the school is in any way involved in this terrible tragedy.’ Elaine’s voice broke a little over the last few words. I wondered, perhaps unfairly, if her grief was for the school’s reputation rather than Jenny.
‘We have a duty to guarantee the safety of the girls, and I don’t feel comfortable about making that sort of promise to the parents. It’s not that I think they are at risk of being attacked. I’m simply aware that the press are going to be very intrusive, and that sort of publicity can attract the wrong sort of attention. I don’t want them to be exposed to that sort of atmosphere.’
Which was fair enough.
Elaine darted a look at Vickers, who looked even more desiccated than he had the night before. His eyes were hooded and I found it hard to guess what he was thinking. ‘Also, Detective Chief Inspector Vickers has asked if he can use some of the school facilities, so I want us to be able to give him free access to the school.’
‘Very kind,’ Vickers said. He straightened a little, straining to pitch his voice so that everyone could hear. ‘Our main incident room is at Elmview Police Station, but we’ll be doing some interviews here. We’re interested in talking to Jennifer’s friends and classmates, and we don’t like to conduct interviews of that sort in a police station. We prefer to keep them in familiar surroundings. We’ll also be using the school hall for a press conference later on today as it’s got all the facilities we’ll need.’
I couldn’t understand what Elaine was thinking. If I had been her, I would have wanted to keep the school as far away from the investigation as possible. From the way she kept looking to DCI Vickers for guidance, he seemed to have conquered her completely. It was all very inconvenient, particularly given the fact that I wanted to stay out of the investigation, off the radar, out of the loop.
‘So can we all go home or what?’ Geoff Turnbull spoke from the back of the room, as unruffled as if this sort of thing was routine, predictably crass. I didn’t bother to turn around to look at him, though I could picture him lounging there, all blue eyes and biceps and carefully groomed black hair. He was one of the PE teachers at Edgeworth, and I liked him not at all.
Elaine bristled. ‘No, Geoff. I would like the teachers to make themselves available to the police and the girls, even though no actual teaching will take place. Given that we are going to have a lot of students hanging around, waiting to be picked up by their parents, it’s more important than ever that you should be here. We will divide the girls up into groups and supervise them until their parents or guardians arrive to collect them. I’m afraid I will be asking you to stay on after the end of the school day also. I’m going to need your support today, so I would ask you all to bear with me.’
Jules Martin said, ‘How long is this going to take? When are we going to get back to normal? Some of the girls are preparing for exams at the moment and I don’t want their work to be disrupted.’
I shot a cynical look at her and got a bland smile in response. If I had a friend in the staffroom, it was Jules, and she was about as dedicated as I was. Her concern was laudable, and almost definitely faked.
‘I’m very much aware of the exam students,’ Elaine said. ‘For them, this will be a study week. Janet will help by sending out revision plans for the relevant classes, which I expect all of you to supply to the school office by lunchtime today. As for how long this will take …’ She turned to Vickers.
‘I can’t give you an estimate at the moment. Based on my experience of previous investigations, the media interest will die down over the next few days unless there are significant developments. We’ll do our best to minimise the disturbance and hopefully everything will run as normal here next week. We should have finished our interviews by then anyway. I’ve got a big
‘We have a duty to guarantee the safety of the girls, and I don’t feel comfortable about making that sort of promise to the parents. It’s not that I think they are at risk of being attacked. I’m simply aware that the press are going to be very intrusive, and that sort of publicity can attract the wrong sort of attention. I don’t want them to be exposed to that sort of atmosphere.’
Which was fair enough.
Elaine darted a look at Vickers, who looked even more desiccated than he had the night before. His eyes were hooded and I found it hard to guess what he was thinking. ‘Also, Detective Chief Inspector Vickers has asked if he can use some of the school facilities, so I want us to be able to give him free access to the school.’
‘Very kind,’ Vickers said. He straightened a little, straining to pitch his voice so that everyone could hear. ‘Our main incident room is at Elmview Police Station, but we’ll be doing some interviews here. We’re interested in talking to Jennifer’s friends and classmates, and we don’t like to conduct interviews of that sort in a police station. We prefer to keep them in familiar surroundings. We’ll also be using the school hall for a press conference later on today as it’s got all the facilities we’ll need.’
I couldn’t understand what Elaine was thinking. If I had been her, I would have wanted to keep the school as far away from the investigation as possible. From the way she kept looking to DCI Vickers for guidance, he seemed to have conquered her completely. It was all very inconvenient, particularly given the fact that I wanted to stay out of the investigation, off the radar, out of the loop.
‘So can we all go home or what?’ Geoff Turnbull spoke from the back of the room, as unruffled as if this sort of thing was routine, predictably crass. I didn’t bother to turn around to look at him, though I could picture him lounging there, all blue eyes and biceps and carefully groomed black hair. He was one of the PE teachers at Edgeworth, and I liked him not at all.
Elaine bristled. ‘No, Geoff. I would like the teachers to make themselves available to the police and the girls, even though no actual teaching will take place. Given that we are going to have a lot of students hanging around, waiting to be picked up by their parents, it’s more important than ever that you should be here. We will divide the girls up into groups and supervise them until their parents or guardians arrive to collect them. I’m afraid I will be asking you to stay on after the end of the school day also. I’m going to need your support today, so I would ask you all to bear with me.’
Jules Martin said, ‘How long is this going to take? When are we going to get back to normal? Some of the girls are preparing for exams at the moment and I don’t want their work to be disrupted.’
I shot a cynical look at her and got a bland smile in response. If I had a friend in the staffroom, it was Jules, and she was about as dedicated as I was. Her concern was laudable, and almost definitely faked.
‘I’m very much aware of the exam students,’ Elaine said. ‘For them, this will be a study week. Janet will help by sending out revision plans for the relevant classes, which I expect all of you to supply to the school office by lunchtime today. As for how long this will take …’ She turned to Vickers.
‘I can’t give you an estimate at the moment. Based on my experience of previous investigations, the media interest will die down over the next few days unless there are significant developments. We’ll do our best to minimise the disturbance and hopefully everything will run as normal here next week. We should have finished our interviews by then anyway. I’ve got a big
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