Page 133 of Dying Truth

‘We were the same age and I was her study partner,’ Thorpe said, standing up and moving to the window. ‘We met in the library three evenings a week, at first.’

Kim felt a rumbling in her stomach that had nothing to do with hunger.

‘I felt sorry for her when she first came to Heathcrest. A person thrust into this environment amongst peers whose futures at the school had been preordained from birth. Heathcrest didn’t take too well to new things. Treated them as oddities, and a girl plucked from the local comprehensive was an oddity indeed.’

He took a deep breath.

‘We were in the same maths group. A subject she struggled with and I did not. I offered to help her, and we met in the library to—’

‘What was she like?’ Kim asked.

He smiled but was ready to answer. ‘Sad, lonely and eager to fit in. I always felt that the dream of competition in swimming at the highest level was more a dream of her mother’s than her own. Don’t get me wrong, she loved the sport. Only someone who truly loves what they’re doing trains on the level of championship competitors, but I felt that the joy was being sucked out of it for her.

‘At her old school swimming was just a part of who she was. She had friends, interests, familiarity, normality. I think all of that changed when she came here. Her whole life became about swimming. It was the only reason she was here.’

‘The girls didn’t like her?’ Bryant asked.

Thorpe turned and sat down.

‘I saw it back then, and I see it even more clearly now as each new year begins. The groups form, the girls size each other up, form into packs of leaders and followers, assess their competition. Lorraine started part way through the school year. The packs were formed and there was no space for anyone new. It’s one of the reasons I’ve tried so hard to stamp out the wretched elite societies and clubs here at Heathcrest. They benefit the few and demean the many. Kids not chosen already feel inferior, which can stay with them for life.’

‘Were you part of one of those societies?’ Kim asked.

He shook his head.

But you wanted to be, Kim thought.

‘Was Lorraine bullied?’ Bryant asked.

‘Ignored and isolated, I think would be a fairer assessment,’ he said sadly.

Not by everyone, Kim thought. The girl had been pregnant, so someone had been paying her attention.

‘Did she start to miss your study lessons like she did with swimming practice?’ Kim asked.

‘Now and again, but we both did. Sometimes it was clear that even when she was there, she wasn’t. I’d look up from my books, and she’d be staring into space.’

‘Did you ask her what was wrong?’

‘A few times but she wouldn’t tell me.’

Kim sighed heavily. Lorraine Peters had been thrust into a world that was totally alien to her. The same rules no longer applied. Here at Heathcrest it didn’t matter how hard she’d worked or how promising an athlete she was, she would never have fitted in. She’d been miserable, lonely and frightened, and someone here had taken advantage of all those things, courted her, possibly manipulated her and ruined her future. All for the sake of having sex with her.

Kim couldn’t help feeling that once they found the father they would also find the murderer.

She narrowed her gaze. ‘Principal Thorpe, were you the father of Lorraine’s baby?’

He shook his head without hesitation. ‘No, officer, I was not.’

‘But you were in love with her?’ she pressed.

‘Oh yes, and I probably still am.’

Ninety-Four

Dawson pushed himself through the backstage chaos of the memorial service. A boys’ choir dressed in black were chattering loudly as two girls attempted to practise the violin.

A smartly dressed teenager barged past with a trombone. He stopped dead as a familiar figure came towards him, her satchel stretched diagonally across her body.