Page 37 of Their Burning Graves
The door to the left of them clicked, and Cain pushed it open. ‘Works every time that magic word, Police.’
They were standing on the other side of the counter, the receptionist was standing there, her arms crossed and an angry look on her face.
‘How can we help you, officers?’
Amy answered. ‘We need to talk to Timothy Lawson’s form teacher and his friends, if possible.’
The name printed on the receptionist’s lanyard read, Amanda Hughes; her face thawed at the mention of Timothy. Cain gave her his best smile.
‘We’d really appreciate it if you could arrange that, Amanda, it’s very important.’
She sighed. ‘It’s so awful, Tim was a lovely boy, one of those who never gave you cheek or answered back. Always so polite too.’
‘Did you know him well?’
She shrugged. ‘Only the last few weeks, his attendance began to slip, and he never seemed to make it before the bell. The doors are open for pupils until 8:50. If they arrive later, they have to sign in here.’
‘Did he ever speak to you about anything troubling?’
She laughed. ‘He was a teenage boy, he didn’t speak much at all except to say sorry, thank you, have a nice day.’
‘Thank you, if you could take us to his form teacher, we’d really appreciate it.’ Amy smiled at her, taking a leaf from Cain’s book.
After signing them in and giving them red visitors’ lanyards to wear, she led them down a long corridor that went on forever, then down a flight of stairs to the basement area where there were lots of empty rooms. They reached a peeling orange painted door with a sign on it that read ‘Staff Room’. Pushing it open they were hit with the smell of freshly brewed coffee, and it smelled divine. There were a couple of teachers on the sofa, mugs in their hands. They looked at them. Amanda pointed to Amy and Cain.
‘Detectives, they need to speak to you, Ian, about Timothy.’
Ian, who was the younger of the teachers, stood up.
‘Of course, such a terrible tragedy. We’ll go to my unofficial office, I’m Ian Mackintosh.’
He held out his hand and shook both of theirs, then he led them a few doors along to a large dark office. Holding the door open for them, he felt along the wall for the switch. When the light decided to stop flickering and come to life, Amy nearly jumped out of her skin. The room was full of life-sized mannequins.
‘Sorry, I should have warned you. Technically this used to be the art and sewing class back in the day, and no one has the heart to throw these things out in case we ever need them one day. They’d cost a fortune to buy now.’
‘It’s creepy, how do you manage to work in here with all those eyes looking at you?’
He laughed. ‘I guess I don’t even notice them any more. I used to share an office upstairs, but the other teachers were forever sending their unruly pupils to me, and I’d spend most of my free time babysitting. I moved down here because it’s out of the way and a lot easier to hide, plus none of the kids like it in here either so they don’t bother me. It’s a win-win situation.’
He pointed to a couple of chairs. ‘Take a seat, I’ll help you as much as I can although I don’t know an awful lot.’
Cain looked to Amy, she nodded.
‘I’m Detective Constable Amy Smith and this is my colleague, Cain Robson. We’ve had some information that Timothy had got involved with some online game that he was very secretive about. So involved that he was late for school often and his grades were slipping. Have you heard any of the kids talking about it or overheard Tim mentioning a game?’
His eyes opened wide, and his head shook. ‘Really? Wow, this is the first I’ve heard about it. Do you know what it’s called?’
‘Unfortunately, we don’t, that’s what we’re hoping to find out today.’
‘I’m sorry, I don’t know.’
‘Were Timothy’s grades slipping? Could you give us some background on what he was like?’
‘Tim was essentially a good kid. Up until the last couple of months he was always punctual, worked hard in class, very quiet, well-mannered. There had been a change in all of that recently though. I wrote a letter home asking for a meeting with his parents because I was worried that maybe he’d got in with the wrong crowd after school. His mum rang me about it and explained what was going on at home, that they were having a tough time, his dad had been having an affair and they were in the middle of splitting up. Tim was taking it badly, she said, he was a sensitive boy, which I suppose he was. Poor kid, it explained the lateness and lack of attention in class, and to be honest I was relieved it was that and not drugs. As hard as it is when your parents split up at least you can still keep your life on track.’
Amy glanced at Cain. ‘Ian, I hate to tell you this, but you didn’t speak to Tim’s mum.’
A look of confusion crossed his face. ‘What? I did, I definitely had a conversation with her. What are you saying, that I imagined it?’
