Ruth hesitated, trying to work out if she was being asked to do something that went against the best interests of the school. What could Penny gain from this? Nothing as far as Ruth could see but it still felt like she was doing something underhanded.
‘Can we use my computer in reception instead?’ she asked.
Penny sighed. ‘Of course. I just don’t want to waste any more time. I don’t want to see the figures, Ruth, all I want is a simple yes or no. Is there enough in the school’s main account to pay a ransom if it should come to that. I can leave the room if it’d make you feel more comfortable.’
She was being ridiculous. This was Penny, a woman she’d known for years. Ruth looked round the office, noting the contrast to Cam’s. Here there were no high-tech devices, no images of exotic holiday destinations, no mirror on the back of the door. Penny’s office walls were plastered with rotas and safeguarding reminders, coffee was instant and the kettle next to the jar had seen better days. The only concession to her personal life was a small photograph of Annie on the desk.
‘Okay, I’ll have a look. There’s no need for you to go.’
She sat at Penny’s desk and entered her details into the home screen of the laptop. Navigating through her files she found the link to financial information and logged on through the portal that Cam had set up for her.
‘Nearly there,’ she said to Penny as she waited for the information to load. Watching as a row of file names appeared on the screen, Ruth checked for any anomalies, but everything appeared to be in order. She clicked on the link to the main account for the day-to-day running of the school and scrolled to the bottom to assess how much money was in the account.
‘It looks like there might not be enough,’ she said, eyes scanning the rows of figures. ‘It’s not quite where I’d expect things to be at this stage in the school year.’
‘In what way?’ Penny asked from the doorway, the woman was obviously determined to keep her word about not looking.
‘There’s a huge payment been authorised but it’s not clear where it went.’
‘How much?’
‘£200,000.’ Ruth stared at the transaction, willing it to make sense. What would have warranted such an expense?
‘Where did it go?’
There was no recipient name, just an account number. ‘I don’t know.’ The hairs on the back of Ruth’s neck were starting to tingle – something was seriously wrong.
Penny took a step closer to the desk. ‘Can you find out who authorised the payment?’
Ruth clicked another link, then another, her sense of disbelief building with each new piece of information. ‘It looks like Mr Cleaver authorised it, but I still can’t find out where it went.’
‘Can you click on the account number it was paid to? That sometimes works.’
Ruth shook her head. ‘This is just a record of the account, it’s not live. Only Cam and the bursar have access to live information.’
Penny had obviously decided that there was no more need to keep her distance as she leaned over Ruth’s shoulder to stare at the screen. ‘That one there?’ she asked, pointing to the mysterious transaction.
Ruth nodded.
‘And only Cam and Jennifer have the ability and the authority to pay money from the account?’
‘Yes. Departments all have their own accounts for their budgets, but this is the one for the school. It could be for a big project, but I can’t recall anything that expensive in the last few months. The science department bought a load of new equipment and DT got that 3D printer but that’s not £200,000-worth.’
Penny stood up. ‘Can you search the account number – see if any other money has been paid to it?’
Ruth copied the digits and pasted them into the search box. ‘Three years ago. It wasn’t nearly as much though – only 5,000. Oh, and there’s another transaction.’ Ruth stared at the numbers trying to force them to make sense. ‘That’s weird.’
‘What?’
‘The money was paid into this unknown account and then exactly the same amount was paid back two months later.’
‘Using the same account number?’
‘Yes,’ Ruth said, her hands trembling as she moved the mouse and clicked further down the list of transactions. ‘Only there’s a name this time.’
‘Whose?’ Penny asked. ‘Let me have a look.’
The deputy head leaned in again and inhaled sharply as she saw what Ruth had seen. ‘That makes no sense at all.’
Ruth agreed but it was there on the screen. The account that had been paid £200,000 appeared to belong to Cameron Cleaver.
24
Jack Raynor stared out of the café window, his eyes fixed on the distant view of Skiddaw with its fresh covering of snow. Natalie was still looking at her phone as though she were expecting a follow-up message suggesting that what she’d just been told was a joke.
‘You’re sure?’ Raynor asked, still facing the picture window.
‘My source works for Cumbria Police and has access to the daily log. There’s no way he’d miss an incident as big as this one.’ Natalie was as puzzled as Raynor appeared to be. How could an incident on the scale of this not have been reported to the police?
‘You said the police were already on site. Did you see them?’
Raynor turned to her and shook his head. ‘There was a man with Cam, definitely not a member of staff. He seemed to be in charge.’
‘Was he in uniform?’
Raynor’s eyes narrowed as he tried to remember. ‘No. He was wearing a suit. There was nothing to identify him as a police officer, no lanyard or anything. He didn’t have a school visitor lanyard either. It was like he’d just walked on site and taken charge.’
Natalie thought about the implications of this. It was possible that somebody posing as a police officer had turned up at the school before anybody had thought to ring the police – claiming to be responding to an anonymous tip-off or something like that. But his timing would have had to be down to the split second which just wasn’t feasible. Unless…
‘Who rang for the police?’ she asked.
Raynor shrugged. ‘Cam, I assume. Or Penny Bainbridge, the deputy head. Possibly Ruth Warnesford on reception.’ The pace of his speech was speeding up and Natalie could see that he was starting to panic as he realised the implication of what he’d been asked. ‘You don’t think one of them orchestrated this? What sense does that make? Cam would never do anything to jeopardise the students, and his son’s in the class that’s being held. Same as Penny: her daughter’s in there.’
He continued quietly musing about who might be involved as Natalie tried to work out the probable timeline. Cleaver had been with a supposed officer when he’d spoken to Raynor about evacuating the school. That had been during the first half hour of the school day so Cam must have been made aware of events fairly soon after all the students had arrived. Was it even possible for a police officer to have been on site so quickly? It didn’t add up at all.
‘Jack,’ Natalie said to Raynor who had his eyes fixed on the tabletop and was shaking his head. ‘It doesn’t matter who called the police – what matters is that the police aren’t there and that means those kids and staff are in danger. You need to call 999 now and get help.’
Raynor looked doubtful. ‘I should call Cam first. He might have everything under control, and I don’t want to confuse the situation.’
‘And if he doesn’t answer? Or he says everything’s fine? You need to take control here, Jack.’
‘No. I’ll call Cam.’ He’d already raised his mobile phone to his ear and he turned away as he spoke. Natalie clenched her fists in frustration. How could Raynor be taking so long to see what obviously needed to be done?
‘No answer,’ Raynor said, staring at the screen of his phone as though it had let him down. ‘I’ll try reception.’
‘I’ve tried, several times,’ Natalie reminded him. ‘Call the police.’
‘I don’t–’
‘
Jack, you have to do something. The kids and staff who’re here are safe but there are others in danger. Could you live with yourself if anything happened to them and you’d been in a position to do something about it?’
Raynor was about to respond when Paul Scott, the man who’d been on the main desk when Natalie had arrived, appeared at the top of the stairs looking agitated.
‘Mr Raynor, the school buses have arrived. I have two drivers downstairs; the remainder are waiting in Main Street with their coaches. What would you like me to do?’
Raynor looked at Scott and then back at Natalie. ‘I’ll come down and speak to them. The staff should have organised the students by bus group so it should be fairly straightforward to get them onto the coaches. Ms Beckett, I’ll be back in a few minutes.’
Nat watched in disbelief as Raynor followed the theatre manager back downstairs as though his only concern was getting a few kids on the right bus. How had he not seen the urgency of the situation? Unless he knew something that she didn’t.
The cloud was lowering over the fells and, as Natalie stared out of the window, the first fine flakes of snow, picked up by a gust of wind, pattered at the glass. The view was stunning, distracting, but she couldn’t allow it to divert her from her conviction. The people left at Fellbeck Academy needed help and it looked like she was the only person who was prepared to do anything about it.
She tapped the screen of her phone into life and stared at the keypad. She could ring Kit and explain what was happening or she could even ring the newspaper’s editor for advice but neither option felt right, even though either one would allow her access to the unfolding story. This was much more important than her career.
She tapped three times and put the phone to her ear. It was answered after three rings.
‘Police, please.’
25
Annie watched, terrified, as the man swung the barrel of his rifle towards the students in the front row of the classroom.
‘I asked if anybody wants to confess!’ he yelled.
She could only see the backs of their heads but she knew from the response of the man with the gun that eighteen pale faces were looking anywhere but at him, most seemed to be staring at the desks in front of them but one or two were looking at Miss Frith as though requesting help or guidance. Annie had no idea who had the phone, couldn’t even imagine which one of them would have the balls to do something so risky and so stupid. And, if they’d sent messages to the other students, why hadn’t they contacted their parents or the police?
‘I’ll ask one more time,’ Larry said. ‘And then I’ll start with…’ He scanned the room and then, to Annie’s horror, smiled at Miss Frith. ‘I’ll start with your lovely teacher.’ He lowered the gun and ostentatiously adjusted his crotch.
‘Maybe I won’t shoot her, not straight away.’ He winked at Curly who sneered at him in obvious disgust. Despite her fear, Annie was aware that the three men were no longer on the same page; she just couldn’t work out if that was a good or a bad thing. After her encounter with the other man, the one guarding the door, she wasn’t convinced that any of these threats were real. She didn’t know what their agenda was yet, but everything suggested that much of this was theatre.
‘Well?’ he asked again. ‘Who’s going to do the noble thing and confess?’ Annie saw Harley Morton shift in his seat, but he didn’t look up. Nobody else moved.
She felt a tug on the sleeve of her blouse. Tom was looking up at her, trying to communicate something with his eyes; he shifted them towards the front of the classroom, then down to his lap then back to her face.
She frowned and gave her head a slight shake.
Tom mouthed something and used his thumb to indicate the wound in his side. Was he in pain, was it bleeding again? And then she realised what he was trying to say. He knew who had the phone – it was Harley. Annie mouthed the other boy’s name and Tom gave her the tightest, briefest of nods.
Shit.
If Harley got caught one of the men might do him some serious harm – there was no reason for them not to hurt him just to set an example to the rest of the class. Annie explored her reaction to that scenario and was shocked to find that, while part of her wanted Harley Morton to get whatever was coming to him, another part wanted to protect him. He’d made a huge mistake, but Tom was fine now. Was it fair to throw him to the wolves?
He shifted in his seat again and Annie could see what was going to happen. Harley would confess and would be beaten, or worse and nothing about their situation would change. He had no protection, no lucky charm like she did. There was something about Uncle Gerry that had wrong-footed these men and it might be something she could use.
‘It was me,’ she said, standing up. She heard Tom whimpering ‘No, no, no,’ as he grabbed her ankle, but she shook him off.
‘But I don’t have the phone on me. I’m not stupid: that would be suicidal. I had two phones in my bag and only handed one in. He didn’t know.’ She gave Harley a pointed look. ‘It’s still in the cupboard where I hid.’
Larry lowered his rifle and stared at her, licking his lips. He wasn’t sure, she could tell, but she knew he didn’t want to risk harming her. He knew she was related to Gerry Montrose and, somehow, that was important. As lies went it wasn’t very convincing, but she had to attract their attention away from Harley and, if they believed she’d had another phone and left it somewhere, it might buy him some valuable time.
‘Bollocks,’ he said. ‘If you’ve not got it on you, how could you have sent those texts?’
Annie rolled her eyes, trying to give the impression of frustration with an adult’s lack of technological understanding. ‘I had no signal, but I sent the texts anyway. Sometimes the service in this block comes and goes – I don’t know why. I thought if I left the phone where it was the texts might go eventually.’
‘So, you texted all your friends and then left the phone in the cupboard? Why not keep it and try to call the police? Or your parents? And why leave it in the cupboard if you were trying to escape?’
‘I had no signal,’ Annie repeated, trying to work out a convincing scenario to answer his questions. ‘And I didn’t know if I’d be able to get away. The last thing I wanted was to be caught with a phone on me, so I left it there. I hoped somebody in here might have kept their phone and would have got the message that help was on the way.’
Larry gave her a sceptical sneer. ‘And suddenly your phone has magically connected to the network and has sent texts to all your friends?’
‘Looks like it.’
He shook his head, still not convinced. ‘Who else did you text?’
Annie stared at him. Larry raised his rifle. ‘Who else?’
Annie took a deep breath. ‘I texted 999. If the texts have got through to my friends, then that one should have as well. The police will be on their way.’ She had no idea if this were possible but, if she didn’t know, their captors might not know either.
Annie was trembling but she couldn’t let Larry see that she was frightened. She had to sound plausible, to convince them that help was on the way and that they should leave.
‘I don’t believe a word of this.’ Larry gestured towards Mo. ‘Go and find this phone.’
Annie watched as the man looked at her doubtfully, then back at his boss. She had one last gamble. ‘It might not be there,’ she said. ‘If somebody found it or moved it and it picked up service then that might be another reason the texts got through. Either way, the police will be here soon, if they’re not already.’
The three men all exchanged looks. She’d thrown the one who’d been kind to her under the bus, she knew that, but why should she care? If he was such a nice person, he wouldn’t have been walking round a school wielding a gun.
‘I knew he’d be a fucking liability!’ Larry raged. ‘Bring him here now! And if he’s got that fucking phone, I’ll kill him!’
Curly looked at him doubtfully. ‘Shouldn’t we be leaving? Getting caught was never in the p
lan.’
‘We leave when I say we leave,’ Larry said, his lowered voice adding to the menace of his words. ‘Bring that arsehole to me and find the phone. Now!’
26
Penny left Ruth in her office, poring over the accounts. She didn’t need to stay with her: she knew exactly what the PA would find. Penny had checked earlier to make sure that the 200 grand was still in Cam’s account. He had no idea what was going on, no idea what she’d done and no clue who ‘Adam’ really was. Her only regret was that she couldn’t be there when her brother did the big reveal. She’d had to keep an eye on Ruth, lead her to the accounts and make sure she found out about the money. She’d seemed a bit surprised that the supposed ransom demand was for so little but had no reason to question what Penny was telling her.
Her job now was to get the students out of the humanities block safely. They’d not been in any real danger – apart from the threat from each other, apparently – but they didn’t know that, and she was to be the face and voice of reassurance. Especially to Annie, who wasn’t supposed to have been there. Penny had been stunned when she’d found out that her daughter was in school. The girl was supposed to be shopping in Carlisle, but she couldn’t keep away from bloody Tom Cleaver. A quick text had alerted the team to Annie’s presence but there was no guarantee that it would have made any difference – all Penny could do was pray that her daughter hadn’t been harmed. As far as she knew, they were loyal men – apart from the new one who was an entirely unknown quantity – they knew where the lines were drawn. Using Donna Frith’s brother had been inspired, Penny thought; a great way to recruit an extra body who had everything to lose. She wondered if he’d seen his sister’s distress and finally come to realise exactly who he was dealing with. He might clear his physical debt, but she doubted the emotional toll would ever truly leave him.
A text announced itself on her phone as she made her way through the corridors to the exit to the playground. It was the one in charge – Mike something, she didn’t know his full name – and it was very clear.
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