Read Online Maxwell's Return by M. J. Trow - Free Book Online Page B

called home for seven years and would never see again until their own children went there. And anyway, putting an arm around a student these days was equivalent to signing up to Gary Glitter’s gang or enrolling in Yewtree. What a sad indictment of the times.
    And, talking of sad indictments, where was that excuse for a headmaster, Legs Diamond? If anyone knew anything about Bernard Ryan, surely he would.
    James Diamond was having the worst summer of his life. He was one of nature’s worriers anyway, but he usually had Bernard Ryan on hand to take the flak. He had always thought that Bernard Ryan didn’t have an emotion in his body but he had seen the man crumble, albeit briefly, when the police had taken him away. The fear in his eyes only flashed there fora second, but it had been enough to make the smoke that Diamond knew was never there without fire. And now…
    The tap on his door made him sit up straight, every hair on his neck tingling. Although he didn’t know it, he was briefly at one with the rodentia of Columbine. No one,
no one
tapped at a door quite like that. He thought he wouldn’t be back for weeks. And yet, here he was, outside his door. The headteacher cleared his throat. He had learned that when you were dealing with Peter Maxwell, you had to be careful to show no weakness. The man could smell fear.
    ‘Come!’
    Outside the door, Maxwell mouthed ‘in’. How much breath did you save in an average life by not saying that tiny word? He would have to ask the Maths Department. He pushed open the door and went into Diamond’s office. There was no reason for the room to have changed, but somehow there was a subtle difference. Legs looked less assured, the desk was certainly fuller and there was an air of desolation, of loss that Maxwell thought he understood.
    ‘Did you miss me, headmaster?’ he asked, flinging himself into a chair.
    Diamond pinned a smile on his face as best he could. ‘Of course, Max. Welcome back. We… we weren’t expecting you just yet. We thought you might be enjoying the Californian sun for a while longer.’
    ‘Over-rated,’ Maxwell said shortly. ‘And you seem to be having sunhere, anyway. Without the smog and the wind.’
    Diamond was not a geographer, but that didn’t sound right to him. ‘You can’t have both, can you?’ he asked.
    ‘You’d think not,’ Maxwell remarked then, leaning forward, ‘What are you doing about Bernard?’
    For a horrible moment that turned his bowels to water, Diamond thought that Maxwell was offering to be his Deputy and swallowed hard. When he didn’t answer, Maxwell filled the silence with words that brought relief.
    ‘I don’t mean as a deputy head. I imagine you’ve already got something sorted on that score. Mmmm,’ he looked at the ceiling briefly, thinking. ‘It’s Jane Taylor, I would imagine. IT.’ He looked at the headteacher and smiled. ‘Am I right?’
    ‘Yes,’ Diamond said. ‘But… I only rang her yesterday. I told her not to tell anyone.’
    ‘She didn’t. I worked it out. She is the obvious choice, especially since she has been doing the timetabling for years.’
    Diamond’s eyebrows shot up.
    Maxwell held up a calming hand. ‘Don’t worry, it’s not common knowledge by any means. But she is a nice woman and no one hates her.’ He almost added the ‘yet’ but managed to restrain himself. ‘Good choice.’
    ‘Well, thank you.’ Diamond settled his ruffled feathers. ‘It’s just a temporary measure, of course. Until Bernard…’ he narrowed his eyes atMaxwell. ‘How much do you know about Bernard and his troubles, by the way?’
    The answer obviously was a lot more than you, headmaster, but again, the Head of Sixth Form forebore to say what was in his mind. ‘Not much, headmaster. I was away when it all began.’
    ‘Your wife…?’ Legs knew how many beans made five. But only approximately.
    Maxwell shrugged, an elaborate gesture that took in his entire body, from his barbed-wire hair to the