Gemini & Flowers Mysteries 09 - Street Life by Jonathan Gregory

Author:Jonathan Gregory [Gregory, Jonathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3
Publisher: Jonathan Gregory
Published: 2018-05-17T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Eight

On the 22nd February, a man, dressed in camouflage jacket and carrying two assault rifles and four hand grenades, walked into Beech Tree junior school in Nottingham and opened fire. He went from classroom to classroom, tossing a grenade each into four of them then stood shooting at survivors as they stumbled out of the ruins of the rooms. By the time the police arrived, and armed officers had entered the building and killed the suspect, thirty-one children and three teachers, including the headmistress, had been murdered. A further seventeen children were in hospital, ten of them in a critical condition. All of the younger victims were between the ages of seven and nine.

Within an hour, the Head of Serious Crime in Nottingham gave a press conference. The man was not a terrorist as such, but a parent of two of the children, who had lost custody of them in a very acrimonious divorce. He was ex-army and investigations were on going, the officer said, to find out how he managed to accumulate such an arsenal of weapons. His own children were among the dead.

It was just a few days after the high school shooting in Florida, which had resulted in seventeen dead and the extraordinary scenes of high-school survivors calling out their congressmen and women on gun control. The smug British press, which had been producing endless articles pointing out these sorts of shooting events were rare now in England, suddenly had to backtrack a little. But the images of those students had inspired England’s schoolchildren too. As the media circus began, children across the country took to their social sites.

Something must be done to help the families of the dead and injured. Within a day, one school after another announced they were putting together concerts to raise money for the victims and their families.

Finn, shaken by the reports, went to see the headmaster and asked if Castle School could follow suit. Dr Singh, sitting behind his vast mahogany desk, frowned at first then nodded.

‘If you organise it, then yes, of course. Good initiative, Finn. However, you have your GCSEs next term and I will only allow this if you do not interrupt studying for the exams. You can prepare one hour a day only, after sports and before study hour. I know you go home for that, but the other boys and girls need to study, both fifth years like you and Upper Sixth. I take you will involve the whole school?’

Finn blinked. He hadn’t thought that far ahead. The idea of ordering the Sixth form about was suddenly a little overwhelming. But he nodded and said, ‘Okay, Sir.’

At assembly the next morning in the abbey church, Singh called upon Finn to speak. A little nervous at first, he explained that he wanted volunteers to put together a concert of music and song, help with staging it and publicising it, on behalf of the Nottingham victims. Anyone interested should stay behind after the hymn and give him their name.

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