Down Among the Dead Men

21

Georgina, white-faced and shaking, said she needed a strong coffee, so they found their way to the canteen, known in this aspiring school as the dining room.

‘That woman! You could have warned me.’

‘I thought I did,’ Diamond said. ‘Was it hard work?’

‘Extremely.’

‘Did you tell her your theory, about Miss Gibbon seducing the girl?’

‘Please.’ There was a prim intake of breath. ‘There are children in this school.’

He was tempted, but he made no comment.

Georgina glanced about her and decided it was safe to continue. ‘Yes, I was very frank and she hadn’t even heard me out before she was telling me I had a mind like a sewer and how dare I sully the reputation of the school she’d worked so hard to lift to new levels.’

‘What did you say to that?’

‘To be truthful, Peter, one of my red mists came up and I’m not sure what I did say. I meant to remind her of that biblical text that says that if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us, but it may have come out as something more personal.’

‘I bet you gave back as good as you got.’

‘She treated me as if I was one of her pupils, and I wasn’t having it.’

‘Good for you. Did anything useful come out of it?’

‘Not really. I was hoping she’d say more about Miss Gibbon and her sexuality, but she refused to discuss her. I suppose it’s understandable. A teacher who takes advantage of her position doesn’t reflect well on the school. I think the phrase you used about Miss Du Barry was that she’s well-guarded, and I can endorse that now.’

‘Most head teachers are.’

Georgina puffed out her chest. ‘People in positions of trust need to be discreet. I — of all people — can appreciate that. We’re privy to sensitive information. However, as one top woman speaking to another, I felt entitled to a frank exchange and I didn’t get it.’

‘Disappointing.’

‘Very.’

‘But you didn’t have much to exchange.’

She shot him a fierce look. ‘You’d better explain yourself.’

‘Well, if you don’t mind me saying so, your information isn’t of much interest to Miss Du Barry. You need to trade something.’

‘And, what, precisely, do you have in mind?’

‘She thinks she knows everything that goes on in her school. She doesn’t. It’s not possible. Next time, you must go in armed with that bit of inside knowledge.’

‘Do we have any?’

‘We will. We only just arrived here.’

She seemed to understand. ‘You may be right, Peter. I was so persuaded by my own theory that I failed to see how she would take it.’ She ran her fingertip thoughtfully round the rim of her cup. ‘At least I got rid of some of my pent-up frustration. Perhaps you noticed I haven’t been functioning at my best.’

‘Haven’t you?’

‘This fiasco with the head is an example.’

He sensed an embarrassing heart-to-heart coming on. ‘Maybe you need a round of golf.’

‘That isn’t likely now,’ she said after a wistful sigh. ‘I rather expected I’d see more of Commander Hahn while we were here, but since that first moonlit walk along West Wittering beach he hasn’t got in touch.’

For crying out loud, he thought, she’s still smitten with Archie Hahn.

He had a clear memory of the note he’d found among the Rigden papers: Did all the right things, learned the drill, kept her buttons and shoes clean and never rocked the boat... Doesn’t have a subversive thought in her head. He could have told Georgina she wouldn’t be hearing much more from her old college friend. Good thing, too. What a toe rag. If — heaven forbid — anything more damaging should emerge, we can rely on her to miss it altogether... But this was one bit of knowledge she wasn’t going to get, not directly. Against all usual practice, Diamond felt an urge to comfort and protect his boss. It didn’t amount to putting an arm around her shoulders, but it was sincere.

The decent thing was to let her down gradually. ‘I’ve been frustrated, too.’

‘Really?’

‘I get the feeling we’ve been dealt a losing hand.’

‘How do you mean?’

‘All these missing people. It would suit everyone down here if they stayed missing.’ He’d discussed this with Hen, not yet with Georgina.

She blinked. ‘That can’t be true.’

‘They’re unsolved cases. With all the emphasis on crime figures the murder rate down here would rocket if bodies started being discovered.’

She sat back in her chair with a faraway look as if straining to hear some distant voice.

Diamond said, ‘When Hen Mallin started to do something about the missing people, she was suspended.’

She reacted as if he’d nudged her in the ribs. ‘No, no, no. That wasn’t why she was suspended.’

‘Officially no. Officially she was suspended because an anonymous letter was sent to headquarters. It was received within two weeks of her starting to rock the boat. Isn’t that convenient timing? The offence she’s charged with — favouring her niece — happened three years before, in 2011.’

There was a pause for thought. ‘Now that you put it like that...’ As Georgina’s voice trailed away, her look sharpened.

Diamond went on in the same reasonable tone, ‘With Hen suspended, all the impetus has gone out of the missing persons inquiry. You and I were brought in to deal with the problem over Joss, which is sorted, basically, because Hen admits to it. We’re not supposed to make waves about missing persons.’

She gave a nervous, angry sigh. ‘This is appalling if true. Who would have sent the anonymous letter?’

He spoke as if each word was a pain. ‘To be really cynical about the whole exercise, it may have been concocted at headquarters.’

‘Oh, Peter! That’s impossible.’

‘I’m thinking they may have known about the misconduct ever since 2011, only because Hen is a good detective they took no action. But when she started agitating about missing persons, she became expendable. She couldn’t be gagged, so she had to go.’

Georgina wasn’t having it. ‘I can’t accept that. It would show Sussex headquarters in a terrible light.’

‘It may not be the whole of headquarters.’

She said as if she was miles away, ‘I see.’

She didn’t see, yet. He left the thought to take root. At some stage she would make the connection with Archie Hahn.

‘Meanwhile,’ he said, ‘I’ve met Miss Gibbon’s replacement, a young man called Tom Standforth.’

‘A man?’

‘A more popular choice with the art students. Their word for him is cool. T-shirt and jeans, hair to his shoulders and his own website.’

‘How can that be? I can’t imagine Miss Du Barry approving.’

‘He seems to have worked his charms on her. He’s local, lives with his father at a place called Fortiman House, near Boxgrove.’

‘Where’s that?’

‘About four miles from Slindon.’ He snapped his fingers and for a moment his brain was in overdrive. ‘How do I know that? Yes. One of the gardens Joe Rigden looked after is out there.’

‘Not Fortiman House?’

‘No, a place belonging to an old lady who was over a hundred. A Mrs Shah. She’s dead now.’ He smiled. ‘It’s likely she would be, seven years on.’

‘I don’t remember hearing anything about this,’ Georgina said.

He’d almost given the game away. He remembered he’d learned about Mrs Shah while visiting Hen in hospital. ‘Must have been among the statements I was reading.’ And it could have been, so it wasn’t an out-and-out lie. ‘Anyway, young Standforth has a studio of his own and invites other artists there, including some of the Priory Park students.’

‘And Miss Du Barry knows about this arrangement?’

‘Apparently, yes, but she doesn’t know they sometimes have a nude male model.’

‘Hm.’ She had a gleam in her eye. ‘That would test her liberal principles.’

‘I gather it brings on the drawing by leaps and bounds.’

‘I’ll take your word for that.’ She drank the last of her coffee. ‘While you were in the art room I was speaking on the phone to DI Montacute. They’ve gone public with the missing girl. He’s holding a press conference about now. It will make the national news and her picture will be all over the local television and newspapers.’

‘High time. Is he linking this to Miss Gibbon?’

‘Apparently not. There’s too long an interval since her disappearance. And the media would be sure to turn it into an abduction story. They like nothing better than teachers going off with their students. Other lines of enquiry might get overlooked.’

‘Is he handling it right, do you think?’

She held up a warning finger. ‘We’re not going to interfere.’

‘I’ve met the girl,’ he said. ‘It becomes personal.’

‘Don’t even think about it. Our brief is to pin down the facts about DCI Mallin and her misconduct.’

‘And that involves her niece Joss,’ he said, ‘who has also gone missing.’

‘But it isn’t our job to find these young women, Peter. We’re on a fact-finding mission.’

‘We won’t get the full facts until Joss is found, and Montacute hasn’t given me much confidence so far. He’ll be even more distracted now.’

‘You’re like a dog with a bone.’

‘I didn’t come here to sit around and do nothing.’ He looked at the clock above the door. ‘Break’s over. I must get back to my fact-finding. There’s another girl to see — Ella the goth, who knows more than anyone.’

‘Ella the what?’

‘The goth. It’s a cult.’

‘You be careful.’

‘Oh, I will. They say she takes no prisoners.’