Call me. Now!
Penny didn’t know who he thought he was, giving her orders, but she’d make sure Gerry knew about this. She briefly considered letting him sweat for a while but it might be something important, or something to do with Annie, so she didn’t dare ignore it.
‘What?’ she snapped as soon as the man answered.
‘Wait.’
Penny heard a door opening and closing. ‘Where are you?’ she asked. ‘You can’t leave the classroom.’
‘I’m literally outside the door. Spanner’s looking after them. He’s solid.’
‘Spanner? Where’s Charlie? And that other one – the new one?’
She heard a heavy sigh, obviously this was a man who didn’t like to be questioned.
‘That’s what we need to talk about. One of the kids had a phone. She escaped for a few minutes and claims she sent a text to 999…’
‘She’s lying,’ Penny said.
‘That’s what I’d be tempted to think but she texted all her little friends as well and we just got a bunch of messages come through saying the police are on the way.’
‘Come through where? On whose phone?’ He wasn’t making sense.
‘On all the fucking phones! We took them off the kids and locked them in a drawer and they all started going off like a bloody pinball machine. If these texts got through, then the one she sent to the emergency services must have as well.’
He wasn’t making any sense. How could one of the students have sent a message? ‘I don’t–’
Another sigh. ‘One of the kids escaped. While she was gone, she claims to have sent a series of texts including one to the emergency services. The ones she sent to her mates say that the police are on their way.’
He still wasn’t making sense. Penny was missing something. ‘Check her phone. See if she sent the texts.’
‘She doesn’t have it on her. She claims she left it in a cupboard and it had no signal but it must have found some because the texts to her friends came through. I’m worried that Andy whatever his name is found it and moved it and that’s how it managed to find enough signal to send the texts.’
‘So, ask him.’
‘Chas is doing that now, hang on.’
Penny heard a muffled conversation, then shouting which sounded like ‘Find it!’ before Mike came back on the line.
‘He says he hasn’t seen it. Says there was no phone when he found the kid. She might be lying but then where did the texts come from?’
‘Have you checked that she hasn’t still got the phone? Have you searched her – I thought that would be the obvious course of action, and one you’d enjoy.’
‘I can’t do that. I need you to come over here, now.’
Bloody incompetent, Penny thought. How hard would it be for him to check whether the girl still had the phone and, if she did, check its contents.
‘Look, I’m on my way. Find out if she’s still got the phone before I get there. Use force if you have to. Make the silly cow see sense.’
‘Okay,’ Mike responded, his tone suddenly much more cheerful. ‘If I have your permission. I think you should know something though.’
Penny knew even before he said the words.
‘The girl with the phone is your daughter.’
27
Cam watched Pearson as he paced the room, desperately trying to work out what he could say to get the man to free his hands.
‘Why don’t you just tell me what you want?’ Cam said again. ‘If it’s money I can arrange something. If you want me to say sorry for the way I treated Chrissie then I am, I am genuinely sorry.’ He was lying. Getting money wasn’t too difficult, but he hadn’t done anything to drive his wife into the arms of another man and, if anybody thought he had, he’d willingly put them straight when this ordeal was over.
Pearson walked back to Cam’s desk and stood behind his chair, out of sight. ‘Nice chair,’ Pearson said. ‘Comfy. Must’ve cost quite a bit.’
It had. Nearly £1,000 from school funds to ergonomically support Cam’s back. Cam stayed quiet. Something had changed, the man’s demeanour was subtly different.
‘You want to know what I want?’
Cam nodded. Pearson moved back to the seat opposite and his eyes drifted to the window and softened as though he were remembering something fondly. ‘I want to kill you,’ the man said, his expression unaltered by the brutality of his words. ‘I’ve wanted to kill you for years.’
Cam strained helplessly against the plastic ties that kept him bound to his desk. He’d thought this was about Chrissie but it wasn’t, and it wasn’t just about the money. There was something far more sinister going on; something personal.
‘I never thought I’d get a chance like this, especially after Chrissie died, but it’s amazing what people will do for their family.’
He wasn’t making sense. Who was he talking about? Cam had no idea, but he did know that he had to keep the man talking; his pistol was tucked in his belt and Cam was starting to think that he might really use it. Cam needed to use the one weapon at his disposal; his voice. ‘I don’t understand,’ he said. ‘You’re doing this for your family? What does that mean?’
Pearson smiled, his eyes still focused on something he could see out of the window. ‘No. If anything I’m doing it for your family, what’s left of it.’
Tom? Did this have something to do with Tom?
‘I’ve only got my son. You’re doing this for him?’
‘Not for him exactly, but he’ll benefit – in the long run. He’ll never make anything of his life with you holding him back.’
‘I–’
‘Oh, I know. You’re father of the fucking year, you’d never do anything to hurt your son, blah, blah, blah. What if you’re hurting him just by being his father? Or just by being alive?’
Cam was struggling. This wasn’t the same man who’d taken charge in a crisis, who’d given orders and expected to be listened to, this was somebody who was unhinged. The way he kept staring out of the window with that odd, wistful look on his face, the cryptic comments. Something was seriously wrong here.
‘You really don’t know who I am?’ Pearson turned and locked eyes with Cam – a challenge. Cam studied the face, the dark eyes beneath heavy brows; the strong jawline with the shadow of his facial hair clearly defined even at this early hour. Was there something familiar? He wasn’t sure, and he wasn’t sure whether to be truthful. If he denied all knowledge of the man, would that be better or worse? He decided to try honesty. ‘I have no idea who you are. Do you have children at this school?’
Pearson snorted, obviously finding this highly amusing or ironic. ‘If I had kids, I wouldn’t allow them within ten miles of you. You must have told some lies to get where you are. I remember you, Cameron Cleaver. I remember you very clearly. You haunted my nightmares for years and I’ve waited a long time to put those ghosts to rest.’
‘So why not come after me? Why drag the school into this?’
Pearson stood up and stretched his arms out. ‘This is you. You are the school. It was a dump before you took over and you’ve turned it around – with some help admittedly, but it’s your name on the headed notepaper, your name on the sign at the gates. I don’t just want to destroy you, Cam, I want to destroy everything you’ve created. I want your reputation. How many parents will want their children to come here after they know what you’ve done? How you’ve squandered school funds and failed to stop an armed raid on the school? You think they’ll be putting Fellbeck as their first choice after this?’
School funds? The money that Penny had asked him for. Was that part of this? It was still in his account because she’d asked him to hold on to it for another week. She’d been in his office earlier, checking something. Was she making sure that he’d not bottled out and repaid the 200 grand? But how could Pearson know about that?
‘Look,’ Cam said, trying to sound reasonable. ‘Let’s try and work this out. Tell me what I did to you and we can sort someth
ing out. I’ve told you, I’ve got money and I can get more.’
Pearson swung round and slapped Cam across the side of the head. Shock and pain made him cry out.
‘You want to give me money? Oh, that’s fucking rich. How much did you take off me over the years?’
‘I’ve told you; I don’t know who you are,’ Cam mumbled through snot and tears. ‘If I’ve taken anything from you, I can repay it.’
‘How about three years of my life? How can you repay that? Three years of beatings. Three years of torment and torture. Can you give me those three years back, Cam? Can you? Pearson’s voice raised to a shriek as he lashed out again, striking Cam below the eye.
‘I don’t– I’m–’ Cam stammered.
‘I know you don’t. Why would you remember me? Let me remind you. When I was eleven, I started at the grammar school.’ Pearson sat down again as though settling in to tell a long story. ‘I was a bright lad and I wanted to do well at school. I was good at maths and sports and my teachers said I should work hard and get a good job. But I hated going to school. I hated it so much that I made up excuses to my mum – bellyache, headache, colds, anything I could think of – but she still made me go. The teachers started to think I was lazy and a skiver and they stopped encouraging me and started punishing me. By the time I started studying for my GCSEs it was too late. I’d spent three years avoiding school or being so terrified when I was there that I couldn’t concentrate. Three years is a long time at that age, you’ll know that, Cam.’
‘I still don’t see–’ Cam said, but he was starting to understand; starting to remember.
‘You bullied me, Cameron Cleaver. You kicked me, punched me, stole from me and made my life a living hell. And, when I was old enough to recognise the full extent of the damage you caused, I wanted to pay you back. I got rich, much richer than you. I married a good-looking woman, younger than me. I built a business and I built respect. But I never forgot. And nor did my big sister. She was the one who had to wash my sheets when I pissed the bed and didn’t want my mum to know. She was the one who bandaged me up and put me back together time and time again only to have you tear me apart. She recognised you as soon as she started working here.’
‘Penny.’
‘Yes, Penny. She gave me your address, so I watched your house for a few weeks. Then I watched your wife. I didn’t love Chrissie, Cam. But I want you to know how little she loved you. I seduced her and encouraged her to leave you, but it wasn’t love – not on my part anyway. She never knew who I was – I called myself Adam Pearson and the name just sort of stuck.’
‘Your real name’s Gerald,’ Cam said, realisation dawning. ‘I picked on you when I was at the grammar school. Oh shit, Penny helped to set all this up?’
‘Go to the top of the class. You thought you inspired loyalty in your staff, but they all despise you – those who aren’t afraid of you.’
Cam watched as the man stood up and removed the gun from the belt of his trousers.
‘And I think they’ll all thank me for this,’ he said, leaning across the desk and holding the weapon to Cam’s temple.
‘Now, follow my instructions. Keep still. Eyes down. Don’t breathe.’
28
Penny ended the call, desperately hoping that her threats had prevented Mike from harming her daughter. The man knew that he was risking Gerry’s wrath as well as her own and she just hoped he had the good judgement to make the right decision and leave Annie alone. She picked up her pace as she jogged down the corridor to the main hall. If Mike was right and the police were on their way, she needed to do some serious damage limitation which meant getting the men off site without the students realising she was involved. With Gerry still occupied in Cam’s office she knew that it was down to her to rescue the situation. She pushed open the door to the playground, preparing to cover the short distance to the humanities block at a run when a shot rang out from somewhere near the front of the school. Were the police here already? Had they got Gerry?
She paused, trying to decide what to do. If Gerry had been arrested, then she was in charge. She needed to tell the men to get out. Phone would be quicker. Turning back into the school, Penny dialled and then ran back to reception with the phone to her ear.
‘Get out!’ she yelled as soon as Mike answered. ‘Go now. Don’t take any risks, just leave. I’ll be in touch.’
Without waiting for his answer, she charged into the reception area, surprised to see it empty. No police and no sign of Cam and Gerry. The shot should have brought Ruth Warnesford running – unless she’d decided to stay in Penny’s office for her own safety.
Cam’s office door was closed. She tiptoed closer and placed her ear against the wood. Nothing. No voices and no more shots. Slowly she clenched her hand around the door handle and pressed down, easing the door open an inch, then two, then a foot.
‘Penny.’ Her brother looked up at her, his eyes full of gratitude and another emotion that she couldn’t quite recognise – triumph?
She looked past him to the wreckage of Cameron Cleaver’s head and the red and grey spatter on the wall behind him. Cam’s hands had been freed, the right one was on the desk with a pistol next to it.
‘What the fuck did you do?’ she hissed as Gerry wiped his face with his hands.
‘What I’ve wanted to do for years. Killed the fucker.’
‘No,’ Penny whispered, looking down at Cam’s body. ‘Not like this. This wasn’t what we planned. You were supposed to leave with those fucking idiots in the classroom. Ruth knows about the money – I made sure she saw the accounts. Cam would have been finished. No matter how much he tried to blame me it would have been his word against mine. Christ. I even made sure she saw that he’d done it before. There was no way he could have wriggled out of the charges. That’s what we planned – he’d have been disgraced, you’d have won and nobody would have got hurt.’
Gerry smiled and scratched his head. ‘Sometimes things don’t go to plan. Sometimes a better solution comes along.’
‘This isn’t better!’ Penny yelled. ‘This is murder!’
‘Or is it? I wiped the gun and wrapped his hand round it. Poor guy must’ve killed himself rather than face up to what he’d done. He’d have been arrested for embezzling school funds. Maybe he couldn’t live with the shame.’
There wasn’t time to make sense of this. Gerry needed to get away.
‘Go! Now!’ Penny said. ‘Something’s gone wrong and the police are on their way. I’ll do what I can to make this better but there are no guarantees, Gerry.’
It wasn’t triumph Penny had seen in her brother’s face, she realised, it was contentment. He’d finally found some peace after harbouring his hatred for so long. But it wouldn’t last if he were caught. She’d spent so much of his childhood trying to help him, to make things better, that it was second nature now. Despite his wealth and power, Gerry would always be that frightened little boy who needed his big sister to make things better.
‘Gerry, get out. Go round the back, through the hedge, the way you came.’
He still wasn’t moving. His eyes were fixed on Cam and, just for a second, Penny expected her brother to pick up the gun and shoot his tormentor again. Then he turned to her. ‘It’s over.’
Penny reached out and placed a soothing hand on his arm, just like she’d done when they were children. ‘It’s over, G. He’s gone. And now you’ve got to go.’
Gerry nodded his understanding and walked to the door. He turned back to her, eyes brimming with unshed tears. ‘It was–’
He didn’t finish his sentence. The door was pushed open so violently that it crashed against the wall of the office and black figures filled the rectangle of space.
‘Armed police! Down! Now!’
As she knelt, hands laced on top of her head, Penny gave her little brother one last smile. Gerry, kneeling beside her, smiled back and she nodded. He was right. It was over.
After
Natalie Beckett stared at the
shifting pattern of light on the high fells. She’d chosen the theatre café as the venue for this meeting because it felt right somehow. This was where she’d first understood the story; where she’d realised that she’d found a way to get her career on track. It was also where she’d put all that to one side and done the right thing by calling the police. Now it was where Annie Bainbridge had agreed to tell her side of what had happened over eighteen months ago. Events that still echoed around the small town.
Movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention and she turned to see Annie Bainbridge move from the top of the stairs to the counter where a waiting barista gave her a wide smile of recognition. Natalie wasn’t surprised. Despite the actions of her mother and uncle, Annie Bainbridge was well liked here, some even thought of her as a hero – a role she’d downplayed – or a saviour. Whatever she thought of her own actions, there was no doubt that Annie’s quick thinking and bravery had saved the police a lot of time and effort and may well have saved the lives of her classmates.
Annie must have sensed Natalie’s gaze as she turned and smiled, raising her hand in greeting. The two women had met before, both during and after the court case, and had shared the first small sparks of friendship. A friendship that Natalie wouldn’t betray but hoped meant enough to Annie to allow her to trust that she’d tell her story with sympathy and compassion.
‘Hi, Annie,’ Natalie said, standing up to give the girl a hug. ‘You okay?’
Annie placed her latte carefully on the table and returned the affectionate greeting. ‘Not too bad. Glad my first-year exams are over. My teachers told me that A-levels were the hardest exams I’d ever sit but first-year law is brutal.’
She took a sip of her coffee, allowing Natalie the chance to study her more closely. The long copper hair was tied back in a single plait, finished with a tartan scrunchie and her make-up was minimal but skilfully applied. Her checked shirt and ripped jeans looked well lived in but clean and her purple DMs suggested somebody secure in their fashion choices. Annie Bainbridge looked like a confident, assured young woman. Anybody meeting her for the first time would never suspect that she’d endured a life-changing ordeal.
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