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some tea. It’s just that – well, as you can imagine, it’s been a rather disjointed few hours.’ The acknowledgement of that seemed almost a relief to her, and they divined that she had lurched from crisis to crisis in the organization of this fraught school day.
    Lambert was as anxious as she was to get things under way. ‘No tea, thanks. We’ll need to speak to all your staff, as quickly as we can. It will probably be necessary to have at least a collective word with your sixth-formers. Depending on the progress and the direction of the investigation, we may have to come back into the school, to follow up statements from different individuals.’
    â€˜I understand that. All I ask is that you keep things as low-key as possible. I’ve had the press vultures on the phone all day, whilst I’ve been busy with other things. I fear they’ll be waiting for the children outside the gates when they leave the school this evening.’
    â€˜We’ve already arranged for male and female PCs to patrol the school exit for the hour from four to five. I can’t guarantee that the more unscrupulous newshounds won’t follow children home, trying to get quotes from them or their parents. This will be big national news, for at least a couple of days.’ His long face cracked into a grimace of distaste for the transience of journalistic tragedy, and the tall woman behind the big desk warmed a little to him for it. He said, ‘I believe Mr Logan’s own children attend the school.’
    â€˜The elder one, Matthew, has just finished here and gone off to university. Catriona, the daughter, has just entered our sixth form. But as you’d expect, she isn’t in today. I’m not expecting her to be around for the rest of the week. It will be better for the rest of us in the school as well as Catriona if we’re allowed a period away from each other.’
    â€˜We need to get our questioning under way as soon as possible.’
    She nodded. ‘I’ve arranged for the staff to gather in the assembly hall at the end of afternoon school. It’s more neutral ground than the staff room.’
    â€˜Thank you. And thank you for your time now. I appreciate how busy you must be. We’ll be as unobtrusive as possible, but we’re bound to disrupt the life of the school to some extent.’
    Mrs Dean gave them a rueful smile. She was no more than forty-five, her strong face more attractive because of her air of concentration. ‘That’s already happened, as you can well imagine. But I’m grateful for your consideration. The sooner we can get the school back into a normal routine, the better it will be for everyone. If you can disturb that routine as little as possible, we’ll all get on with life as well as is possible under the circumstances.’
    Lambert nodded. ‘We’ll keep things as low-key as we can. In the meantime, you may be able to help us to get things under way on the right lines. You were Mr Logan’s Deputy Head; you must have known him very well.’
    â€˜We had a very close professional relationship, yes.’
    She put a stress on the word ‘professional’ and they knew immediately that she was putting a little distance between herself and the dead man. Lambert decided to press on and ignore that. ‘So you must have had some immediate thoughts on who killed him. We’d like you to relay those reactions to us in the few minutes we have before we meet your staff.’
    Pat Dean said stiffly, ‘My first reaction was one of outrage that anyone should do such a thing to Peter. It remains so, even after hours of hectic activity in the school today. I have no notion who might have killed him. It seems strange to me that you should expect me to have any such idea.’
    â€˜Not so strange, surely.’
    â€˜In so far as I have thought about the details of Peter’s death at all, I have assumed it