Dark Shadows by Sibel Hodge

Author:Sibel Hodge [Hodge, Sibel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-03-31T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 29

Toni

There were no clients in the waiting room when I rushed inside the counselling block. Janet sat at her desk, phone pressed to her ear, and the door to Phil’s office and those of the other counsellors were all closed.

I waited by Janet’s desk until she hung up. ‘I’ve just heard about the stabbing,’ I said. ‘Was the offender really a student here?’

‘I’m afraid so. It seems a tutor from here was in St Peters Street when it happened and recognised him and called the police. Awful, isn’t it? Phil’s trying to find out more information now.’

‘Which student?’

She glanced down at the pad on her desk with her neat writing on. ‘Farzad Nuri.’

I pressed my lips together. I didn’t recognise the name, but it didn’t stop the breath catching in my throat at the awfulness of the situation.

‘Phil’s going to brief everyone in—’ She stopped abruptly as Phil stepped out of his office and strode towards us. His usually calm persona had an air of harassed urgency about it.

‘I take it you’ve heard?’ Phil said to me.

‘Yes.’ A wave of sadness washed over me for the victim. ‘It’s terrible.’

‘I need you both in my office for a few minutes. I’ll just round up the others.’ He strode back down the corridor.

Five minutes later, Phil’s small office was crowded to bursting point. Riya, another associate counsellor who’d joined a few months before me, stood next to Janet. The other full-time counsellors—Vincent, Georgina, and Kieran—formed a circle around Phil’s desk.

‘So… we’ve had official confirmation that the boy involved in the tragic stabbing was Farzad Nuri, who attended this university.’

Riya gasped.

‘How tragic.’ Georgina shook her head.

‘As you’re aware, in circumstances like this, we like to put a high profile on the services we provide to our students, in case anyone who knew Farzad or is affected by this incident wants to talk.’ He glanced over at Janet. ‘So Janet will shortly be putting together some form emails to students and dealing with the university’s online stuff, offering anyone counselling who needs it. Obviously, I don’t know how many people will take up our offer, but any students will be distributed equally amongst you all.’

Janet nodded gravely.

‘Was Farzad Nuri a client of ours?’ I asked Phil.

‘No. He’d never spoken to anyone from Student Counselling in the past. The only thing I know about him so far is that he was on his second year of a fine art course. He had an exemplary record until a few months ago, when his tutors thought his work was slacking.’

‘Do we know what prompted the attack?’ Kieran asked.

Phil held his hands up in the air. ‘That’s all I really know at the moment. Okay, so take some time to process this. If anyone wants to talk, I’ll be back in my office after two as I’ve got an emergency meeting to try and find out more. Are there any more questions?’

Nos all round. We were filing out when Phil called my name. I stepped back towards his desk as the others left, their muted conversation flowing back down the corridor with them.

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