01 Murder On Sea by Jane Adams

Author:Jane Adams
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Mystery, Detective, Sleuths, &, Fiction, Traditional, Small, Rural, General, Town, Women
Publisher: Severn House Publishers Ltd
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Nineteen

The trip in on the school bus had been tense and uncomfortable. It was impossible to talk about anything that mattered. Looks cast their way, curious and shocked, queried the bruises on Paul’s face but no one asked. George and Paul were always on the farthest bank of mainstream popularity anyway, but those few enquiries that might ordinarily have been made were diverted by the fact that Dwayne had positioned himself in the seat on the opposite side of the aisle and spent the entire journey taunting both Paul and George, hinting that he knew exactly how Paul had come by his injuries. The kids close enough to hear listened warily, but no one commented. No one wanted to become the focus of his attention and then, by implication, attract the further attention of Dwayne’s gang. Most didn’t even dare think far enough to include Mark Dowling in the equation. Mark was the bogeyman, the unthinkable.

Paul kept his head down as they got off the bus. Staff watched as they filed into school, pointed and whispered to one another as they saw his face. One stopped him, laying a pale, manicured hand on his shoulder. ‘What happened to you?’

‘Got into a fight, Miss.’

‘That isn’t like you, Paul. Does your form tutor know?’

He shrugged. ‘Dunno, Miss, me mam phoned in on Friday. I was off.’

George shuffled awkwardly as Paul mumbled his reply. Dwayne, already in the corridor, had turned, inane grin in place as he mimed someone with their arm twisted behind their back.

George looked away, afraid someone would notice. Someone would guess. They would guess that part and then know everything.

‘Well, get along both of you or you’ll be late,’ the teacher said finally, seemingly blind to the irony that she was the one responsible for their tardiness. Silent and tense they made their way to their classroom. Their form teacher, Miss Crick, eyed them both thoughtfully, her gaze resting longest on Paul’s face. She said nothing but entered their ‘present’ mark into the electronic register that linked to the central computer system.

‘Everyone have their ID cards?’ she said. The standard morning question. Today, unusually, everyone did. ID cards, scanned through readers, allowed library books to be borrowed, lunch to be paid for, attendance in class to be registered as they filed through the electronic doors and swiped their cards. Not to have a card was a serious offence and involved a trip to the principal’s office to beg for a temporary replacement. Dwayne was a regular in that particular queue.

Then the bell for first lesson rang and they were heading out again, Paul separated from George by the press of the crowd and, George felt, because Paul had contrived for it to be like that. George blinked angrily at tears that forced their way to the corners of his eyes; he suddenly felt so terribly alone.

Andy put the call through to Eden’s phone. ‘Anonymous tip,’ he whispered to Mac and Sergeant Baker as he re-entered the room.

Mac raised an eyebrow and turned his attention to the one-sided conversation going on at Eden’s desk.

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