The grounds of St Michael’s School were a ten minute drive from Alice’s home in Chilworth, and as she pulled up at the gates, she was relieved to find the onsite caretaker had already opened the entrance to the staff car park. Although many people seemed to believe teachers only took up the vocation for the extended summer holidays, this failed to acknowledge the level of planning activity undertaken in the months when the children were away.
Alice had already spent the three previous weeks prepping syllabus activities, so that when she returned from honeymoon she wouldn’t have to rush to have things ready. Now, it was the perfect place to skulk at a desk, away from the prying eyes of Ben and Dave. As far as any of the other teachers would be concerned, she was simply preparing work for the start of September.
As she parked the car in her usual space and made her way towards the front doors, she clutched her mobile close to her chest. If Ben and Dave suspected one of their friends could be somehow involved in Kerry Valentine’s murder, Alice wanted to know who and why. For one reason, the victim’s family deserved to know, but also it had the potential to clear Ben’s name once and for all.
The door creaked as she waved her pass next to the lock and pulled it open. For safety precautions, all the doors into the school were controlled by security passes, to prevent unwanted strangers wandering in off the street. Making sure the door was closed behind her, Alice moved across to the reception office and signed her name in the visitors’ book – another core requirement of teachers working during the holidays. The official line was it enabled the caretaker to understand who was in the building in the event of a fire, but there was a rumour among the teachers that it was the head’s way of monitoring who had spent the most time preparing for the new school term. Tara often joked that she added extra hours on to keep him off her back.
Seeing the list was empty so far, she was relieved nobody would come knocking at her classroom door asking inane questions about how the wedding had gone.
Making her way along the corridor, Alice stopped when she reached the modern languages department, which was a corridor of four empty classrooms and a small office at the far end where the three modern languages teachers had to share two desks between them. It was primarily used as a port to vent frustrations following a lesson in one of the adjoining classrooms. Scanning her pass against the door, the usual cloud of musty books, stale sweat and dust hung in the air.
Alice had always had a natural ear for languages and had excelled in French and Spanish at school, so when it had come to choosing a specialist area of study during her PGCE, it had been an easy decision. As with any subject, there were students who excelled, students who made a sincere effort, and students who simply didn’t give a toss about conjugating the past participle of être. Alice remained passionate about her areas of study though and every once in a while a student would engage and all the dull and challenging lessons would drop away for the satisfaction of seeing just one pupil fly.
Allowing the door to close, she opened the double windows, though there was little breeze waiting to come in. That was the problem with how this part of the building was positioned – even on the windiest of days, hardly any fresh air made it in. Which was why a can of air freshener remained a permanent fixture on the window ledge. Pinching her nose, Alice sprayed the can liberally in the air, the whoosh of fragrance slowly dropping like tiny rain drops and landing on the two old wooden desks.
Pulling out a chair, she dropped behind one of the desks and immediately unlocked her phone, opening the list of names and doing her best to interpret Ben’s handwriting. She recognized Johnny’s name at the top, followed by her stepbrother Scott, then Abdul, James, and Pete. These were the names she recognized from the Malia photograph, though she didn’t know much about Abdul, James or Pete. She didn’t recognize the remaining three names on the list: Gary, Duke, and Michael. Had Ben mentioned them before? She didn’t think any of them had been invited to the wedding, but given the hall’s capacity and their extensive families, they hadn’t been able to invite everyone.
There were no surnames and no indication of why Ben and Dave had chosen to flag these individuals as suspects. Was it enough to pass to DC Hazelton? Surely she would already have spoken to everyone who was present at the stag do, so the police would be aware of the names. Would a phone call and chat be seen as a lame attempt to interfere with the investigation? Would she be better off speaking to Ben privately and ask what the list meant?
She was about to reach for one of the office laptops and open a search engine when there was a gentle knock at the door. Alice glanced at her watch. Still not yet seven, she’d be surprised if one of the other teachers had made it in so early. Slipping her phone into the pocket of her jeans, she opened the door and was startled to see the face of Andrew Hook.
‘I thought I saw your name in the visitors’ book,’ he said, smiling broadly and screwing up his face as he blinked rapidly, the way he always seemed to when he was near her.
‘Andrew,’ she said, trying to sound as welcoming as she could but desperate to get back to her thoughts. ‘How are you?’
He used a grubby finger to push his large square glasses back up his nose, but they began to fall back down almost immediately. ‘All the better for seeing you. Are you back from your honeymoon already? Seems like only yesterday we were doing that collection for you.’
Dressed in a short-sleeve buttoned golf shirt, his maroon coloured shorts were far too short for a man of his age and waist size. She tried to ignore the thick grey socks pulled up over his shins and the brown leather sandals strapped to his feet. His face, weathered by time and too many ales, was friendly but covered in small red blotches, and the dark grey bonnet of hair swept over his head had small specks of white powder, some of which had already fallen onto the shoulders of his shirt.
‘We’ve had to postpone the honeymoon,’ she replied cautiously. She didn’t want to share the reason why she wasn’t currently stretched out on a sun lounger, but the fact that she wasn’t abroad would soon be common knowledge, so there was no point in lying to him.
‘How’s your new husband? Bob or Bill, I can never remember.’
Alice had told him on more occasions than she could remember what Ben’s name was, but he always seemed to get it wrong, to the point where she now suspected he was doing it deliberately.
‘Ben is well,’ she corrected, smiling to show she hadn’t taken any offence.
He pushed his glasses back up again. ‘How was the big day then? I bet you looked like a princess in your dress.’
Alice remembered that Tara was convinced Andrew had a crush on her.
‘I’ll have to bring in photos when they’re ready,’ Alice pacified.
‘I’d like that,’ he said. ‘We should catch-up over lunch some time. Or dinner if you’d prefer?’
They’d never shared a meal together. He had to be at least twenty years her senior, and although he’d never been anything but kind and sweet to her, he could be overbearing, and she considered him more an acquaintance than a friend. His offer of dinner was out of the blue and, as he rocked from one foot to the other, she could see he was feeling just as awkward as she was.
The key was to let him down gently, and not offer any encouragement. ‘I’ll try and stop by the staffroom for a coffee before term restarts,’ she offered, cringing as an excited smile broke out on his face.
She made a show of looking at her watch, but he didn’t seem to take the hint.
‘I took your advice, by the way,’ he continued, still hopping from one foot to the other.
She frowned, unaware of any advice she’d ever offered him.
‘I joined a club,’ he said, when he saw her look of confusion.
Her frown deepened, she definitely didn’t recall ever discussing hobbies with him. Their conversations until now had remained strictly professional, she’d made sure of that.
‘Right,’ she said, nervously. ‘How’s that going?’
‘Oh it’s wonderful. Birdwatching can be such a cathartic experience,’ he said proudly. ‘I’ve made some new friends as well, and even met someone I knew way back when. She isn’t looking for anything romantic, but I’m hoping it could lead to something one day. Never say never in my book.’
‘Well, I’m pleased you’ve found something to be passionate about.’
‘Do you like nature, Alice?’
Alice wrinkled her nose. ‘I like walking in nature, if that’s what you mean?’
‘There’s nothing quite like it,’ he suddenly said, his gaze wandering to some point on the window behind her. ‘Birds and insects; I tell you, we can learn a lot from them.’ His eyes brightened with excitement as a fresh idea presented itself. ‘You ought to come along to one of the birdwatching sessions. The next meet-up is this Saturday. We’re meeting in Lyndhurst, and then heading further into the New Forest.’
‘That’s sweet of you, Andrew, but I don’t think birdwatching is really my thing.’
‘You know what, I wouldn’t have thought it was mine either. Now though, I can’t get enough of it. All the fresh air and beautiful surroundings; we’re so lucky to live in such a nice part of the country.’
‘Thanks again for the offer, Andrew, but I must get back to what I was doing. I’m sure you have a million things to do yourself.’
‘I do indeed,’ he beamed, finally looking as if he was about to take the hint. ‘Students don’t understand how much preparation goes into teaching chemistry. Our future doctors and scientists would be nothing without their chemistry teachers.’
Alice shuddered at the thought of her own chemistry teacher, but she smiled in Andrew’s direction before closing the door and exhaling in relief. He really was a sweet man and she didn’t doubt his good intentions, but the sooner he accepted she was now happily married the better.
Slipping back behind the desk, she once again reached for the image of the list.