was about Chrissie but it wasn’t, and it wasn’t just about the money. There was something far more sinister going on; something personal.
‘I never thought I’d get a chance like this, especially after Chrissie died, but it’s amazing what people will do for their family.’
He wasn’t making sense. Who was he talking about? Cam had no idea, but he did know that he had to keep the man talking; his pistol was tucked in his belt and Cam was starting to think that he might really use it. Cam needed to use the one weapon at his disposal; his voice. ‘I don’t understand,’ he said. ‘You’re doing this for your family? What does that mean?’
Pearson smiled, his eyes still focused on something he could see out of the window. ‘No. If anything I’m doing it for your family, what’s left of it.’
Tom? Did this have something to do with Tom?
‘I’ve only got my son. You’re doing this for him?’
‘Not for him exactly, but he’ll benefit – in the long run. He’ll never make anything of his life with you holding him back.’
‘I–’
‘Oh, I know. You’re father of the fucking year, you’d never do anything to hurt your son, blah, blah, blah. What if you’re hurting him just by being his father? Or just by being alive?’
Cam was struggling. This wasn’t the same man who’d taken charge in a crisis, who’d given orders and expected to be listened to, this was somebody who was unhinged. The way he kept staring out of the window with that odd, wistful look on his face, the cryptic comments. Something was seriously wrong here.
‘You really don’t know who I am?’ Pearson turned and locked eyes with Cam – a challenge. Cam studied the face, the dark eyes beneath heavy brows; the strong jawline with the shadow of his facial hair clearly defined even at this early hour. Was there something familiar? He wasn’t sure, and he wasn’t sure whether to be truthful. If he denied all knowledge of the man, would that be better or worse? He decided to try honesty. ‘I have no idea who you are. Do you have children at this school?’
Pearson snorted, obviously finding this highly amusing or ironic. ‘If I had kids, I wouldn’t allow them within ten miles of you. You must have told some lies to get where you are. I remember you, Cameron Cleaver. I remember you very clearly. You haunted my nightmares for years and I’ve waited a long time to put those ghosts to rest.’
‘So why not come after me? Why drag the school into this?’
Pearson stood up and stretched his arms out. ‘This is you. You are the school. It was a dump before you took over and you’ve turned it around – with some help admittedly, but it’s your name on the headed notepaper, your name on the sign at the gates. I don’t just want to destroy you, Cam, I want to destroy everything you’ve created. I want your reputation. How many parents will want their children to come here after they know what you’ve done? How you’ve squandered school funds and failed to stop an armed raid on the school? You think they’ll be putting Fellbeck as their first choice after this?’
School funds? The money that Penny had asked him for. Was that part of this? It was still in his account because she’d asked him to hold on to it for another week. She’d been in his office earlier, checking something. Was she
