Toxic Justice, page 4
part #18 of DI Lorne Simpkins Series
Paul shrugged. “Who knows? Jonathon wouldn’t have told us if he’d been attacked.”
“How did you know about the incidents that happened at school then?” Lorne queried.
“His sister told us. He swore her to secrecy. Said that if she told either me or his mother he’d never speak to her again. Gracie is beside herself, riddled with guilt. So much so that we’re concerned whether she might do the same thing.”
Lorne’s heart sank. “Do you think Gracie would benefit from counselling?”
“We’re delving into that now. We’re doing all we can not to fail her like we did Jonathon,” Paul replied glumly.
“Please, you mustn’t think that. You didn’t fail your son. Jonathon was in a desperate situation that he chose to hide from you. Seek counselling swiftly for Gracie would be my advice from my experience. Otherwise, things could fester and become worse quickly. I can see how much you love your children. Sometimes, kids don’t appreciate how much you love them in times of need. It might take an outsider to drill that home to her. Worth considering anyway. Was there anything else you can think of that we should know?”
“Thank you for your kind words. I think we’ve told you everything that we think you’ll possibly find useful.”
“Okay, in that case, we’ll see ourselves out and head over to Trinity school to see what the headmistress has to say. Would you mind telling me her name?”
“Mrs Lowe.” Paul smiled at his wife and left his seat. He showed Lorne and Katy to the front door and shook their hands. “Please, I’m aware how difficult this is going to be for you, but I’m begging you, don’t let Jonathon’s death be a waste. Please, please find out who is responsible for the pain and suffering they forced upon my son. I’m praying that no other parent will have to live through what we’re having to deal with at this moment in time.”
“You have my word. You have one of the best teams in the Met behind you on this, I promise.”
“That’s a relief to know. Will you keep us informed?”
“I will, don’t worry. Take care of yourself, your wife and especially your daughter, Mr Giles.”
“I will. Thank you again, Inspector, both of you. It’s been a pleasure meeting you.”
“Likewise. I’ll be in touch soon.”
Lorne and Katy made their way back to the car. “I have a confession to make,” Katy said across the roof of the car before they slipped inside.
“What’s that?” Lorne inserted the key in the ignition.
“I’ve changed my mind. I seriously doubted our involvement in the case first thing this morning. After listening to Paul and his wife, I’m damn well seething that this should have been allowed to happen and no one did a bloody thing to prevent it. You might have to restrain me when we meet the headmistress.”
Lorne chuckled. “I was going to say the same to you. I can’t wait to hear what the woman has to say. I hope I can keep my temper in check long enough to get the truth out of her.”
Chapter 3
When they pulled into the school car park, the playground was noisy and a hive of activity. “Whoopie do, the kids are on a break. Nothing worse than prying eyes watching our every move when we enter somewhere,” Lorne announced, anxiously.
Katy nodded. “Do you want to sit it out in the car for a few minutes before we go in there?”
“Nah, they won’t put me off seeking the truth. Let’s get this over with.”
They exited the car, and Katy waited for Lorne to join her. Together they walked across the car park and entered the main doorway. The school had been around for years, built in 1920 according to the date stone above the entrance. Pieces of art created by the talented pupils lined the walls in the hallway, some better than others. Some darker in content than others, too.
They followed a sign pointing to the reception area and passed several groups of children along the way. Most of the pupils studied them with intense curiosity while a few of the others gave them the evil eye that had Lorne passed them in the street, she would have read them the riot act. When Charlie was in her teens, she used to hang around with a nasty gang which Lorne took pleasure ripping into at times. Of course, after her encounter with The Unicorn, Charlie’s demeanour altered entirely. Lorne remembered getting her ‘little girl’ back after she was rescued. They hadn’t looked back since.
“Ever get the impression you’re being watched?” Katy said out of the corner of her mouth.
“All the bloody time. Are all kids downright evil nowadays?”
Katy chuckled. “I bloody well hope not. I bet Georgina is a saint compared to some of these.”
“Crikey, that’s saying something.” Lorne pushed open the half-glazed door that led into a large reception area. Two ladies were sitting at their desks behind the counter. She showed her ID to the older brunette lady who approached the counter.
The woman smiled warmly, displaying glossy white teeth. “Hello, how can I help you, ladies?”
“I’m DI Warner, and this is my partner DS Foster. We’d like to see the headmistress, if she’s available.”
“May I ask what your visit is in connection with, Inspector?”
“Jonathon Giles.”
The woman’s smile dropped. “Of course. A very sad case indeed. Would you like to take a seat? I’ll see if Mrs Lowe has time to see you. I know she has a busy schedule today. I won’t be long.”
“Thanks. If you wouldn’t mind enforcing how important our visit is, I’d appreciate it.”
“Of course.” The woman lifted the hatch in the counter and squeezed through the gap then disappeared into a room a few feet away. She emerged minutes later, her cheeks crimson. “Mrs Lowe has ten minutes to spare at present, if you’d like to come with me.”
“That’s okay. I think we can find our way.” Lorne dismissed the woman with a beaming smile and strode the few paces towards the headmistress’s office with Katy close behind her. She inhaled a large breath and let it out slowly, then she knocked on the door.
“Come in,” an abrupt voice called out.
Lorne and Katy entered the room which was dominated by a couple of bookcases stacked full of reference books. Lorne noted a few framed awards on the wall behind the headmistress. She walked towards the desk and offered her hand. “DI Lorne Warner, and my partner DS Katy Foster. It’s good of you to see us at such short notice, considering your busy schedule, Mrs Lowe.”
“Won’t you take a seat? You’re aware I haven’t got long? I’ll do my best to answer any questions you have before I have to leave for a meeting that I can’t possibly rearrange at short notice.”
Although Mrs Lowe, who was in her fifties, smiled, her eyes held a note of defiance in them that didn’t go unnoticed by Lorne. “We’re aware.”
“Now, tell me, how can I help you in this unfortunate case?” Mrs Lowe clenched her hands on the desk and placed her shoulders back against her chair.
“You can tell us what you know about the bullying Jonathon suffered at school.”
Katy withdrew her notebook from her pocket and put it on the desk. She flipped it open to a clean page.
“Not a lot to be honest with you. Let me get his file.” Mrs Lowe left her seat and returned after she’d retrieved a green file from the cabinet at the side of the room. She settled herself back in her chair and flipped the cover open. “We were aware of a few incidents that we acted upon.”
“Was that when some of the pupils dropped worms in Jonathon’s dinner and the time some of the pupils went on to shove Jonathon’s head down the toilet?”
Mrs Lowe’s gaze narrowed when she glanced up from the file. It was followed quickly by a taut smile. “Yes. I see you’re already aware of the incidents.”
“Of course. We’ve been with Jonathon’s parents all morning. As you can imagine, they’re heartbroken beyond words and desperately seeking answers as to why their son killed himself.” Lorne’s choice of words was deliberate to spark a reaction from the headmistress.
“I assure you, we’re all eager to learn where we failed Jonathon at such a distressing time in his young life.”
“I’m glad to hear that. Tell me, how many children at this school have taken their own lives in the past five years, any idea?”
Mrs Lowe seemed taken aback by the question and hesitated a while before she replied, “Of course, I would need to check out the figures, but off the top of my head I have to tell you for the size of the school I don’t think it’s that many.”
“A rough guess will do for now,” Lorne pressed, staring at the headmistress.
“To my recollection, I believe the figure is around eight.”
“How many pupils are there at this school?”
“Two thousand four hundred,” she replied without pausing.
“And how many of those suicides can be attributed to bullying?”
“I’m not sure what you’re insinuating, Inspector?”
Lorne shrugged. “I wasn’t insinuating anything, Mrs Lowe. I was merely asking for the details pertaining to those deaths.”
“I see. I can’t really answer, not with any clarity. In my opinion, children commit suicide for a number of reasons. It doesn’t always point to them being bullied.”
“Really? I’m keen to know what other reasons there are for a happy child to take their own lives, if you’d care to enlighten me?”
“Well, stress for one thing. Some children find taking exams a very stressful period in their young lives and it’s often the cause for them killing themselves.”
“Okay, I can accept that in some situations. Stress is a well-known killer amongst adults, so it follows that kids could be affected as well. However, I can’t see that being the main reason in most cases. Therefore, I’m searching and struggling, I have to say, for other reasons a child might be driven to such depths as to end their lives. Feel free to fill me in.”
Mrs Lowe frowned deeply, and her chest inflated and deflated rapidly. “I’m not sure I care for your tone, Inspector. I’m afraid I don’t have all the answers. You’d be better off speaking to each of the children’s parents to see what the underlying reason was as to why they committed suicide.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll be doing that over the coming week. Going back to the incidents that happened to Jonathon on your premises, I’d like to know what you did about those incidents.”
Mrs Lowe straightened her back in her chair once more. “I questioned Jonathon about the issues, and he told me that he didn’t want to take things further. Therefore, I could do nothing about the problem.”
“Did he give a reason why? Could he have been in fear of his life? Had you even considered that?”
“Are you accusing me of something here, Inspector? Do you have children of your own?”
“Yes, I have a child, not sure what that has to do with anything.”
Mrs Lowe inhaled a deep breath. “My point is that children seldom speak out about these things. I brought Jonathon in this office a few times to try and get some details out of him. He refused to reveal any names. I’m sure you’re aware as much as I am what a problem that presents. Without a name to go on, your cases wouldn’t be able to progress. Correct me if I’m wrong.”
“No, you’re not wrong. What about his friends, did you ask them?”
She shook her head. “Jonathon was a loner. There lies the problem. He rarely made friends. Students who aren’t willing to be friendly towards other pupils take the risk of being cast out. I believe this is what happened in Jonathon’s case. He was an extremely bright child—that often has a negative effect on the other children. They feel inferior, jealousy creeps in, and that’s what causes the damage.”
“Are you telling me you were aware of what was going on but did little to prevent it?”
Mrs Lowe’s chest inflated again. “Yes, I was aware of how he was treated; however, I did not see that as bullying and neither did my staff. They were instructed to keep a close eye on him at all times.”
“If that’s true, how did he end up with worms in his dinner and his head down the toilet?”
The headmistress shrugged. “It pains me to say that I don’t know. Maybe the teachers who were watching him were distracted at the time.”
“On purpose?”
“Maybe. Look, there really is no point in going over old ground. What’s done is done. We need to learn from what has happened and move forward.”
“Is that it? A boy is driven to take his own life, and that’s all you have to say about it?”
“You’re misconstruing what I said, and you know it, Inspector. Of course there’s a lesson to be learned from Jonathon’s sad situation, but I don’t think you can hold either me, or my staff, responsible for the lad’s death.”
Lorne fished Jonathon’s phone out of her pocket and opened the final text he’d received. She stood and held it in front of the headmistress’s face for her to read. “Are you sure you want to be so blasé about the issue?”
The headmistress’s glaring gaze drifted from Lorne to the phone, and as she read the text, her eyes doubled in size. “Oh my,” she whispered, her eyes instantly misting up.
“Does that shine a different light on things, Mrs Lowe?”
Lorne retook her seat and watched Mrs Lowe’s shoulders slouch and her chin dip onto her chest.
Mrs Lowe said quietly, “Of course it does. However, I’m still not sure what I, or any of my staff, can possibly do about the Giles’s plight.”
“Well, you could supply us with a list of names of the students who made his life hell. Furthermore, you and your staff could take the issue of bullying far more seriously in future to prevent another child’s suicide being associated with your school.”
She glanced up at Lorne and shook her head. “As for the names, I can’t do that. I’ve already told you that he had problems with all his class. Maybe they found him an easy target after one or two of them started treating him badly, I don’t know. As for your second point, I have to reassure you that I have already held a staff meeting to inform the staff that any sign of bullying needs to be raised with me as soon as they detect it. I will act upon that information swiftly, you have my word on that. You can’t seriously believe that I relish having a child’s suicide attributed to the school, can you?”
“No. Because I regard you as a decent human being. Saying that, it’s about time all the members of staff at the various schools in this area step up to the plate and put a stop to this issue as soon as it rears its head. Surely that’s the only way bullying is going to be stamped out.”
“I want to assure you again, that will be our prime objective going forward, Inspector. None of us like having a pupil’s death on our conscience, as you can imagine.”
“Perhaps I was being too tough on you at the beginning of this conversation, having spent the morning with the grieving parents. Maybe you’d be willing to work with us on this? Perhaps we can arrange for some of our police officers to come into school and speak to the children, point out the errors of their ways regarding bullying. Prevention is better than cure, after all.”
“I’m not averse to doing something like that. In fact, I think it’s an exceptional idea. I’ll have to run it past the school governors, though, but I really can’t see them objecting. I’ll do my very best to ensure that doesn’t happen anyway.”
“I’ll leave you my card. If you can run the initiative past the governors soon, we can get things arranged swiftly.”
“Would you be the one to hold the talk with the pupils?”
Lorne shook her head. “I think there are better officers out there than me who would be more suited to do the job. Don’t worry, I’ll sort out someone who has a great deal of experience in this matter. At the end of the day, if we can work together on this, then our main objective should be reached quickly and efficiently.”
“I agree.” Mrs Lowe smiled.
“We’ll leave you to it then. One last thing before we go. Is it possible for you to give me the list of names of the children who sadly committed suicide?”
“May I ask why?”
“In case we need to visit the parents over the coming weeks in connection with our enquiries.”
“It might take me a little while to source the information. Would it be okay if I sent you an email later, bearing in mind I have a meeting to attend soon?” She glanced at her watch and gasped. “Gosh, I’m going to be late. Was there anything else?”
“No. Thank you for seeing us at such short notice. My email address is on the card along with my home phone number if anything else comes to mind that you’d like to share with me.”
“You’re welcome. I want to work with you on this as I said. No one likes the thought of a youngster being that desperate that they can’t seek help from one of their teachers.”
Lorne and Katy rose from their seats. “I’m glad we’re on the same page about that.” Lorne stretched her arm across the mahogany desk and shook the headmistress’s hand.
“I’ll get that information to you in a few hours, once I get back.”
“I’ll be in touch soon about the other matter we discussed once I’ve had a word with the desk sergeant back at the station.”
Lorne and Katy left the room and headed back up the hallway, again under the watchful eye of the pupils standing around in small groups.
As they neared the main entrance, Katy whispered, “Is it just me or are they doing their best to intimidate us?”
“Looks that way to me. Just smile. Don’t let them have the satisfaction of knowing they’re getting to you.”
Lorne eyed a group standing near the main door. One boy in particular held her gaze for a long time. How she prevented herself from shuddering she’d never know.
Chapter 4
After dropping Jonathon’s mobile and laptop off at Forensics, Lorne and Katy returned to base. Lorne hadn’t been in her office long when DCI Roberts poked his head around the door.
“Hello, sir. Come in. Can I get you a coffee?”
