Chalk Dust & Broomsticks, Chapter 33

Inspector Stanhope interviews Mrs. Phillips and the children learn about telling lies.

Inspector Stanhope was sitting in a specially prepared room at Primrose Primary School, interviewing the deputy headteacher, Mrs. Phillips.

“It may not seem important to you, Mrs. Phillips, but it may be vital in influencing the result of the investigation I am undertaking. Please go on..."

Inspector Stanhope let his gaze settle on the pale green sugar bowl in front of him. He was trained to observe every small detail. Slowly and deliberately, he prepared his cup of tea, allowing time to progress and encourage Mrs. Phillips's thoughts to spill forth in the same way as the sugar.

Mrs. Phillips adjusted her navy-blue slacks and continued.

"It was just before the last Christmas holidays. The staff Christmas Party was just finishing and Mrs. Catchpole and I were tidying up the inevitable mess. We looked out at the car park and saw Althea Gardner dragging a large sack towards the boiler house. It looked heavy. She is a tall, strong woman, but even she had to use a lot of energy, which is what caught our attention."

"Indeed, it would, Mrs. Phillips. At the time, was your curiosity aroused enough to discover what it was that Althea was discarding?"

"No, Inspector. The next day I was at home with my three boys and I forgot all about it. In any case, it would have been impossible to get into the boiler house. There is only one person with a key to the boiler house and that is Gerald, the caretaker. If Althea was going to dispose of a large sack full of rubbish, she would probably leave it outside for Gerald to dispose of the next day.

"Is there anything else you want to tell me about that evening?"

"Yes, when I was leaving the car park, I noticed a small red sports car parked next to Althea's. I think Althea must have had a visitor. I only noticed it because it was in my usual parking spot. I've seen that car before, in the car park at the Local Education Office."

"I see. Did you return to the school the next day?"

"No, Inspector. It was holiday time, so I was at home with my boys."

"Thank you, Mrs. Phillips. You have been most helpful. Would you like to ask Dora to come in next, please?"

Inspector Stanhope poured himself another cup of tea and sat back, ruminating about the vivid imaginations of women and how he was going to sift fact from fabrication.

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The Truth About Lies

In Wagtails Class Mrs. West was teaching the children about telling lies.

"You mustn't tell lies, children," she began. "If you tell lies, you will get someone else into trouble."

Leon stuck his hand up. "Do you mean like when Barry Westfield said I squeezed the goldfish and made it die? I never did; it was Martin."

"Yes, Leon, that's what I mean exactly. Why do you think that Barry did that to you?"

"Because he wanted me to get the slipper, that's why."

"That's not a very kind thing to do, is it, Barry? But I am not going to tell you off. I am just using that as an example."

"I never done it, Miss, I never squeezed the goldfish," Leon insisted.

"Well, somebody must have squeezed it because it was dead on the floor when I found it!" said Toby.

"And who do you think it was who squeezed it, Toby?" asked Mrs.West.

"I knowed who squeezed it, Miss. It was Leon because his fingers smelled of fish afterwards."

All eyes in the classroom turned to look at Leon, whose ears went bright red.

Mrs. West stood up straight and tall. "Leon," she said, "there is a blue line on your forehead, which tells me that it is you who has been lying. Can anybody else see it?"

All the children spoke together... "Yes, miss!" they answered.

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Dora Feels Uncomfortable

Inspector Stanhope, a "grey" man whose appearance belied his "silver" intelligence, decided he had time for one or two more interviews, despite his rising discomfort. He had been sitting down too long and was anxious to get up and go for a walk.

"Come in, Mrs. Wales," he invited, as the short, red-haired, pale-skinned woman entered. She looked nervous, pulling her chair back to widen the space between herself and the desk.

“Do you have a first name?"

"Yes, it's Dora."

"Well now, Dora; tell me, have you worked here in the school for long?"

"I've been here for twenty years. I was here when the school opened."

"When did the school open?

“It opened in 1969, nearly thirty years ago. The Junior side was first to open and the younger children were in Nissan huts to start with. Then the Infants School was built. We called it ‘The Dollhouse’.”

“That must have been quite an event and you must have seen a lot of changes in that time?

Dora smiled, “Yes, inspector, the schools were very full because the estate was young and we caught the bulge. The first headteacher was here for years and years. He retired recently. Now that the schools have combined, the atmosphere is very different.”

“How has the new Head settled in, in your own experienced opinion?"

"She hasn't. She is not popular, Inspector. She is as popular as a fur coat in a heat wave. Nobody likes her. She puts everyone's back up."

"Nobody?"

"Well, she's got one friend – that woman from the Local Education Office. You know, the one that's gone missing! Alex. She was always hanging round here in her fancy car, sucking up to Althea all the time. I can't think what they saw in each other!"

Dora said that she last saw Alex just before the Christmas holidays, at the staff Christmas party. She remembered seeing Alex arriving at the school and hearing her talking to Althea in the office. Dora also revealed that once, when Alex had arrived at the school during the afternoon. Dora had caught her looking through a drawer in Althea’s office. "She looked quite furtive when I entered the room and she shut the drawer with a bang. It was as if she was looking for something."

Dora confirmed that she hadn’t seen Alex after the party or in the weeks since.

The Inspector pressed on, asking about the day of Althea's attack.

"Now, Dora, I understand it was you who found Althea in her office on the day she was attacked? You must have arrived very soon after she was attacked."

"I've never seen anything like it. She took a blow to the head and as she fell she cut her leg on the shower stall. Althea was so traumatized. Whoever it was had only just left because the statuette, which was used in the attack, was still rolling on the floor when I got there."

"Ahhh, yes, the statuette. There are two of them, aren't there?"

"Yes, but one of them has gone missing, Inspector."

"And I don't suppose...?"

"No, sorry, no idea at all."

The Inspector remained silent for a moment. "Life in a school is by its very nature insular, is it not? I expect you know a good deal about the secrets in the school, don't you Dora?"

"I know most things about most people, yes, but only because they have wanted to tell me."

"Miss Pink, the teacher in charge of Red Class? I was told she was off sick with stress for months now. Do you know the cause of her stress?"

"She didn't get on with Althea. Althea wanted to put her in Red Class, with the six/seven-year-olds. It's not her age group. Mary was in charge of the Nursery Unit – the little ones, 3 – 4 year olds. She started worrying that she wouldn’t cope with the older children and then she got ill."

"And what about Mrs. Cracker in Red Class. What was going to happen to her?"

"There was going to be a swap. Mrs. Cracker was going into the Nursery Unit with the rising fours and Miss Pink was going into Red Class. They both hated the idea. It happened after the Christmas Holidays at the start of the Spring Term."

"I see. So, it was not a popular choice of action. It would have annoyed and upset Miss Pink and Mrs. Cracker?"

"It certainly did. It gave them both stress."

"What about your job, Dora. Has that remained the same since Althea came into post?"

Dora Wales's discomfort grew as the Inspector's questions edged closer to her own secrets. She remembered the thrill of possessing the blackmail letter, the treats it bought, and how suddenly she was on the inside of the school's biggest secret.

"More or less," Dora said carefully. "I've just had a lot more running around to do and …

The Inspector thanked her, but his silver brain was already calculating. Althea's intention to force a job swap had created two new suspects for the attack on herself: Miss Pink and Mrs. Cracker, both of whom had a clear motive for revenge. And, critically, the weapon was now a piece of missing evidence.

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