Page 70 of Dying Truth

The reporter’s initial surprise was quickly covered by a rueful look. ‘Even now, that’s what you think,’ she said, stepping back into the crowd.

‘Bloody woman,’ Bryant said. ‘Could be a decent reporter if she’d just stop trying to grab headlines.’

‘Yeah,’ Kim agreed, although the expression on Frost’s face stayed with her until Bryant parked the car at the front of the school.

Another two security guards flanked the entrance.

Again, Bryant showed his identification.

‘You might want to staple that to your forehead,’ Kim said, wondering if they were going to have to do this all day.

She entered the building and turned left.

‘Heading for the English teacher’s classroom again, guv?’ Bryant asked.

‘Spotted anyone else speaking to us quite so openly, Bryant?’ she snapped.

‘Nope, she seems very open to you, I mean us, guv.’

She cast him a look.

‘Amenable,’ he said. ‘That’s the word I was looking for.’

Kim knew Bryant was being deliberately smart to ease the tension that had been building since they’d left the morgue. Bad enough that Keats’s findings had marked indelibly on their brains a graphic picture of the young boy’s terrifying, horrific death but add in the obstacle of investigating two murders around a functioning school and their day so far had not been a positive one.

They arrived at Joanna’s classroom as the bell signalled the end of the second lesson.

The two of them stood aside as a stream of younger children filed out, chatting and laughing.

Joanna’s eyes lit up when she saw them.

‘Inspector, nice to see you again,’ she smiled.

Kim nodded her acknowledgment.

‘You taught ShaunCoffee-Todd?’

She nodded as a shadow fell across her face and her eyes instantly reddened. ‘Of course,’ she said, wiping away the words on a blackboard.

‘Can you tell us what he was like?’ Kim asked, gently, giving Joanna a moment to collect herself.

‘Very pleasant lad. Well-mannered. Keen to learn. Not that keen to be called upon. He was intelligent and—’

‘Did he have any enemies that you know of?’ Kim asked, feeling ridiculous that she was asking that about a fourteen-year-old boy.

Joanna shook her head as she turned towards them. ‘Not that I know of. I never saw any particular issue with anyone, and why would you even ask that?’

‘We have to,’ Kim said, realising that word of his murder had not yet reached her.

‘What I’m surprised about is that he didn’t have his pen. Shaun was well aware of his condition, as were we all, and he managed it excellently, only ever eating the foods prepared for him or sent in by his parents and checked—’

‘Joanna, it wasn’t an accident,’ Kim said.

‘Wh-what?’ she asked, dropping to the chair.

‘It was deliberate. We know that it wasn’t accidental.’

‘You’re sure?’ she asked, clearly praying for some kind of mistake.