Dead in the Water

by Matthew Costello

  Twenty years ago, when Sarah had been a pupil here, there had been just one secretary. Now there were three – and all of them looked swamped.

  Ten past nine in the morning, last few weeks of term, a whole year to be wrapped up – not surprising they were busy.

  A young girl in uniform rushed through the main doors, handed in a note at the reception desk, then hurried off through another set of double doors into the school. Sarah watched her go.

  Nothing changes, she thought. That could have been me all those years ago.

  Same uniform – almost. Same ritual if you were late. Same panic.

  She thought back to her time at Cherringham High. Then, the school was half the size, but to her just as daunting as it must have been to her own kids when they started here.

  She’d arrived aged eleven – and up until then all she had known of schools had been the ones that went with her dad’s RAF postings, as the family moved around the world every three years, from airbase to airbase.

  When he retired to Cherringham she was already used to being the newcomer, the outsider. So she didn’t have trouble making friends here at the school as the years went by.

  At the same time, when she passed her final exams, she couldn’t wait to get out of small-town Cherringham and hit the big city.

  London!

  Then, in that funny way life has of being so surprising, fifteen years later she found herself divorced, fleeing that same big city and returning to Cherringham again – but this time with two kids of her own.

  What goes around…

  “Ms. James will see you now,” said one of the secretaries, interrupting her thoughts. “Do you know where you’re going, Ms. Edwards?”

  Sarah smiled, gathered her handbag and headed towards the head’s study.

  “Oh yes,” she said, “I know the way.”

  ***

  Sarah shook Louise James’s hand as the head came round from behind her desk. The head gestured to a pair of armchairs in the corner of the room. Between them, on a coffee table, was a tray with tea and biscuits.

  “Hello, Sarah. Tea?”

  “Thanks.”

  Through the windows, Sarah recognised a big 60s block of classrooms: the building had been there when she was a pupil. She wondered if Chloe or Daniel were in one of those rooms right now.

  They’d get a shock if they saw her in here.

  “I won’t ask you why you changed your mind,” said Louise, sitting opposite her and pouring them both a cup of tea, “but I’m very grateful you did.”

  Sarah smiled and took the cup. “I just hope I can help.”

  “Based on what I’ve heard, I’m sure you can,” said Louise, smiling back. “Now, you said in your email you wanted to talk to some of the teachers who knew Josh. I’m hoping one or two may be able to join us briefly – timetables allowing. Otherwise you may have to meet them out of school hours. Probably – to be discrete – outside the premises – is that okay with you?”

  “Fine,” said Sarah, taking out her notebook and pen.

  “You also said you had some more questions for me.”

  “I do. Perhaps you can start by telling me again what you know of what happened the night Josh died?”

  Sarah listened carefully as Louise went through the events of the fateful evening just a week ago, this time taking careful notes.

  “Now, I’m only repeating what people have told me,” said Louise when she’d finished. “I was at the prom of course, and I do recall talking to Josh briefly. But I went home around nine, pretty much as soon as the dinner finished. The first I heard there was a… problem… was the next morning, when the police got in touch.”

  “I see,” said Sarah. “When you left the prom dinner, did you know that the staff and some of the pupils were then going on to the pub?”

  “Well, I knew it was a tradition – but not one I felt should include me.”

  “And you didn’t object – staff, pupils, drinking together?”

  “It wasn’t something I was going to challenge,” said Louise. “This term I’m trying to stay in the background and observe – there’ll be time enough to make that kind of call next year. If I’m still here.”

  “And at the prom – was there any sign that Josh might have been under the influence of drugs?”

  “No! None that I saw myself or have heard about since,” said Louise. “Apparently, he moved around the tables quite a bit, chatting to those pupils he knew well. He was such a popular teacher.”

  “You said you spoke to him briefly that night. Do you remember what you talked about?”

  “Very clearly. He wanted to check I’d received his application for the deputy head post.”

  “And had you?”

  “Yes. He emailed it to me just before the prom started.”

  “And there was nothing in his behaviour that night that you thought was unusual?”

  “None whatsoever.”

  “How well did you know him?”

  “No better than any of the other members of staff, to be honest. But I had him down as a potential deputy for next year, so I’d been keeping an eye on him in our regular meetings. I inherited a senior leadership team, but I broadened it to include all the year heads, like Josh.”

  “The reason for that?”

  “Well, I wanted to get a sense of what was happening at the school as quickly as possible. More eyes, more feedback.”

  “And he was a good year head?”

  “Good, and popular. And, as I said when we met at Tony’s, not a hint of anything wrong.”

  Sarah took a minute to jot down some notes.

  Jack had taught her well: taking notes made people sharper, more detailed in their responses.

  It’s all being written down.

  There was a tap on the door and then it opened. Sarah looked up to see the secretary.

  “Ms. Brookes is here, Louise,” said the secretary.

  “Just give us five minutes,” said Louise.

  The secretary nodded and closed the door behind her.

  “Maddie Brookes – drama teacher,” said Louise when she’d gone. “She found Josh’s body.”

  Sarah nodded. Then: “At lunch yesterday you said you’d found other evidence of drugs in the school. Who else knows about this?”

  “So far, just Tony – and my team. Year heads and so on.”

  “How did they react when you told them?”

  “Some were surprised. But some weren’t.”

  “Interesting. So they already suspected drugs were being used?”

  “Yes.”

  “But those teachers hadn’t done anything about it?”

  “One or two had spoken to the previous head, back in March apparently. Maybe they hoped it would just go away.”

  Sarah sensed an uncertainty in Louise’s response and felt she was on difficult ground.

  “Louise – I’m not here as a parent. You understand that, right? If you feel there have been failings, you have to tell me.”

  Louise nodded. “Okay. Arthur Limb – the previous head – was old-school. Literally. I heard that he thought the staff were overreacting.”

  “Really? So he didn’t investigate?”

  “He told the staff that the governors would deal with the problem. But Tony has since said to me they were never even made aware of it.”

  Sarah felt immediate anger – the anger of a parent who learns their children have been deliberately put in harm’s way.

  Louise – astute, smart – picked up the change immediately. “I know how you must be feeling, Sarah. Trust me, I’m appalled at the way the issue was dealt with. All I can say is – it’s not the way I do things.”

  “So, when did you first suspect there might be a drugs problem that wasn’t going away?”

  “Quite soon after I took over. The school’s decline had been very rapid – I felt there had to be a core reason for that. I talked to some of the senior staff and they revealed their suspicions.”

&
nbsp; “Which were?”

  Louise took a breath.

  “Drug dealing – right inside the school.”

  “Did you act on those suspicions?”

  “I did. I ordered a locker search for the whole upper school.”

  “When was that?”

  “The morning of the prom actually.”

  “Why that particular time?”

  “With the prom in the evening, I knew a lot of the upper sixth would be away that morning.”

  “And that search was done secretly?”

  “Yes. Without the students’ knowledge – not something that I would ever do in normal circumstances.”

  “But you found no sign of any drugs?”

  Another pause from the head.

  “No, not a thing.”

  “And you think the search was thorough enough?”

  And Sarah had a thought then: There’s something wrong with this.

  But it was something she couldn’t yet see.

  “I used five teams of staff, in pairs. Each locker – completely emptied. Everything opened and searched – then returned to the lockers.”

  “And you found nothing in the lockers?”

  “No.”

  “Could news have got out about the locker search?”

  “Only the staff knew about it.”

  “Was Josh on one of the search teams?”

  “Well – yes – but if you’re implying–”

  “I’m not implying anything, really. Just coming up with possibilities.”

  “Of course,” said Louise. “I just can’t begin to believe that Josh – or any staff member – might be involved.”

  “But it is possible that if drugs were being hidden in lockers, they were removed before the search?”

  “Possible, yes. But maybe the culprit – or culprits – didn’t trust the lockers. Maybe they carried the drugs with them at all times. And Sarah – before you ask – I draw the line – legally and morally – at searching my pupils.”

  Sarah paused.

  And then…

  “What about searching staff?” said Sarah, almost blurting the words out in frustration that the problem hadn’t been tackled. “Do you draw the line there?”

  Sarah realised she had gone too far.

  She could see Louise, arms folded, her stare now icy.

  Dammit, that was so unprofessional, thought Sarah. Got to remember – I am not the parent here.

  Then the head seemed to relax again.

  “Sarah,” she said, taking care with her words, “it’s natural that you have strong feelings about this. I feel guilty that I didn’t move fast enough this term to understand what was going on under my very nose. I must deal with that.”

  Louise looked away for a moment.

  A lot on her plate…

  “And I know that any parent will be shocked when they hear what happened to Josh. But I hope you and I – between us – are the solution to this mess. Aren’t we?”

  “Yes. Which is why I have to keep asking the difficult questions.”

  A smile at last. “And yes, why we have to work together,” said Louise.

  Sarah nodded and took a deep breath.

  “You’re right, Louise. And we will.”

  “Good,” said Louise, smiling again. “So – why don’t we get Maddie in and you can really start this investigation?”

  8. Relationships

  Sarah stood up and smiled at Maddie when she came in.

  The young woman returned the smile, but Sarah could see straight away that she was stressed, her eyes flitting around the room nervously.

  Louise introduced them to each other, then went to the door.

  “I’m going to leave you two to chat,” she said. “I have a meeting. And Sarah – we’ll be in touch.”

  Sarah was surprised – then grateful that the head trusted her to run this interview alone.

  “Thanks, Louise,” she said.

  When Louise had gone, Sarah sat in one of the armchairs, and Maddie took the chair opposite.

  Sarah noticed the teacher’s clenched hands. She smiled at her again. Maddie was pretty, with frizzy hair and freckles, but her eyes had grey rings around them and she seemed so restless.

  This isn’t going to be easy, thought Sarah.

  “Did Louise explain why I’m here, Maddie?” she said.

  A nod. “You want to know what happened to Josh,” said Maddie, her voice wavering.

  “That’s right. And I know this is difficult for you, but as you were the one who found him–”

  “I told the police everything.”

  Her response fast, sharp.

  “I’m sure you did,” said Sarah. “But it would help… Do you think you can tell me again? It’s important that I hear it from you.”

  Maddie looked away, hands clenching, unclenching.

  “I don’t really understand this. You’re not police – so who are you?”

  “Louise asked me to investigate Josh’s death – independently, for the school. I have some experience in this kind of thing.”

  Sarah could see that Maddie was still uneasy.

  “You don’t have to tell me anything. But all I’m trying to do is find out what really happened to Josh.”

  That seemed to slow Maddie down.

  “Okay. All right,” said Maddie, with a sigh. “Where do you want me to start?”

  “How about the prom dinner? When you went in, what you can remember, who was there. Then the pub…”

  As Maddie went through the events of that night, Sarah made notes. She didn’t interrupt; just let Maddie tell the story.

  At one point, as she described how she had desperately searched the streets looking for Josh, Maddie began to cry.

  Sarah waited as Maddie pulled herself together and carried on.

  Eventually, she reached the end of her account.

  Sarah could barely hide her own shock as Maddie described that final moment – standing on Cherringham Bridge, alone, Josh gone, the river rushing loud beneath her feet.

  That must have been terrible.

  Sarah reached forward, touched Maddie’s arm softly.

  “I know this is difficult,” said Sarah. “Are you okay to carry on?”

  She sniffed. “I’m fine. Really.”

  “So – after you found Josh – what happened?” said Sarah.

  “I phoned the police. Waited. Alan Rivers was the first to turn up. Then more police. They put me in the back of an ambulance. Don’t know why. Shock, I suppose.”

  “And Alan took your statement then?”

  “Yes. Straight away.”

  “Is there anything you’ve thought of since then, that might be important?”

  “Well, obviously we’ve all talked, the staff, I mean. A lot – about what happened, about why Josh… you know…”

  “And what do you think now?”

  “I don’t know. Tim thinks maybe Josh had some kind of mental illness that nobody knew about – perhaps even he didn’t know about.”

  “Tim?”

  “My fiancé. Tim Wilkins. He teaches here – we were both there in the pub – I mean, you know, together.”

  “So that night – you both noticed he wasn’t behaving normally?”

  “Yes. He was all right when we got to the pub. But then after about an hour, he just started to act – I don’t know how to describe it – weird.”

  “Go on…”

  “Well, he suddenly left our table to sit on his own. He’d been friendly – usual Josh, joking, being silly – then he just went all… quiet. Distant – you know?”

  Sarah watched Maddie as she shared this. The pain of it clear in her face.

  “Did you try and talk to him?”

  “Tim did. He said Josh had just had too much to drink.”

  “Had he?”

  “I wasn’t counting the drinks. But people were letting their hair down a bit. End of term coming.”

  “So did you see Josh leave?”


  “Yes. He had a bit of a row with the barman. Think they wouldn’t let him have another drink. Then he just… disappeared…”

  Sarah saw that Maddie was crying.

  “Did anyone go with him?”

  Maddie sniffed and thought about that.

  “No, I don’t think so,” she said.

  “So you went home – about the same time?”

  “Yes. I gave Tim a lift first.”

  “But then later, you must have been worried, I mean to go driving around looking for him.”

  “I was worried. Yes.”

  “Tim didn’t go with you?”

  A head shake.

  “The way Josh was behaving… I knew it wasn’t just the drink. There was something wrong with him. Like an illness. You know?”

  Sarah made another note in her book.

  “You said it was very misty when you got down to the bridge…”

  “I had to park up the road. Could hardly see a thing.”

  “But you heard Josh talking.”

  “Not talking – shouting out.”

  “You didn’t hear what he said?”

  “Just words. Noises. More like howls.”

  Sarah knew that the autopsy report on Josh wasn’t public yet. But it would be very soon. And she needed more from Maddie – or she wasn’t going to get anywhere.

  She decided to risk it. Her voice lowered.

  “Maddie I’m going to tell you something now that is not public knowledge – and it has to remain secret, at least for a few days.”

  “Is it about Josh? About what was wrong with him?”

  “It is. But can you promise me you won’t tell anybody?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  Then Sarah told her about the drugs that had been found in Josh’s blood – and watched Maddie’s reaction carefully.

  The young teacher was open-mouthed.

  “But that’s crazy,” said Maddie. “Acid? Ecstasy? The police must have got the samples mixed up.”

  “No, there’s no mistake.”

  “Josh didn’t use drugs – that’s a lie! There’s no way.”

  Interesting, thought Sarah. She seems so sure.

  “I agree with you, Maddie. And so does Louise. But right now we don’t know how those drugs got in Josh’s system, and you might be the key to us figuring out what happened.”

  Sarah watched this sink in – then Maddie looked at her, wide-eyed.