29

‘You said this wasn’t recent,’ confirmed Beth as she surveyed the graffiti on the school wall.

‘No, it was quite early into the new school year, in fact.’

‘Why would someone do that?’ she asked.

‘Jealousy,’ he explained. ‘Teenage relationships are not always mature ones. From time to time, the school can be affected. This was one of those times.’

‘Was Alice affected?’

‘She was understandably upset, but we made a point of blocking off the area from the school body and the caretaker prioritized the removal of the graffiti.’

‘Ever find out who did it?’ Black was expecting that to be unlikely.

‘The offender was identified and asked to leave the sixth form.’

‘How did you find the culprit?’ asked Beth.

‘Alice had been involved with a classmate and, when the relationship ended, she began seeing a former boyfriend again. That was sufficient motive to put the boy who lost out under suspicion.’

‘Tony,’ said Black. ‘Did he admit it?’ In Tony’s version of events, he had voluntarily dropped out of the sixth form because he couldn’t stand to see Alice back with Chris. Had he instead been kicked out by the head for defacing the wall with this vengeful insult? If he’d lied about that, then what else was he keeping from Black?

‘He was very dismissive at first, even though I had threatened him with possible expulsion. Then he told me he wanted to leave the sixth form anyway, and I thought it was for the best. I considered that to be the end of the matter.’

‘Do you think he was definitely the one responsible?’

‘Like I said, he admitted it,’ said the head, as if that were proof enough. ‘I would have been hard pressed to think of anyone else with sufficient motive. Shall we go back in?’

‘It might be best to continue our discussion out here,’ said Beth. ‘I’d like to talk about an area of some sensitivity.’

‘Go on.’ The head made no further move to go back inside.

‘Teacher–pupil relationships,’ she said, and he looked uneasy.

‘What kind of relationships?’

‘The romantic kind,’ said Beth, then added: ‘The sexual kind.’

Morgan crossed his arms, a defensive posture. ‘Who are you referring to?’

‘A number of teachers over the years, apparently.’

‘You’ve been listening to gossip, in other words.’

‘Isn’t it true that some male teachers have had relationships with female pupils?’

The headteacher paused. Black wondered if he was weighing up whether he could lie to a detective or perhaps evade the question, then he sighed and it was as if a dam had burst. ‘Regrettably, there were some incidents in the past, long before I came here,’ he admitted.

‘And one or two currently.’

‘Well, you might say that, but they are rather hard to prove.’

‘And when they can be proven? Such as a former pupil living with her teacher?’

‘If the girl in question has left the school, is over the age of eighteen and denies living with that teacher, then there isn’t a great deal we can do.’

‘Even when it is obvious the relationship must have begun when she was at the school, probably while still under the age of consent?’

‘And how do we prove that? Unless a teacher is caught in a passionate embrace, they’re going to deny everything and, in the majority of cases, so is the pupil.’

‘What if they were caught?’

‘That would be a different matter. It’s serious misconduct for someone in a position of trust to have a relationship like that, even more so if the girl is under the age of consent. A teacher would be suspended then dismissed and most likely permanently struck off. We would also be sure to involve the police.’

‘And yet there have been persistent rumours concerning particular teachers at Collemby having inappropriate relationships with pupils.’

‘Rumours are one thing. Proof is very much another.’

‘Has anyone ever been dismissed or struck off during your tenure as headteacher?’

The head was clearly growing exasperated with this line of questioning. ‘No, but the burden of proof falls on the school and these situations are very hard to unravel. Do you know how many malicious allegations are made against teachers every year? They can ruin people’s lives.’ He sighed. ‘Look, I know who you are referring to. It’s Mr Keech, isn’t it?’

‘Or “Keech the leech”, as the pupils commonly refer to him,’ said Beth. She had been fully briefed on this incident and others by Kirstie.

‘I haven’t heard that one before, but if the cap fits. Look, I don’t like the situation any more than you do. It pains me far more, in fact, because this is my school, but I am tied by the law and the need for proof. I can promise you that all allegations of misconduct reported to me or any other member of staff are investigated thoroughly, but I can’t simply fire a teacher because there is a whiff of something about them. The union would never let it go. Often it’s little more than gossip.’

Beth was only too aware of the dangers of gossip and couldn’t help but think of Alice and her brother.

‘There was an allegation against Mr Keech, wasn’t there?’ she asked the headteacher. ‘That he groped a former pupil.’

‘You are aware of the allegation, but are you also aware of the accuser?’

‘You didn’t take it seriously?’

‘I took it very seriously indeed. I involved the police at the earliest juncture, but this was clearly a malicious allegation.’

‘You didn’t believe it from the outset?’

‘The girl in question has a long history of lying and deceitfulness. There had been multiple instances of truancy, she showed little academic ability or any sustained interest in lessons, aside from a repeated desire to disrupt them, and she has been arrested on more than one occasion for shoplifting. She did have some natural but quite basic writing ability, which Mr Keech attempted to encourage, to his credit. There is a feeling that her home life is troubled and, confidentially, some suspicion from social services that she may have been abused by a male member of her family, possibly by her father or her brother.’

‘Mr Keech gave her tuition? Was this in class or on an extra-curricular basis?’

Beth’s tone made it clear she was suspicious, and the headteacher picked up on it. ‘He then took her, along with other members of his class, on theatre trips and allowed her to continue her writing in class when the school day was over, though I did caution him against that.’

‘Why did you caution him?’ she asked, ‘if his motives were pure?’

‘They were, I believe, but I questioned whether she might take advantage in some way.’

‘You actually thought she might make a false accusation against him?’

He was cautious with his next words. ‘My concerns were not as specific as that. I simply doubted whether she could be trusted. With hindsight, I was correct.’

‘Why are you so certain that Mr Keech is blameless in this? Is it not possible that he might have actually done what he has been accused of doing?’

‘It’s not impossible but, having weighed up the evidence, I decided it was insufficient to take any further action.’

‘You couldn’t have weighed it up for long,’ Beth reminded him. ‘You dismissed it and immediately called the police on the girl. Is that really the way to encourage anyone with concerns about teachers at your school to come forward?’

‘I’m sorry, but if you knew this girl you might feel differently about it. She was interviewed by the police, who came to the same conclusions regarding her reliability and likely motive.’

‘Which was?’

‘Money,’ he said. ‘In the form of compensation.’

‘What did the police say to her?’ asked Black.

‘I wasn’t in the room. I didn’t want to influence them in any way.’

‘But you must have,’ he said, ‘when you called them to say you had a malicious time-waster on your hands.’

He looked rattled then. ‘I told them that that was my opinion on the matter but that they would obviously have to decide for themselves.’

‘Based on her word versus that of a respectable headteacher,’ Black said, almost to himself, ‘what was the outcome?’

‘She withdrew her allegation and admitted it never happened.’

‘Did they interview the teacher?’

‘They did, and they believed him.’

‘Formally, under caution?’ asked Black.

‘That wasn’t necessary.’

‘Wasn’t it? I don’t know, I’m struggling here,’ he said. ‘A girl makes an allegation of sexual assault against one of your teachers and, because of her perceived character, it is instantly dismissed by her headteacher, who calls the police. They make it clear she probably won’t be believed, so she retracts her story, which of course she would, under the circumstances.’

‘I might not be Mr Keech’s biggest fan – far from it – but this is the only allegation of that nature that has ever been levelled against him. I won’t apologize for failing to think the worst of any members of my team. Now, I think we’ve probably finished here.’

‘I’ll tell you when we’re finished,’ said Black, ‘if you don’t mind.’

The head looked suitably chastened. Perhaps he was too used to being in charge; in any case, Black’s tone soon changed his mind.

‘I want to talk to this Mr Keech,’ continued Black, ‘and anyone else who had regular contact with Alice Teale.’

The headmaster nodded his head slightly to acknowledge his acceptance of this, but his face told Beth how uncomfortable he was to yield power in his domain.

‘By all means, you can talk to Mr Keech,’ said the headteacher. ‘He has a free period now, so he’s probably marking in his form room, but don’t expect him to open up to you.’

‘Why not?’

The headteacher sighed, as if Keech were an ongoing cause of stress. ‘He is not … how can I put this? … the most cooperative person you will ever meet. It would not be unreasonable to suggest he has issues with authority.’

‘A thorn in your side, in other words?’ asked Beth.

‘When I try to implement something new, you can be sure he’ll be in the vanguard of the resistance. Personally, I think he enjoys a good argument.’

‘You don’t like him much, then?’ asked Black.

‘Whether I like the man or not, I have to manage him.’