Read Online Cherringham--Death on a Summer Night by Neil Richards - Free Book Online Page A

and sat down again: then, amazingly, Sarah could see his dark eyes glistening, wet.
    “Oh, but I do.” He sniffed. Strange. “She was an amazing musician. Breathtaking. She already had a place waiting at the Royal Academy.”
    “God — you must have been upset when she disappeared.”
    “ Devastated . I didn’t really talk about it to anyone at the time — but I think, you know, I became depressed. Clinically depressed — for quite some time.”
    “Is that why you stopped teaching?”
    Sarah watched him as he nodded and swallowed. She waited for him to answer. The room was silent.
    He took a deep breath: “I stayed only another few years at the school. Then I gave it up for good. I just couldn’t … invest in any of the kids any more. Lost my way a bit, to be honest.”
    “But you found it again,” said Sarah. “If you hadn’t left teaching—”
    “Clouds and silver linings, huh?”
    “No, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that,” said Sarah quickly.
    “It’s all right. You know, I left Cherringham completely. When I came back a few years ago it was as if Dinah Taylor had never existed.”
    Sarah could see him drifting off into his memories. She waited, then: “Did you think Tim Bell was guilty, at the time?”
    “Who knows? There was evidence.”
    “You never suspected anyone else?”
    “I was just a young teacher at the school — what did I know?”
    Sarah nodded. This felt like another dead end. She put her coffee cup down.
    “I’d better be off,” she said. “Rik … I’m sorry I’ve had to drag up all those memories.”
    “No problem. Some ‘memory lanes’ are darker than others. I’ll show you out.”
    As she got up to leave, she passed the wall of photos. In some, Rik was much younger, in his twenties. So many students — but she couldn’t see Dinah Taylor in any of them.
    Maybe just too upsetting , she thought.
    She let him lead her back down the corridor. As he opened the front door she noticed a flyer for the concert at the weekend, sitting on the hall table.
    “Are you going to the concert?” she said.
    “Going? I’m conducting it.”
    “Wow — that’s amazing!”
    “Isn’t it? I’m this year’s guest conductor. Local boy makes good, I guess.”
    “Have you conducted these pieces before?”
    “Oh, yes. Couple of times, in the States. Though — gotta say — never with live cannons for the 1812 . That will be something.”
    “Sounds like I’d better bring earplugs.”
    “Oh, I’m not that bad—”
    “God, I’m sorry. For the cannons I meant! I’ve put my foot in it again—”
    “Hey — I’m teasing,” he said smiling.
    She laughed and held out her hand to shake his. He took it and leaned forward, kissed her goodbye on both cheeks.
    Dashing indeed.
    And maybe, also haunted by a student that got away … or was taken away?
    She turned and went down the steps to the street. He called from behind her: “I should have asked — if you need a lift? Great fun with the top down.”
    She turned: he pointed to a little blue sports car which was parked just in front of her.
    “I’m fine,” she said. “Maybe some other time.”
    “See you at the concert.”
    “I’ll be there,” she said, and then, as if on a whim: “Oh — just one thing, Rik — I completely forgot to ask you …”
    “Fire away.”
    “Where were you that night? The night Dinah Taylor disappeared?”
    She saw him falter.
    That’s the first time he’s been lost for words since I got here, she thought.
    “Are you serious?” he said.
    “Sorry — just occurred to me,” she said smiling. “You know how it is.”
    “Um, God, Sarah. I can hardly remember,” he said. “Such a long time ago.”
    “But the police must have asked you?”
    “Er, yes, sure, everyone was asked about that night.”
    Sarah waited, smiling sympathetically, nodding her understanding.
    “Um — I think I had something to eat and then went to the fair. Everybody went to the fair. Yes. I’m sure now.”
    Sarah