Death's Justice by Jack Probyn

Author:Jack Probyn [Probyn, Jack]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781805200307
Published: 2023-08-07T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER

THIRTY-SIX

‘How’d it go?’

‘About as well as I expected, to be honest. And that’s not saying much.’

Headteacher Miranda Hartwell pursed her lips as she listened, like she was posing for a photo shoot. He placed her in a similar age bracket to himself and thought she looked good for it. Prim, proper and maybe a little uptight. ‘I’m sorry the girls couldn’t have been of more use to you, detective. And I’m sorry about Elizabeth. Leave it to us to have a couple of words with her. It’s not usual for them to behave like that. I must admit I did wonder how they’d react to a man like yourself standing in front of them.’

A man like himself? Was she coming on to him? Ever since his relationship with Katie had started to develop, he’d given little to no thought about the wider spectrum of the opposite sex. He’d become myopic, with Katie at the focal point, his peripheries blacked out.

‘Regardless of who came down to talk to them,’ he said, hoping to downplay her advances, ‘they should pay attention. It’s important they learn the rights and wrongs.’

‘Tell me about it,’ she said. ‘I’m always telling my daughter off for being on the iPad for too long. It’s my fault, I know. But it’s just so… easy to give it to them and run. They’re happy, I’m happy. And I can finally get on with my work.’

Tomek’s next question had been burning inside him ever since her first sentence. ‘You have a daughter?’

‘Yes. I’m a single parent.’ Whether unknowingly or (as Tomek presumed to be the case) knowingly, Miranda stroked her wedding ring finger, and looked at Tomek’s on the same hand. ‘Have been ever since she was a baby. Her father didn’t want to be a part of her life and I was happy to let him walk out.’

‘How old’s your daughter?’

‘Seven. She’ll be eight in a couple of weeks. January baby. Capricorn. She’s very independent…’

‘Except for the iPad.’

Miranda let out a small chuckle. ‘Yes. Except for the iPad.’

Tomek’s ideas were running away with themselves, and he didn’t want to let on what was inside his head. So instead he surveyed the room, searching for a photo of the child. It was the first time he’d spoken with a teacher or headteacher who had a daughter of the same age as the girl in the red coat. But Miranda was intent on making sure she didn’t exist. There were no photos, no hand drawings or mementos that had been handed to her by her daughter. Nothing to suggest she even had a home to go to. It wasn’t uncommon, but Tomek had expected more from a single mother.

Or perhaps that was it. Perhaps it was the complete lack of home effects that raised alarm bells. The killer had used a child as bait in the killings. And he’d asked himself repeatedly, what sort of mother would do that? What sort of father? What sort of parent?

The kind who neglected her

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