Singh nodded. ‘Okay. Did you tell anyone about Joe?’
Kian shook his head vehemently. Not at the time. It was only a couple of weeks ago when we realised we’d all been talking to Joe.
‘How did you all find out?’
When I saw Leon texting him, Kian replied. I asked him about Joe, and he wouldn’t tell me at first. But when I told him I used to get messages from someone called Joe too, we started talking. Then I told Bradley and he was really angry. He admitted he’d got a new phone too, then he asked the girls and we all talked about it. We asked a couple of the other residential kids, the ones who aren’t in care and just board on a weekly basis, and they didn’t know what we were talking about, so we knew it was just the five of us. It’s stupid, I thought I was the only one. We all did.
‘Why were you angry?’ Singh asked, turning to Bradley.
The older boy slouched in his chair and grimaced before replying. I thought it was something to do with Leon. I’ve always told Kian not to give out his information, yet this Joe seemed to know all about him, what school he went to, what team he supported, shit like that. I knew he wouldn’t have done it, so I thought maybe Leon had given our information to someone he knew.
‘Your information as well?’
Bradley nodded. I’d been getting messages from Joe too, but there was nothing dodgy about them. I mean, he told me his dad was a violent alcoholic and he was thinking about running away with his little sister, to protect her from him. We talked about a lot of stuff, but the Joe I talked to was definitely into girls, from the things he said. But then when I realised he was messaging all of us, I wondered if Leon had told him things about us, so that he knew what to say. He knew how to make us open up, you know.
Singh looked thoughtful for a moment. ‘And what about you two?’ He looked at Courtney and Cassie. ‘Do you have similar stories?’
I think it’s a coincidence, Courtney signed. I noticed she was sticking to BSL this time rather than speaking, probably because the other students were using BSL too. I don’t think the person I was talking to is the same one as these three, she told Singh, flicking her hair over her shoulder. The person chatting to me was another girl, and she spelt her name Jo, without the e.
This girl, she started off by talking about how much she liked school, and how many friends she had, Courtney continued. It almost turned into a competition between us, you know? Who was more popular. Well, after a while she started talking about things she’d done to other kids. Mean things. She was saying how much fun she had making another girl cry, getting a boy into trouble for something he didn’t do, even making fun of a teacher. I didn’t think it sounded like fun, it was all a bit childish, and I told her that. So, she started daring me to do things.
There was a long pause, and I noticed that Kian’s leg was jiggling nervously again.
‘And did you do any of those things?’ Singh asked.
Courtney turned the colour of beetroot. Maybe. A couple of things. I just wanted to see if she was right, that it would be fun, but I felt awful and I apologised afterwards.
No, you didn’t, Kian signed to her. You never apologised to me for sticking my uniform in the sink after PE. How did you even get in the boys’ changing rooms?
You didn’t apologise to me either, Cassie chimed in. Those mints made me so poorly. She turned to Singh. She told me they were weight-loss mints but I had to eat two packets a day for them to work. But they have something in them that makes you go to the loo. It was horrible.
Courtney stifled a laugh. Yeah, but I bet you lost weight, didn’t you?
‘Okay, I get the picture,’ Singh said, interrupting before it descended into an argument about Courtney’s bullying of her fellow students. ‘Why do you think this person is the same as the one who was talking to you, Kian?’
Bradley looked at the messages, Kian replied, looking to his brother. He said the language was the same, like they used the same words and phrases. And they made the same mistakes too, spelling and grammar. Bradley’s really good at English, better than me, so he could see the mistakes.
‘That’s very clever,’ Singh said, looking at Bradley. The older boy just shrugged, but Kian beamed at the praise of the brother he worshipped.
It’s obvious, anyway, Bradley signed. Five of us get a new phone, are told to keep it secret, and someone starts messaging us on it? Of course it’s the same person. He thumped the table. I can’t believe I was so stupid. I should have told a teacher straight away.
‘Don’t blame yourself, Bradley,’ Singh replied, with a shake of his head. ‘You weren’t to know what would happen.’
His reassurances didn’t seem to have an impact on Bradley, who stayed slumped down in his seat.
‘Cassie, what about you?’
It was Jo without an e for me too. But she didn’t say any of the stuff she said to Courtney. She was the one being bullied, and she said nobody understood her except me. Cassie shrugged. I thought she wanted to be my friend.
‘Were you all messaging Joe at the same time?’
No, Bradley replied. Kian got messages first, at the start of September. Then it was you, wasn’t it, Courtney? The girl nodded, and Bradley continued. Then Cassie, then me. Leon was the last person Joe started talking to.
‘Okay,’ Singh replied. ‘Can I go back to the beginning of your story for a moment? You said that you all got new phones. Do any of you know who they were from?’
The students all glanced at each other, but nobody volunteered an answer, so Singh looked to Sasha.
I don’t know. You’d have to ask Liz if they came out of the school budget. She gave Singh a look that was easy to read – she knew they hadn’t. If Steve had been the one grooming Leon, then he must have been the one to give them the phones, too.
The note with them said we shouldn’t tell anyone we had new phones, in case they were jealous, and that we should only use them in private, Kian said. We didn’t find out about each other’s phones, or about Joe, until a few days before Leon disappeared. When I realised we were both messaging him and told Bradley, he asked the girls, and we all agreed that we had to keep it a secret.
Singh and Sasha looked at each other. ‘I think I’m going to need to take those phones,’ Singh said.
Courtney looked dismayed, but Kian and Bradley were already rooting in their bags for the phones.
I can’t, Cassie said. I told you. I lost mine.
‘That was the phone you lost? Have you seen it since the weekend you went to Normanby Hall?’ Singh asked. I remembered that she had broken into Steve’s office because she thought her phone would be in there, and if she was right maybe he’d been trying to cover his tracks.
Cassie shook her head. That explained what she, Bradley and Courtney had been keeping from him the other night – the other two realised Cassie was talking about her second phone, her secret phone, and they couldn’t be the ones to share the secret.
‘Okay, if it turns up please let us know. Do any of you still have the messages from Joe on your phones?’
They all shook their heads.
None of us have had any messages since Leon went missing. When we realised it might have something to do with Joe, we deleted everything, Bradley told the detectives. I’m sorry, it was a stupid thing to do, but we were covering our own backs.
‘Don’t worry. We can get in touch with the service provider and see if we can get a record of the messages. If we find out who was messaging you it might help us to find out where Leon is, and who killed Mr Wilkinson.’
Whilst we knew that Steve had been posing as Joe, the kids didn’t, and Singh clearly wanted to keep it that way. I thought I couldn’t be shocked any further, but this new revelation had succeeded. Had Steve been posing as Joe to all of them in an attempt to find the perfect candidate for grooming? I felt sick at the thought.
The students were sent back to class but Sasha stayed in the room with us.
I feel like I’ve failed them, she told us, shakin
g her head slowly. She looked devastated that she’d missed what was going on. If I’d known sooner I would have come to you, but they’re good at keeping secrets. Bradley has it in his head that he and Kian need to keep a low profile, in case they’re split up or have to leave here and end up in some children’s home. They were born in London, but they came up here for school when they were taken into care, because none of the London schools had places at the time when they needed an emergency placement. This is home now, but Bradley still holds a fear of London as a whole, because the person who abused him is there, albeit in prison now.
‘To me it seems likely that whoever was speaking to them knew them well enough to be able to build a rapport quite quickly,’ Singh told her. ‘The male version of Joe offered friendship to Kian and Bradley, and the same to Cassie but this time as a girl. Whereas to Courtney the female Jo offered competition, and egged her on to become the bully that all popular students have the potential to become. Popularity is power in a school environment, and they must have known just how to push Courtney’s buttons. They worked their way round the students until they found one who responded in the way they wanted. Kian backed off when the talk became intimate, Bradley was never going to open up completely to a stranger. Courtney got bored of it eventually, and Cassie just wanted a friend, nothing more. Leon was the one who responded to Joe enough to be led into a relationship.’
‘That’s pretty scary,’ I said. ‘But surely it was Steve, wasn’t it?’ I was confused; I thought it had been obvious, but Singh didn’t seem completely convinced.
A frown etched lines on his forehead. ‘I still think there’s something we’re missing. It’s highly unusual for a paedophile to target both boys and girls, so this doesn’t quite add up.’
They got the phones only a couple of weeks after Steve started working here, Sasha pointed out. That would explain why he gave phones to all of them – he didn’t know the students well enough yet to know who best to target.
‘So, it’s possible he delivered the phones, got to know the students over time and then gradually worked out which student would be the most receptive to his advances,’ I suggested.
Singh looked thoughtful for a moment, a frown running deep furrows across his forehead. ‘Something doesn’t add up. We’re missing something,’ he repeated. He shook his head. ‘I can’t put my finger on it. I need to see Saul anyway, so I’ll see if he can help with the students’ phones. It’ll be quicker than taking them back to the station and putting them in a queue for the IT techs. Paige, I don’t think I’ll need you again today, so you can go home if you like.’
Sasha and I walked out to the car park together while Singh went to look for the IT teacher. The sky was darker than before, the snow coming down heavier, and I was relieved that I could go home before the roads got too bad.
It looks like you were right about something going on, I told her.
She gave me a rueful smile. I know, but I wish I’d been wrong. And you were the one who spotted the second phones. I’m really sorry about yesterday. I should have believed you.
I shrugged. I understand why you thought I was behaving oddly. I knew there was something strange about the phones, though. Hopefully this will help the police to get to the bottom of everything.
She nodded, and we walked on for a moment, deep in our own thoughts.
You know, I need a new interpreter, she told me. I was glad she’d changed the subject; I couldn’t bear to keep thinking about all of the students being targeted.
What for? I asked.
I work here one day a week, but I’m a regular social worker and I have hearing clients, as well as plenty of meetings to attend. At the moment our office uses a revolving bank of interpreters, but I’ve convinced them to employ one for three days a week. I can use the other day for visits to deaf clients or paperwork, then.
When will it be advertised? I asked. The idea of a contract and a regular income was incredibly tempting, and working with someone like Sasha was bound to keep me on my toes.
If you give me your number, I’ll let you know.
I gave her one of my cards, feeling like I had somehow proved myself to Sasha by pushing to find out what was going on with the students, and we parted. Before I got to my car, however, I was distracted by something on the ground outside the students’ residence. Walking towards it, I felt my stomach churning as I realised what I was seeing, and I had to grab on to the wall to stop myself falling. Someone lay sprawled on the ground, lifeless eyes staring up at the leaden sky, blood staining the snow around his head.
It was Saul Achembe, and he was dead.
Chapter 32
Within half an hour, the building seemed to be full of police officers. DI Forest had turned up surprisingly quickly considering she’d travelled from Scunthorpe to Lincoln in heavy snow, and she was liaising with the detectives from Lincolnshire police who had also arrived on the scene.
I’d given my statement, then had been ushered back inside and wrapped in a blanket until I stopped shaking. Try as I might, I couldn’t get the image of Saul’s blood on the snow out of my head. Singh led me to the main hall, where all the staff and students were gathering.
There were a few uniformed officers dotted around the hall to make sure nobody left unless they were going to the toilet, and even then they had to be escorted by a police officer. Mike was prowling restlessly at the back of the room, occasionally stopping to talk to Sasha and throwing glances my way when he thought I wasn’t looking.
‘What do you think happened?’ I whispered to Singh once all the staff and students were accounted for.
I could tell he was reluctant to answer, but I felt that I deserved to know, so pushed him for information.
‘It looks like he had his throat cut,’ he said eventually.
‘Same as Steve?’
He nodded. ‘Pretty much. It’s the same MO, only a week after Steve’s death, so the most likely conclusion is that they were probably killed by the same person.’
A shiver ran through me as I realised that everyone who had been in the building was in the hall with us, and that would include the murderer. If Leon had seen who killed Steve, and now they’d murdered Saul, then he was in danger: they might be coming for Leon next.
‘I assume there’s no CCTV or anything?’
‘The one outside the residence still isn’t working,’ he said. ‘But we’re checking all the other external cameras in case someone came into the school this morning who we’re not aware of.’
This put paid to the theory that Leon killed Steve and ran away in order to prevent himself being caught, unless he’d snuck back into the school to kill Saul. That seemed to be a particularly risky move, however, and there was no obvious motive for Leon to kill Saul. I thought the police would be forced to go back to looking at Leon as just a victim again and not a suspect.
‘Did you find out what it was Saul wanted to show you?’
Singh shook his head again, looking annoyed at himself. ‘No, I was looking for him when you found me and told me what had happened. We’re going to get our techs searching all his files, but we have no idea what they need to be looking for. It could take weeks.’
I felt sick. Saul must have found out who killed Steve, and possibly why they did it, but the murderer got to him before he could tell the police.
The snow continued to fall outside, building up against the window panes and obscuring the view. Singh and Forest had gone out of the room to form a plan of action, and I felt completely useless. A couple of the PCs organised drinks and fruit to be brought from the school kitchen and handed out – the last thing they needed was for any of the staff or students to get dehydrated.
After another half hour, Singh reappeared and came over to me.
‘I need to speak to Liz Marcek, if you wouldn’t mind asking her to join us outside.’
I crossed the hall and approached the deputy head, where she was standing with her arms folded, worry etched onto her face.
About time, she replied. I don’t know what on earth I’m supposed to do, keeping all the students cooped up like this.
The entire school was there, from reception children up to Cassie, the eldest student. The youngest of them were already getting fractious, and one small girl was crying. I wondered if she could pick up on the tension in the room. The older students definitely knew something was wrong, and the theories would be getting out of hand by now, I was sure.
When we met Singh, he led us to the nearest classroom and we sat down.
‘I think it would be best to send the students home,’ Singh began, but he didn’t get a chance to continue because Liz interrupted him.
Absolutely not. These children have had enough disruption as it is, and if we send them home now there are some parents who will refuse to let them come back until you’ve solved this.
‘I appreciate your concern, Miss Marcek, but do you really think this school is a safe place for any child right now? One of your staff was killed today. We don’t know who did it, or why, but we know it must have been someone who was in the building and is now in that hall. On top of that, it’s snowing heavily and we’ve been advised that the road to the school might be impassable in as little as forty-five minutes.’ He paused for a moment to let his words sink in. ‘I know the students are your top priority, and I am suggesting this in order to keep them safe.’
I can keep them safe, she signed, her face solid with determination.
Singh shook his head. ‘I can’t force you to do this, but I think you’re making a terrible mistake. Some of those children are already scared, especially the youngest ones.’
But what if the school closes? she burst out. What if this is too much for the parents, and they take their children to other schools? We won’t be able to stay open with fewer students than we have now, and then what will happen to us?
Silent Night Page 24
