Too Good to Be True

7 The School

Back in Stonebridge, Jimmy Perez went to his hotel room. He wanted to talk to Robert Anderson, the local police inspector, about the cleaned wine glass in the cupboard at Anna’s house. He also wanted to find out why Anna’s parents weren’t taking care of their granddaughter Lucy.

But Jimmy was told that Inspector Anderson was in a meeting and wouldn’t be available all day. Perez left a message for Robert to call him back.

He stood at his window and watched a flurry of snow blow across from the hills. Parents had collected their children from school and were hurrying home. He saw Gail’s Land Rover move away down the main street. Back outside, the light was already fading and it felt colder.

Perez left the hotel and made his way to the school. He found the main door still open. Some older children were practising Christmas carols in the school hall. A woman in reception took his name and showed him to the head teacher’s office.

Maggie Redhead was in her fifties, with fine grey hair pulled into a comb at the back of her head and bright brown eyes.

‘I thought this matter with Anna Blackwell was over and we’d be allowed to get back to normal,’ she said. ‘It was distressing enough for the kids when she died.’

Her office was cluttered, with children’s books on the shelves and brightly coloured paintings covering one of the walls. Perez decided she looked like an energetic granny.

‘There seems to be some question about the cause of death.’ That wasn’t quite a lie, Perez thought. He wondered what Robert Anderson would make of his meddling. ‘I’m just taking another look at the case with a fresh pair of eyes. You know how it is.’

‘Not really,’ Maggie snapped. ‘I don’t usually lose my staff like this. They don’t die suddenly, and if they do, the deaths aren’t followed by gossip and bad feeling. Usually my teachers retire. The children present them with a gift on their last day and we have a party in the staff room.’

Perez smiled. ‘Did you throw a party when Freda retired?’

Maggie narrowed her eyes. ‘You have been poking around.’

‘Is Freda glad to be back as a supply teacher?’

Maggie sat back in her chair. ‘Freda has never married and the school was her life. But she’s got health problems now she’s getting older. She really wasn’t up to coping with a class of four- and five-year-olds. The only way she could keep order was by scaring the life out of them. I was pleased when she agreed to retire. So yes, we did throw a party for her.’

‘But she’s back now?’

‘On a very short-term basis while we appoint another reception teacher.’

‘Did Freda resent Anna Blackwell?’ Perez asked. ‘If the school was her life, it must have been hard for her to see another, younger teacher take her place. Especially if Anna’s teaching style was so different.’

Maggie gave a little laugh. ‘Freda might have resented the teacher who replaced her, but if you’re saying that she killed Anna to get her job back, then that’s quite mad. As I explained, she’ll only be here for a few weeks anyway.’

‘That’s not what I’m suggesting,’ Perez said. ‘I’m trying to find out where the rumours about Anna and Tom King started, and I’m wondering if Freda might be behind the gossip.’

Maggie took a little while to think about this. In the background, Perez could hear the children singing ‘Silent Night’.

‘That might be more Freda’s style,’ Maggie said at last. ‘She was very hurt when I told her it might be time for her to consider leaving. She was going to hate anyone who took her place. And she could be bitchy if the mood took her. I can see her starting the gossip as a kind of revenge.’

Perez nodded. ‘Do you know why Sarah King took against Anna Blackwell so strongly?’

‘No,’ Maggie said. ‘That was a complete mystery. Sarah is a parent governor and she’s always worked hard for the school. She helped me interview for the new teacher’s post and Anna Blackwell was her choice as well as mine. We knew that Anna was new to the career, but we decided her great ideas made up for that. We thought she’d bring something fresh to the school.’

‘It must have been rather a shock, then, when Mrs King turned up with a petition demanding that Anna should leave.’

‘It was a nightmare! And honestly I couldn’t see what the parents had to complain about. Anna was a good young teacher. But she took it to heart. All the bitching started making her ill. In the end I could see she was stressed and suggested she went to the doctor. That was when she started taking the antidepressants.’

‘Was she still working in the school when she died, or had she taken time off sick?’ Perez asked.

‘She’d had nearly two months off, but she was back at the time she died. She seemed better, still a bit frail but almost happy.’

Perez thought this tied in with the flowers in the living room and the hopeful tone of the note he’d found on the dressing table. He stood up to leave. ‘Do you think Anna Blackwell committed suicide?’

Maggie answered straightaway. ‘Not in a thousand years. She adored her daughter. There was no way she would have killed herself and left Lucy without a mother.’

‘Did she ever tell you who the father was?’

Maggie shook her head. ‘I never asked and she never told me. It was Anna’s big secret. I’ve never felt the need to pry into the affairs of my staff.’

When Perez walked out into the playground, it was almost dark and the children had stopped singing. He turned to look back at the school and saw the head teacher staring out at him.