‘I checked the list of Steve’s personal effects after Cassie’s claim about finding a key,’ Singh continued. ‘There were two bunches of keys found in his room in the cabin, one of which held his house and car keys. I assume the others are for the school.’
He showed Liz a photo of a set of keys and she pointed to one of them. That’s his office key, so it’s definitely accounted for. I don’t understand where Cassie got one from.
She walked off, looking puzzled, and I knew how she felt. I had been sure that Cassie had taken Steve’s key, but it was accounted for. Maybe this mysterious friend she had talked about had given it to her?
Singh looked at me and shook his head. ‘I probably shouldn’t have said that, about keeping the kids safe, but I didn’t like her insinuation. I believe in protecting the children from the gory details of this crime, but these kids aren’t going to respect us, and therefore talk to us, unless we’re honest with them.’
He began to pack up the laptop that had displayed the presentation, and Sasha came over to speak to me.
I can’t believe this is happening. Her face was drawn and there were dark circles under her eyes. Liz called me yesterday to tell me what the police had discovered about Steve. How did I miss something like this?
Both Steve and Leon hid it very well, for different reasons, I replied, trying to reassure her, but she didn’t look convinced.
I know that’s how men like him are successful, because they can blend into society and often nobody would suspect them. But still. I feel like I should have realised something was going on with Leon, and then followed it through.
Singh came back over to us and Sasha gave him a nod in greeting.
‘I think there’s a student waiting to talk to us,’ he said, looking towards the doorway. I turned and saw Cassie, leaning on the doorframe. She beckoned to us.
‘Hi Cassie. Is there something you wanted to talk to us about?’ Singh asked as we approached her.
Cassie laughed, and shook her head. You think people will tell you things about this school?
‘We’re hoping that people will tell us anything that’s worrying them,’ Singh replied, choosing his words carefully. ‘I’m sure there are stories and gossip that have nothing to do with Leon and Mr Wilkinson. But if anyone knows something that might help us with our investigation, they really should talk to us about it.’
Cassie nodded slowly. What if someone knows something, but they’re not allowed to tell you?
‘They’ll always be allowed to tell us, Cassie,’ Singh said, looking her in the eyes. ‘If someone has told them that they’re not allowed, that other person hasn’t got their best interests in mind.’
For a moment, I thought Cassie was going to tell us something, but then Jess Farriday appeared behind her.
Cassie, you need to get back to class, she told her. Don’t waste the detective’s time.
The girl hesitated, then backed away, watching us as she left.
‘Miss Farriday, can we help you?’ Singh asked, his voice curt. I could tell he was angry at her dismissal of Cassie.
I wanted to make sure Cassie got back to her lessons, she replied. You’ve wasted enough of the students’ time already this morning.
She turned and stalked away. Somehow, I didn’t believe her. I wondered if she’d come back to see if any of the students were hoping to speak to the police. Sasha frowned at Jess’s retreating back, then excused herself and went off in the same direction.
What could be going through Jess’s mind right now? The man she’d been seeing had been exposed as a paedophile, grooming one of his own students. Surely she should be more shocked and horrified? Unless her relationship with Steve hadn’t been what it had seemed. Anna had told me that Jess used men to get what she wanted, so maybe the police should be looking at what she might have wanted from Steve.
‘Right, I think we should wait for a while, in case a student does want to speak to us, or in case Cassie comes back,’ Singh said. ‘I can’t quite read her. I don’t know if there’s actually anything useful she can tell us or not. I know Sasha said she had learning difficulties, but she comes across as quite astute to me. Could it all be an act?’
He looked at me as he asked this, suggesting it wasn’t a rhetorical question, but I shook my head. ‘I’m the wrong person to ask. Her BSL is a little bit below age appropriate, I’d say, but all that means is she might have some level of language delay, it doesn’t always point to learning difficulties. However, looking at it the other way around, if a student had learning difficulties, I would probably expect them to have some language delay. But I think you’d need an educational psychologist to answer that for certain. Could you ask to look at her school records?’ I suggested.
‘On what grounds, though?’ Singh asked. ‘No, I don’t think we can do that at the moment, we just need to keep an eye on her. A couple of the students mentioned her imaginary friend, but what if this is a real person? She’s claiming her friend is telling her not to talk to the police, and at first I wondered if this was a voice in her head, or if it was all just made up for attention, but I’m starting to think it could be an actual person who’s manipulating her.’
‘If Cassie’s “friend” told her to look for her phone in Steve’s office, it would make sense for them to be real,’ I said. ‘Why else would she break in there in the middle of the night?’
We thought about this as we waited, but no students appeared over break time, and when the next lesson started Singh wanted to get set up for some more interviews. I’d forgotten to charge my phone overnight, so while he was setting up I went back to my car for a portable charger I always kept in my glove compartment. As I shut the car door I saw a movement out of the corner of my eye. On the far side of the car park, I could see two people down the side of the residential block, an adult and a female student. A bolt of adrenaline shot through me and I headed towards them. Given what we’d learnt about safeguarding issues in the school, I wasn’t going to just sit there. Even if it was perfectly innocent, I knew that the students should have been in lessons.
As I approached, I realised it was Mike, and the student was Cassie. They were signing frantically to one another, and I could see by the expression on her face that she was giving him some attitude.
‘Is everything okay?’ I asked when I got close enough for Mike to hear me.
He whirled around. ‘Paige. What do you want?’
‘I saw you talking and I wondered why Cassie was out of class.’ I could see something flaring in his eyes as I spoke – was it fear or anger? Behind him, Cassie took a step back and leant against the wall. Her eyes were wide, but I thought it was with interest in our argument rather than fear.
‘That’s between me and my student.’
I didn’t speak for a minute, wondering what to do. I had absolutely no authority in this place, and yet something felt wrong, wrong enough for me to want to do something about it.
‘You can go now, thank you,’ Mike said to me, his voice a low warning rumble, but I ignored it and reached past him to Cassie. As I did, my arm brushed his and I felt a burning sensation in my scar.
Cassie, come with me, I signed. Miss Marcek wants to speak to you.
The girl’s eyes lit up. She slipped past Mike and walked towards me, waving goodbye to him as she went. I walked back across the car park with Cassie, not knowing what I was going to say when we reached the deputy head’s office. Had I done the right thing? Or had I just interfered where it wasn’t my place, and made my ex angry unnecessarily?
Chapter 23
I took Cassie inside and looked around for someone to escort her back to class. Liz Marcek was standing in the lobby having a discussion with one of the teachers.
Cassie, why are you out of class? she asked the girl, ignoring me.
Sorry, Miss Marcek, I’m going now.
The deputy head signed something to the teacher, then turned back to Cassie. Come on, I’ll walk with you.
They both wal
ked away from me without her asking for any explanation as to why I had been with Cassie or where we’d been. I was glad I didn’t have to explain, but I was concerned that the deputy head hadn’t even asked.
As I walked back to the meeting room, I wondered if I’d done the right thing. I told myself I should tell Singh what I’d seen, but I hadn’t witnessed anything illegal or untoward. Mike wasn’t the one who had been messaging students, that was Steve, and he was dead.
The detectives wanted to interview Jess Farriday again, to see if she had had any suspicion about what Steve was doing. She was visibly trembling when she came into the meeting room, though whether it was from anger following the run-in in the hall with Cassie, or distress at the revelation about Steve, I couldn’t tell. Singh had decided to continue conducting any interviews at the school in order to minimise the disruption for staff and students. That, and it was about fifty minutes from the school to the police station in Scunthorpe, so it prevented any wasted time asking staff to travel. Lincoln didn’t come under the jurisdiction of Humberside police, being in Lincolnshire rather than North Lincolnshire, but because the crime had taken place at Normanby Hall it was still under Humberside.
It felt strange to be sitting here opposite Jess, knowing she had dated both my current and ex-boyfriend, and was possibly seeing Mike again. We were so different, in looks and temperament, yet we’d both been attracted to the same men. In her teenage years she’d been a bully; was she still the same? She was slimmer than me, and prettier, and I found myself wondering if Max would prefer her to me if he had the opportunity to date her again. Shaking the thought off, I concentrated on the conversation.
There must be some mistake with your evidence against Steve, Jess told the detectives as soon as she sat down. You’re wasting your time with this when you should be trying to find Leon.
‘What sort of mistake?’ Singh asked gently.
There’s no way Steve could have been involved in anything like that. Maybe he was trying to show the kids the dangers of talking to strangers online? she suggested.
‘The nature of the messages that passed between him and Leon go far beyond what could be considered reasonable in that situation.’
There was desperation in Jess’s eyes, and I felt a pang of sympathy for her. It must be awful to discover the man you had been dating was hiding such a terrible secret.
I still can’t believe it, she repeated, shaking her head. He would never do anything like that. I was dating him, I’d know if he was the sort of man who would do something like that!
Singh leant forward slightly. ‘Miss Farriday, I completely understand your position. Nobody ever wants to know that someone they care about is capable of committing a crime, but unfortunately it does happen. Men like that are skilled at hiding their actions, because they know how other people would view them.’
Could there have been a mix-up with accounts? she persisted. Maybe the techs made a mistake.
‘One of our forensic IT officers is examining the school system as we speak,’ he told her. ‘If anything got mixed up, or if things were transferred from one account to another, we’ll know about it.’
That must be what happened, she insisted. This wasn’t Steve. He definitely wasn’t that sort of person.
Tears shone in her eyes as she signed this, and I wondered if she was more concerned about posthumous damage to Steve’s reputation or damage to her own if people found out she’d been dating a sex offender with a preference for teenage boys.
‘Are you sure you weren’t aware of this before yesterday?’ Singh asked, a cold note in his voice. His eyes narrowed, and I knew that meant he was on to something.
What do you mean? Jess asked, blinking rapidly.
‘When we were looking into Steve Wilkinson’s computer account activity, we found that someone had used his log-in details on Friday evening, around eight o’clock. At that time, Steve was already at Normanby Hall.’
There was a long pause.
And you think that was me?
‘Apart from the residential staff, yours was the only other computer account accessed that evening, so we know you were in school.’
Another long pause, then her shoulders sagged. Okay, it was me. But I had no idea about these messages to Leon.
‘Why were you using his account, then?’ Singh asked, his face impassive.
Jess chewed her lip for a moment before answering. I was looking at some of the budget data. I wanted to take some of the students to a disability sports competition in Bristol, but it would have required an overnight stay. Steve said we couldn’t afford it. I thought I could have a look at the data and find a way of saving some money in another area, so that we could go on the trip.
It sounded like a plausible explanation, though a bit altruistic for the Jess Anna had described to me. Would she really want to risk getting in trouble just so that some kids could go on a school trip? What was in it for her?
Singh didn’t seem completely convinced either. ‘How did you get his log-in details?’
Jess paused before she replied. He gave me his password.
‘Really? He was your boyfriend, but he was also your boss. Why would he risk compromising his own privacy?’
He trusted me. Jess did her best to outstare Singh, but after an uncomfortable few seconds she looked away.
Without any further questions, Singh let Jess go back to her teaching. He sat back and sighed, folding his arms.
‘I don’t know if she’s telling the truth, but we have no evidence to contradict her. We have to assume that Leon is our main suspect now,’ he said, though I thought he was talking to himself rather than me. ‘Finding his blood at the crime scene makes it look like he and Steve fought, Leon was injured in the process, but he killed Steve. If Leon arranged to meet Joe, then found out his sixteen-year-old online boyfriend was actually his middle-aged head teacher …’ His voice tailed off and he stared out of the window for a moment. ‘Hopefully we’ll be able to get a full record of the messages between them, then we can see if they arranged to meet. And maybe we’ll get an indication of where Leon’s hiding now.’
‘Even if he did kill Steve, he’s still a victim,’ I said. ‘He was abused by his father, then found out another man was trying to take advantage of him. He won’t feel like he can trust anyone now, so where would he go?’
Singh was about to reply when there was a knock on the door. Before either of us had a chance to open it, Liz Marcek flung it open and stormed in, a tablet clutched in her hands. She shoved it in Singh’s face and he took it from her, his frown deepening as he scrolled. I glanced over and saw the browser was open to a news page, and what appeared to be a story about a staff member grooming students.
‘Who did this?’ Singh barked.
I don’t know. One of the staff just brought it to my attention. This didn’t come from anyone in the school, so I want to know what the hell you’re thinking of, leaking a story like this to the media?
Singh was skimming the story. ‘It says a source close to the investigation. That could quite easily be one of your staff.’
Liz let out a snort, then turned to me. Or it could be your interpreter. I’ve heard she has a reputation for trying to draw attention to herself.
I was so taken aback at her accusation that Singh had to prompt me to interpret it for him. I opened my mouth to reply, to defend myself, but he cut me off.
‘Miss Marcek, I understand that you’re angry, but I will not accept unfounded allegations being levelled at my colleagues. The only people who know who leaked this are the reporter, and the leak themselves. This story is just as damaging to our investigation as it is to your school.’
To hell with your investigation, she signed, a snarl on her face. The man’s dead now, what does it matter who killed him if he was a pervert preying on our students? They’ve done us a favour.
‘And what about Leon?’ Singh asked, standing up so he could look Liz in the eye. ‘Should we forget about trying to find hi
m? A vulnerable runaway teenager?’
For a brief moment I thought Liz was going to snap back at him, but she didn’t reply, her hands clenched into fists at her side, and a moment later she stormed back out of the room. Blowing out a long breath, Singh rubbed his head.
‘Shit. This has made things a lot more difficult. We need to track down this leak as soon as possible.’
‘It wasn’t me, Rav,’ I said, but he held up a hand to stop me.
‘Of course it wasn’t you, I know that. I expect it was a member of staff looking for a bit of extra cash. I told her it was a bad idea telling them all about it yesterday, but I understand why she did it. If any staff members referred students’ disclosures on to Steve, we need to follow them up and see if he dealt with them accordingly. This leak could easily have come from a staff member who has lost faith in this school’s ability to handle safeguarding concerns.’
I didn’t say that I was sure I knew who had put the idea into Liz’s head that it might have been me – Mike hadn’t been happy with the way I’d spoken to him last night, so it stood to reason that he could have leaked the story then tried to lay the blame on me in a twisted sort of revenge. Besides, he always needed extra cash, and he’d see this as an easy payout.
Singh called Forest to discuss what to do next while I sat in the entrance and waited. Liz had left the tablet behind, so I scrolled through the story. It didn’t give out too much detail, which suggested that the person leaking the information didn’t actually know that much, or they were holding some information back for more money. If it was Mike, that was definitely something he would do.
Mike was a gambling addict. Maybe he had his addiction under control at the moment, but when we were together it had ruled his life. When he wasn’t at work, he was playing online games or going to the casino in Lincoln. Each month, when his own wages ran out, he started on mine. At first it was small amounts here or there near to the end of the month, with promises to pay me back. Then the amounts got bigger and the length of time before he ran out of his own money got shorter. If he was still gambling, I knew he’d do pretty much anything for money, and throwing his own workplace under the bus wasn’t outside the realms of possibility. Of course, if the school was closed down due to safeguarding concerns he would lose his job, but he’d never been very good at looking ahead to the consequences of his actions.
Silent Night Page 18
