FORTY-FOUR

‘Joanna’s got no love for her stepfamily. In her way, she’s as evil and scheming as David. I even wonder if she was tired of her fling with Marlene Jeffries and she wanted it all to end anyway. She had no love for the teaching staff, so their systematic slaughter hardly bothered her. I would like to believe that she had no idea what was going on until she found the practice notes. I hope that it was quite by chance – she was in David’s bedroom, looking to pinch that week’s issue of Smash Hits from him. She accidentally knocked over his wastepaper bin and had to put it all back in; amongst the rubbish were the practice notes. When she saw them, she realized everything; she’s no fool, and she told her father.’

Jean asked, ‘How do you know all this?’

For once I was in a room with Masson and somebody else, and I wasn’t his least favourite person. ‘Because he’s talked to her,’ he told her sourly.

I explained, ‘I’ve just come from where she’s been fostered. Considering what’s happened, she’s amazingly calm; I would almost say that she’s happy. She’s certainly quite chatty about what’s been going on, and she’s got nothing to hide. She hated her stepbrother and hated her stepfather even more, and I can’t blame her. You should talk to her.’

As soon as I said that, I regretted it. Masson turned a scorching glare on Jean, who in turn surveyed me with a gaze I swear shrivelled my testes. Masson said in a low but deadly way, ‘Yes, perhaps we should.’