The Death Lesson, page 4
‘Did Pippa go?’
‘Apparently not but almost everyone else did.’
It was possible that Pippa saw someone entering or leaving the chapel but Mallory couldn’t understand how that could have such a profound effect on the new teacher. She needed to dig deeper below the genteel niceness that permeated the atmosphere. Could she find someone who really wasn’t nice at all?
8
Harri drove his daughter to college wondering how Mallory was getting on at Penbryn Hall. It would certainly make a change from the caravan park, and perhaps living in luxury would prompt her to settle somewhere with at least brick foundations. Ellie chatted beside him, oblivious to his distracted manner. She’d recently acquired a new boyfriend after being dumped by his predecessor. It sounded very casual to Harri, who couldn’t get used to his daughter dating and had to rely on the reassurances of his sister, Fran, that sixteen was a perfectly fine age to have a boyfriend. As she left the car, Ellie gave the door a slam, reminding him of Ellie’s mother, Paula, who had always done the same. She had been dead now for over a decade and Harri still missed her, and the hole in the family had not been filled.
He thought of Mallory again and sighed as he pulled away. He was attracted to her, no doubt about that, but she blew hot and cold and if he was going to be completely honest with himself, so did he. There were others to consider – their kids but also Mallory’s ex-husband, the memory of Paula and also Fran, who lived with them. Lives got more complicated as hormones dulled so having a love life was never easy.
Back at the station, there was a message on his desk to go and see Superintendent Morris. Harri immediately knew what it was about. He’d tried to call Mallory’s mobile the previous evening looking for an update on her arrival at Penbryn Hall. Given it was early days, he didn’t realistically expect her to have uncovered anything but he was interested in how she was settling into what must be a hothouse environment. Mallory would be fine. She had the inner resilience of many ex-coppers. She hadn’t even protested when it was suggested she enter the classroom, although Harri suspected it would be this aspect of her new assignment that would cause her the most worry. Teenagers, in Harri’s experience, were tough nuts to crack.
Stephanie was drumming her fingers on the large conference-style table which she used to work on. It was apparently part of her new open style of management but in fact the wide expanse of polished teak was as imposing as a chair in front of a standard-issue desk.
‘Any news from Penbryn Hall?’ she asked without greeting him.
Harri eyed up the coffee pot noting that it only had one cup next to it. He wasn’t going to be staying. ‘Mallory has only just arrived. I’ve phoned for an update and she’ll call me back when she can.’
Stephanie pouted. ‘I want daily briefings on this. If there’s a scandal, and I’m inclined to trust Lowri’s instincts on this one, then I want to be able to contain it. The reputation of one of the country’s top schools is at stake.’
What Harri hadn’t told Mallory, and he noticed Lowri Rhys hadn’t seen fit to mention either, was that Stephanie herself was an alumnus of Penbryn Hall. The constabulary was probably an unusual choice of one of its former pupils but they must surely be pleased with her rapid rise through the ranks to superintendent before the age of forty.
‘If there’s trouble, Mallory will find it. She’s unerringly drawn to danger.’
Stephanie grunted. ‘Well, I’ll agree with you on that one. I hope to God it’s not one of the pupils who tipped Pippa Evans over the edge. I can cope with rogue staff members but children are a whole different ball game.’
‘There’s no evidence a student was involved. In fact, I have to say this, ma’am, there’s not any concrete evidence that anyone was involved in Pippa’s death. She suffered from anxiety and was plunged into a new environment. Mallory’s job might be to simply confirm this.’
Steph pulled at her lower lip and Harri saw her pale pink lipstick smudge onto her thumb. The super wasn’t someone to worry easily and he wondered what he wasn’t being told. In fact, he had quite a lot of questions, not least where they were getting the money from to fund Mallory’s wages. A directive had come down from high up that costs needed cutting and a recruitment freeze was imminent. He had dreaded passing the news onto Mallory as it had both a financial implication for her and meant they wouldn’t be thrown together as they had in the last two years since their first meeting.
‘I have to tell you, I’m getting some pressure from the Chief Constable. She’s been contacted by the Foreign Office, who’ve been leant on, I suspect, by their embassies around the world. We have two princesses from Europe, the daughter of the head of one of the Emirates States plus at Christmas, two children of one of the world’s richest men are moving to Penbryn Hall as their school is closing due to the new VAT rules.’
‘Christ,’ said Harri. ‘Can’t the civil servants keep out of Welsh education? They pay us scant attention the rest of the time.’
‘Now, now,’ said Steph, not disagreeing. ‘One of the benefits of living in the wild west of Wales is people do leave us alone. Would you rather it any other way?’
‘Not really.’
‘Exactly, but Penbryn Hall isn’t just a Welsh establishment. It has an international profile and people are concerned. It’s why the Chief Constable signed off the money for Mallory’s role.’
‘She didn’t go there herself, did she?’ Harri asked before he could stop himself.
Steph’s brows knitted together in disapproval but she made no denial. Christ, thought Harri, so that’s how it is.
‘So, as I said, I want daily briefings and once Mallory has confirmed nothing untoward is happening there, we pull her out and close the case. Lowri is a little, well, protective of the establishment at times. She’s probably just being over-cautious.’
Harri wasn’t so sure. He was an instinct man himself and inclined to respect the suspicions of others. ‘Of course. Mallory will have had her first day of teaching so there might not be much to update you with, but I’ll make sure I speak to you daily.’
‘Come to my office at quarter to nine each morning. I’ve told my secretary to expect you and I’ll have no meetings scheduled before nine.’
Harri resisted the temptation to salute. ‘Of course.’
‘I need to tell you that Lowri runs a tight ship. I doubt Mallory’s colleagues will be inclined to gossip so she’s going to have to work hard to find any potential issues.’
‘Mallory’s an experienced detective and knows what to look for. To begin with, we need to know what Pippa was doing in the library and why she was so desperate not to leave a trail. If I were Mallory, that’s where I’d start.’
‘And if she gets nowhere with that?’
Harri shrugged. ‘Pippa saw someone within hours of arriving at Penbryn Hall. When Sunday comes I suspect Mallory will be watching the routine very closely.’
9
Mallory spent an enjoyable half hour at lunch with Jem and Freya. She kept the conversation away from Pippa as she wanted the two women to feel relaxed in her company before she started digging deeper into the events of the previous week. She could, however, ask some general questions around school life. According to the timeline of Pippa’s movements on arriving at Penbryn Hall, she’d been met by Jonathan Mellor, who claimed she’d been perfectly amiable. Pippa had been given time to unpack and told to make her way to the dining hall where staff and students ate together on Sunday evenings. She’d never made it. When Jonathan knocked on Pippa’s door that evening, she’d answered, keeping her face in the shadows, to say she was tired and going to bed early. If something had happened to Pippa, or rather if someone had happened to Pippa, then the occurrence must have taken place between three and seven thirty p.m.
‘What do you do on weekends?’ asked Mallory, picking at her hummus salad.
‘There are lessons on Saturday morning, of course,’ said Freya. ‘The rest of the day rather depends on if we’ve been rostered to help with any extra-curricular stuff, but Lowri is careful to make sure we have time to ourselves. Sundays are free, except we’re expected to attend the church service in the morning and evensong at five.’ She stopped, casting a glance at Jem. ‘This has been explained to you, hasn’t it?’
‘It has,’ said Mallory, ‘don’t worry. What time is evensong?’
‘Five thirty.’
‘Right.’ Mallory was pretty certain that Pippa hadn’t been to the service but supposed she had seen someone going into the chapel from the window of her room. It was just possible in the faint light.
‘Everyone attends chapel, do they?’ Mallory was repeating the conversation she’d had with Rose but the timing was important and she needed to narrow down attendees.
‘Unless you have dispensation,’ said Jem. ‘We have seven teachers from other faiths and a handful of pupils who don’t attend but other than them, you’re really expected to.’
Great, thought Mallory, I might have narrowed suspects down by the grand total of seven. As she ate, she noticed again the tremor in Freya’s left hand. Her demeanour was calm, which suggested she was suffering from a neurological problem. It probably didn’t impact her teaching but it still made Mallory wonder. She glanced down the long table taking in the dynamic of the staff. Lowri had been right when she’d told Mallory that her colleagues were predominantly female. Interestingly, the four men at the table were sitting together at the far end, laughing. She let the chatter wash over her while she finished her meal, determined to make it to the library before her next lesson.
* * *
Emiah Jenkins was talking to a student when Mallory entered the huge room that served as the school library. Lowri had been right when she’d said that the library had been allocated the best room in the house. It must have once been a grand drawing room, a ballroom even, and the air of grandeur suited the oak shelves full of books. Mallory waited for Emiah to finish, taking in the tall windows with a clear view to the copse. There were two students at the long tables, both with their backs to the windows, perhaps deciding the view was a distraction. When Emiah was free, Mallory went over to introduce herself. Emiah’s smile dropped a fraction when Mallory explained she was the new maths teacher.
‘I’m sorry about what happened to my predecessor. It makes things a little awkward when I introduce myself.’
Emiah took a breath, making an effort to calm herself. ‘Thank you, although I didn’t know her well. I had no idea she was in such torment. She just seemed a bit shy.’
‘Can I ask about borrowing books?’ said Mallory, her eyes on the computer screen.
‘You use your staff ID, which also works as a library card. You can take up to eight books but more are permissible if you talk to me.’
Talk to me, thought Mallory. Here was a way that computers could be bypassed and books borrowed without leaving a trace.
‘Do you work every day?’ she asked.
‘Thursdays and Sundays are my days off, but I have a deputy who works part-time hours to cover my absence. She’s not based in the school though.’ Emiah’s tone was dismissive, suggesting she was queen bee in this space.
‘Did Pippa like using the library?’
Emiah frowned. ‘What makes you ask that?’
Mallory shrugged. ‘I was wondering about the maths section.’
‘Oh.’ Emiah relaxed a fraction. ‘We have a good quality module over to the right. I’ve no idea if Pippa used it though.’
Nevertheless, Emiah had spotted that Pippa was interested in the spirituality and women’s studies section and had included this in her police statement. ‘I’ll take a look around if that’s OK. It’s an impressive space.’
Mallory made a show of perusing the shelves slowly, passing without apparent interest the area that had so attracted Pippa. It amounted to two long bookcases filled with books far more specialised than Mallory would have expected in a school. One title was The Feminine and Divine a title Mallory wholeheartedly approved of. She had little time for religion and particularly disliked the idea of God as an old man who told you what to do.
She continued her scrutiny, picking up a book from the history section and wondering why Pippa had been so keen to hide the title of her book from Rose unless it was Rose herself she’d wanted to avoid. ‘Scuttled away’ had been Rose’s assessment of Pippa’s response. Mallory glanced across at Emiah, who had crossed to the other side of the room to replace books. From this distance, her hostility was palpable and yet Mallory was sure she’d been casual enough when perusing the shelves. She’d need to talk to Lowri about Emiah and find out what was eating away at the woman.
Mallory, about to go to the next lesson, looked down at her cream blouse and saw she’d dropped a piece of lettuce on it, the chlorophyll green spreading into the cotton. Fuck. In the station, she’d have made a joke about it and carried on with her day. Teaching was different and there was no way she was going to run the gaze of fifteen or so critical teenagers with a soiled blouse. Time for a quick change. She’d need to find out the laundry arrangements later.
She opened the door of her room and knew straight away that someone had been inside. Her nose picked up a smell similar to lemongrass, not from artificial cleaner but delicate with the hint of a cottage garden. She looked around and saw her laptop was in the same place and the wastepaper bin unemptied. Not a thief or the cleaner then. She scrutinised the room to find further evidence that her private space had been invaded, and her gaze fell on a note that had been left on the chest of drawers. There was no envelope and the piece of plain paper was unfolded. On it had been typed: ‘The Cranogwen room. 2 a.m. tonight.’
Mallory’s first thought was that it was one of the students she’d met that morning having a laugh at her expense. There was plenty of opportunity for jokes and pranks in a school and perhaps she was being tested on how she reacted. However, when Lowri had brought Mallory to her room, the same one that Pippa had occupied two weeks earlier, she’d been at pains to emphasise that this wing of the house was for teachers only. No students were allowed in the area, firstly for safeguarding reasons and secondly to allow staff a student-free space to decompress. It wasn’t impossible that a student had found a way to sneak in but it was a hell of a gamble. One thing was for sure: Mallory would be outside the Cranogwen room at two a.m.
10
The meeting with the deputy head was abruptly cancelled. One of the lower college students, a girl from Spain, was discovered in the nearby town of Tregaron drinking in a pub with a local boy she’d met on the internet. Jonathan had been dispatched to both retrieve the student and have a quiet word with the boy, who was unaware, or so he said, that his date was fifteen. Christ, rather him than me, thought Mallory. Instead she spent the evening preparing for the following day’s lesson and wondering what lay in store for her when she got to the Cranogwen room.
Toby, Mallory’s son, rang at half ten that evening just as Mallory was struggling to keep her eyes open. She had no idea teaching was so exhausting and had a new respect for anyone who chose it as a profession. Bloody hell, those students certainly kept you on your toes. The sensible thing to do was to have a nap and set her alarm for half one so she was awake and ready to meet whoever had placed the note in her room. However, Mallory had no idea how soundproof her walls were. They looked thick enough – the whole building had an air of Edwardian solidity – but Mallory was taking no chances. Instead, she’d brewed herself a pot of coffee using the electric kettle she’d brought along with her and added an extra spoonful of grinds to the cafetière.
‘Mum, I haven’t heard from you for a few days.’ Toby sounded put out. “A mother’s place is in the wrong” had been her grandmother’s axiom and it was certainly true for her relationship with her son, who could never quite make up his mind if he wanted to live with her or his father.
‘I told you I had a new job and wouldn’t be able to talk much,’ said Mallory, trying not to sound defensive.
‘Where?’ asked Toby. ‘Are you still in Wales?’
‘Bloody hell, Tobe,’ said Mallory. ‘I said I’ve got a new job, not moved country.’
‘It doesn’t sound like you’re in the caravan,’ said Toby suspiciously.
‘Guilty as charged but I can’t tell you where I am as I’m working for the police again and it’s a residential post.’
‘You’re not back on Eldey are you?’ This was the island where Mallory had nearly lost her life. A job that had brought her to Wales and to Harri’s attention.
‘I’m not at Eldey but I’m not answering any more questions. You know the score when I’m working.’
‘Is Harri with you?’
Mallory rolled her eyes. More evidence of Toby’s protectiveness.
‘He’s not but he is my boss. OK?’
‘OK.’
After a few more minutes of light chat, Toby rang off. Mallory made a mental note to talk to his father, her ex, on Sunday when she had some downtime. Toby struggled with an eating disorder and had finally begun counselling after a long wait for a place. His weight remained stable, which was the best they could hope for so early in the treatment, but the slowness of getting results was making Mallory fret. Not for the first time, she wondered if her own shortcomings as a mother were to blame for Toby’s illness.
Mallory was just settling down with her second cup of coffee when her phone rang again.
‘How you getting on, Mallory?’ Harri’s rich baritone voice came down the line. ‘I’ve been trying to call.’
‘Well, I’ve survived my first day of teaching. Those kids are bright, which frightens me more than an unruly classroom.’
Harri laughed softly. ‘I don’t envy you that. What about Pippa’s death?’
So there was to be no chit-chat. ‘Lots of disquiet but that’s about it. No genuine grieving but you wouldn’t expect that after a few days’ acquaintance.’
