Astrid was standing behind Shaw when the teacher froze in front of the police. She watched the surprise in Shaw’s eyes transfer to her hand as she relaxed her fingers. It was enough for Astrid to snatch the detonator from her. Then Detective Hicks stepped forward with a policewoman at his side holding handcuffs.
‘One of my colleagues will read you your rights, Ms Shaw.’
Astrid handed him the detonator. ‘You need to get everyone out of here as quick as possible and check the whole building, not just the hall, for explosives.’
Beverly twisted her neck to stare at Astrid as the policewoman took her out of the school.
Evie gazed at Astrid. ‘You’ve got a bruise on your head.’
Astrid raised her hand to the injury. ‘You can thank Hicks for that. He drove his car into mine when I was on my way here.’
The detective looked at her. ‘I apologise again, Ms Snow. But at least we got you here quicker than you would have without being chauffeur driven by the police with all sirens blaring.’
‘Is it true?’ Evie said. ‘Did she kill those girls to frame my brother?’
Officers swarmed into the hall as ex-students piled out. Astrid grabbed Evie and dragged her outside. She looked at the staff photos on the reception wall as they left, finding Shaw on the first row, her blank face peering out from the picture. She glanced at all the others and wondered how many would be shocked once they discovered Shaw’s murderous nature. Lights flashed everywhere as she answered Evie’s question.
‘It looks like Beverly murdered the Glick girls in your house.’
‘This was to get back at my brother for when she had her accident?’
‘That’s probably only part of it. After speaking to her mother, I think Shaw has stored her resentment for several years, but it could be she just enjoys killing. The police will have a grand time interviewing her.’
‘How did you know she intended to blow up the school?’
‘I didn’t until I turned up and saw the detonator in her hand. I came here because I thought she was going to hurt you.’
‘I bumped into her when I stepped into the corridor. I think she was as surprised to see me as I was her. How does a small-town teacher have explosives?’
‘That’s up to the police to find out.’ Astrid noticed Detective Hicks stride out of the school. ‘We’ll get a lift to the station with him and ask when they’ll release Adam.’
‘There’s evidence of his innocence and Beverly’s guilt?’
‘I told them Shaw had photographs of the murdered girls on her computer.’
‘The story of the reverse Trojan horse was true?’
‘Nope, that was a complete bluff.’
Evie’s face turned a pale shade of white. ‘What… so how…?’
Astrid pulled on her arm and they headed towards Hicks. ‘I was at her house yesterday, inside her bedroom. A laptop was switched on in the room, a swirling screensaver hiding what was on the machine. She was desperate for me not to see what was on it.’
‘That’s it? That’s your reason to think there’s incriminating photos on her computer?’ Evie’s volume increased so much, Astrid thought she’d explode like a pricked balloon.
‘She’s a killer, I know it, and killers like her always take trophies of their crimes. They can’t help themselves.’
Hicks stepped towards them. ‘We found explosives under a table in the main hall.’
‘There’s nothing else?’
‘Not yet, but we’ll keep looking. Uniformed officers are at her house, collecting her electronic devices. Where did you say you saw the crime photos?’
‘Get your tech people to search through everything and you’ll find what you need. Give us a lift to the station, and I’ll give you a statement.’
He nodded and they climbed into the back of a police car. Evie didn’t speak all the way there, and Astrid assumed she was both nervous and a little mad at her. She’d trusted her instincts, and if nothing else, they’d stopped Shaw blowing up that hall.
Adam’s lawyer was waiting for them when they got there. Astrid left Evie and the lawyer to it, sitting at Hicks’s desk. She removed the phone from her pocket and wondered again who she’d ring if she were only allowed one call.
Perhaps I should ring George.
She’d sat there for an hour before a uniformed officer asked her if she wanted a drink. He brought her a can of Coke while she was checking the latest news online. There was no official statement from the police, but plenty of rumours were running around about a potential terrorist attack at the school.
There was one particular convoluted conspiracy theory circulating about what happened, which amused Astrid. She was tempted to leave a comment on the webpage when Hicks returned. He pulled up a chair opposite her and dropped a folder on to his desk.
‘You were more than right about the photos.’
She kept her relief hidden. ‘How so?’
‘Well, we had to break through her security first, but once we did, we hit the jackpot. Along with many disturbing images of the Glick sisters, she’d written a full manifesto of how she planned the whole thing.’
‘Let me guess: she stole a spare key from the house when she was there with Evie as kids.’
Hicks pointed at her. ‘You’re spot on, Snow. She’s been spilling her guts since we brought her in.’
‘Even though the Glick girls weren’t old enough to attend Shaw’s school, they must have known her, recognised and trusted her to enter the house.’
He nodded. ‘Apparently, she and some of the other high school teachers regularly went to the elementary school to give the kids lessons on how to use the internet safely.’ He rubbed at the palm of his hand, and Astrid thought of Shaw’s childhood scar, long since healed, which still lived inside her mind. ‘What we don’t know yet is how she knew the girls would be there that day or if it was a random attack.’
Astrid shook her head. ‘She knew. I’m guessing Shaw was planning this for a long time. She must have seen the sisters playing in the woods before and memorised their routine.’
‘Well, I guess we’ll know soon enough. She seems keen to tell us everything.’
‘Did you find anything else useful on her machine, like where she got the explosives?’
‘No, we’re still working on that. It’s the one thing she doesn’t want to talk about. But we did get these.’ He opened the folder and removed two bits of A4 paper covered in colour photographs. Astrid picked them up and looked through them.
‘These are body parts?’
‘Indeed they are, and just before I returned here, I got a call from the team at the school.’
‘They found more explosives?’
He pointed at the photos. ‘They discovered these in four bags in the boiler room under the main hall. There’s a head in there as well, which one of our guys recognised.’
‘Who is it?’
‘Jack Kennedy.’
Astrid relaxed into the chair. Her mouth was dry. She reached for the can of Coke and drained it.
‘When will you release Adam?’
‘Look over there.’
She turned and saw Adam, Evie, and the lawyer enter the room. She got up as Evie ran towards her. They hugged and, on this rare occasion, Astrid didn’t want it to end.
They had an interesting conversation on the journey back to the Church house.