CHAPTER TEN

 

 

"I'd like to get your opinions on your staff members," said Jayne after the Mattiellos had departed. "It may help me get a feel for them before the interviews. Would you be open to that?"

The Mattiellos had told their side of the story. It seemed like their son had been telling the truth.

"Aren't you forgetting I'm technically a suspect?" James replied with a smile. "I could provide false or incriminating evidence, you know."

"It's a risk I'm prepared to take," Jayne assured him. "Besides, why would you have called me if you were guilty? Why not just let the police verdict of suicide stand?"

"Ask me anything you want to know." James settled into his tattered armchair and motioned Jayne into its companion.

"I'd like to record our conversation, if that's okay with you?" Jayne fished around in her over-sized handbag, pulled out her voice recorder, and placed it on the table between them. "That would save a lot of time and save me from getting writer's cramp. Of course, if you're not comfortable with ..."

"No, no. That's fine." James rearranged himself in his chair. "Ask away."

Jayne shot him a grateful smile and pushed the record button. "Tell me your opinion of Dorian Jones first. I know we've talked about him before, but I'd like to go into some more details. You said he enjoyed being miserable, wallowed in it in fact. What exactly do you mean by that?"

James pursed his lips and thought for a while. "He loved to talk about his problems to everyone," he replied. "If anyone tried to cheer him up, he ... well he didn't want that. He needed everyone to realize how difficult his life was."

"I can see how that might have annoyed people," Jayne mused.

"Absolutely! And he was one of those people who seemed to attract disaster. His marriage failed, his ex-wife was trying to stop him from seeing his son, a pupil accused him of molesting him, and his girlfriend left him. There was no end to the problems. And yet he wasn't depressed in the classic sense, if you know what I mean."

"What sort of a teacher was he?"

"He was an excellent teacher," James sighed. "He'll be very hard to replace."

Jayne nodded, sympathetically. "Was there anyone who disliked him enough to do away with him do you think?"

"He wasn't the most popular person among the staff, that's for sure," James sighed. "There are things you should know." He rubbed his hands together uncomfortably. "One of the female staff had a huge crush on Dorian. Of course, he didn't reciprocate her feelings. I must say, things became a little tense there for a while. In fact, I don't think Ruth ever forgave him for that."

"Ruth Rumbold, the physical education teacher?"

"Yes. She went as far as to buy two tickets to a live show she knew Dorian wanted to see, but he turned her down flat."

"Ouch! How humiliating for the poor woman! How did you find out about it?"

"She spoke to Angela, our music teacher, about it. The worst part was that Angela and Dorian were having a fling at the time. Anyway, Angela never told Ruth about it, and I don't think she's ever found out until this day."

Jayne raised her eyebrows. "And was all this going on when he was still with his wife? He seems to have been rather indiscreet, not to mention promiscuous. What about the male staff? Did any of them have a problem with Dorian?"

"Well, Russell didn't have much time for him. In fact, you could say he disliked him. Then there's Dorian's girlfriend Verity; she became really upset when she found out someone had reported him for molesting one of his pupils. She has a younger brother, and I think she was maybe trying to protect him because that was the end of that relationship."

"What about the ex-wife?" asked Jayne.

"Janis is a rather angry person." James barely suppressed a smile. "Ever since the divorce, she has had it in for Dorian. When she found out about the accusation, she was absolutely furious. She threatened to go ahead with full custody; she did not want Dorian to see his son again."

"Wow, that's a bit harsh isn't it? I doubt that she'd have been able to pull that off."

"It rather depended on the result of the court case," James said. "If Dorian was found guilty then they might have stopped him from seeing his son. He might even have gone to jail."

"But despite all this, you still don't believe he committed suicide?"

James shook his head emphatically. "No. I'm sure he didn't. Apart from the reasons I've just given you, I just have a gut feeling."

Jayne was a great believer in gut feelings, so if James didn't think Dorian committed suicide, then she would go along with that for now.

"Let's see, who's next?" James rubbed his chin. "Ah, yes. Marcus Wingate. Now Marcus and Dorian seemed to get on together okay. Not the best of friends or anything, but they were able to have a conversation without one upsetting the other. Marcus is an easy going chap. He gets on well with everyone without getting especially friendly with anyone. Bit of a dark horse you could say."

"Is Marcus married?" Jayne hoped her question didn't sound out of place. For some reason, she simply had to know.

"He was," James replied. "But they've been separated for a while now. He doesn't talk much about his past."

Jayne put her head down and scribbled busily in her notebook. So Marcus was unattached. She wondered at the brief flash of joy she felt. Concentrate!

"You mentioned Angela?"

"Yes. Angela Farrantino." James smiled. "She's our geography teacher. A nice woman, if a touch flamboyant. There was definitely something going on between herself and Dorian, but it ended badly. She wouldn't talk about it."

"How long ago was this?"

"About three weeks ago now." James shifted in his seat. "My goodness! Whatever must you think of us Jayne? A month ago, this was a normal school, and the most exciting thing that had ever happened here was a student who got caught in the city for shoplifting."

Jayne smiled at him. She wanted to tell him how happy she was that he had a school full of dramas and that he had picked her, rather than the team at Moffats and Sons, to sort them out, but that would be wildly inappropriate.

"It's amazing how fast things can escalate when human emotion's involved. Don't worry. We'll get to the bottom of this," she said with more confidence than she felt. "Is there anyone else I should know about?"

"Not really. There's Samantha Williams and Meredith Tamsford who look after our languages and grammar. They're new this term and, being younger than the rest of us, tend to keep to themselves. I don't think either of them had much contact with Dorian. That's about it, I think. Oh! And I have Dorian's girlfriend, Verity's phone number and also a number for the ex-wife, Janis Wildermuth."

"Thanks." Jayne took the numbers. "Janis Wildermuth. Is she really as fierce as you say?"

"Jayne, St. George would have quailed in front of the wildebeest." James stood and stretched his shoulders. "Now, I must go. I have a class to take." He sighed. "We have a relief teacher coming tomorrow. Then, hopefully, things will go back to some semblance of normality."

"Thanks. You've been very helpful." Jayne turned off the voice recorder and slid it back into her handbag. "Thanks for organizing the interviews for me, James. Since it was on a voluntary basis, did you have trouble with any of them?"

He smiled. "Put it this way, they all agreed to see you with a bit of gentle persuasion except for Russell Vella."

Jayne rose from her chair and watched James walk out of the room. She'd transcribe all her notes this evening in order to be ready for tomorrow. She had a sudden feeling of panic. Could she do this? What if she wasn't up to it? Jayne took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. This was the break she'd been waiting for; this would put the Plain Jayne Detective Agency on the map, so there really wasn't a choice. It was succeed or die!