Page 90 of The Girl in the Woods

Tom smiled. ‘I knew you’d complain.’ He briefly rested his hand on her knee before returning it to the gear stick. ‘I quite like calling you Harper.’

Beth laughed. ‘It always was Harper this, Harper that.’ She pulled a chocolate bar from her pocket.

‘It never stops,’ he said, pulling into the car park.

‘That’s because you never give me time to eat.’

They arrived just as the students were leaving. Beth recognised Skinner, who looked downcast. He saw them approaching, and his shoulders tensed.

‘We’re here to talk to the headmistress,’ she assured him.

‘I hope you get that fucking vigilante. He’s mad. God knows who he’ll go after next. He attacked Needles on the coach coming home from football. Scraped his neck with a machete.’

Tom stopped. ‘Needles?’ he asked.

‘Colin Lees,’ said Skinner. ‘Laine’s brother. Everyone calls him Needles on account of his tattoos.’

Skinner couldn’t care less anymore. Needles was in a right state. He wouldn’t leave Jim’s house. He said he couldn’t stand the sound of his mother’s crying. Skinner was devastated about Laine. The more he told them, the better chance they had of getting that mad bastard.

‘So you were also on the coach that Saturday with Lees, who smashed the radio and blacked out the security cameras,’ said Beth.

Skinner looked like he was going to burst into tears. ‘We were wasted, you know. It was just a bit of fun. But he had this machete. We shouldn’t have done it, but he didn’t have to kill Laine. Why would he do that?’ Tears spurted from his eyes and Beth rummaged in her bag for a tissue.

‘Come to the station later and make a statement,’ said Tom, walking ahead of her into the school.

‘Thanks,’ said Skinner, taking the tissue.

‘All heart,’ she said, catching up with Tom.

‘Too soft,’ he replied.

Before she could answer, the headmistress was greeting them. It turned out that Laine had barely attended her lessons. Her behaviour had been so antisocial that they had referred her to a social worker. The social worker, Rufus Jones, said he found her difficult during their sessions. The headmistress had planned to follow up after the fair.

‘But…’ She stopped, trying to control her emotions. ‘I never got to do that.’

When they arrived at his office, Rufus Jones was in the middle of a session, so Beth and Tom accepted the administrator’s offer of a coffee.

‘We have some doughnuts if you’d like one. You know what offices are like. You can never stay on a diet here.’

‘Sounds lovely,’ said Beth.

Tom rolled his eyes. ‘I’m surprised you’re not the size of Buckingham Palace,’ he commented.

Twenty minutes later, a tall young man came out of one of the therapy rooms and invited them in. Throughout the interview, he seemed edgy to Beth and stroked his chin nervously between his thumb and finger until the skin became angry and red.

‘She was referred to me because of her continual absences from school and for abusing the teachers,’ he explained. ‘There was no parental support, although I did invite them to the sessions.’

‘How did you find her?’ asked Beth. ‘Was she responsive?’

‘She didn’t communicate with me. She was resentful at being here,’ he said. ‘She’d fidget or look out of the window.’

‘Did you form any kind of relationship with her?’ asked Tom, observing him closely.

‘What do you mean relationship?’ Rufus asked anxiously.

‘We’re not accusing you of anything,’ said Beth reassuringly. ‘We need to know if she shared anything with you that might help us find her killer.’

‘Did you have a rapport with her?’ asked Tom.

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