Page 28 of A Simple Mistake
“I’m on the way.I’ve just dropped Nico and Daniel off at school.Thought I’d stop by and avoid the worst of the traffic.”
“How’s the house coming along?”
“We’re loving it,” Jack said, not hiding his enthusiasm.“I wanted to rip up the kitchen floor and install underfloor heating now it’s getting warm outside, but Gareth is too much in love with his kitchen to let me interrupt him.So be prepared for another winter of complaints about cold feet.”
“I’ll remind him it’s his own fault and buy him new slippers.But if that’s all that ails you…”
“Exactly my thought.”Jack accepted a mug of coffee and nodded when Roz offered a dish of shortbread.The day Jack turned down shortbread was the day they nailed him into his coffin.He savoured the first of the thick, buttery shortbread fingers, mixing the taste with a sip of coffee, before he reached for the second.“Did the boys ever mention their dance lessons to you?”
Roz stirred milk into her coffee.“I know they have them.And Daniel said something about salsa being confusing?”
“They didn’t mention their dance teacher?”
“Not that I recall.Is there an issue?”
“You could say that.”Jack explained what he’d learned, what he’d observed, and then reached for his tablet.“Nico thought we didn’t believe him because Manville behaved himself while I was watching.So he secretly recorded a class when no parents were present.”He flipped the slate open and pulled up the video.“We can’t publicise this, obviously, but I want you to see it.I’m also hoping you might have a word with any of the schools you support.On the quiet, so he doesn’t go to ground.I want to nail him to the wall.”
He reached for another shortbread finger as Roz started the video.She watched, enlarging sections, stopping and rewinding, and her expression grew grimmer by the minute.“He’s not at all furtive about it,” she said at the end of her perusal.
“Exactly.It’s why I think there’s something for me to find.This isn’t new.Nico’s dance partner told me the girls were warned by the year above them.The way the story goes, a girl in a previous year tried to report Manville, and he bullied her into keeping silent.”
“Gets off on power, too.”
“Seems like it.”
“Then how did you ever get onto him?”
“He’s an equal opportunity pervert.Put his hands all over Daniel during one of the dance lessons.Daniel kept stepping away, and Manville was having none of it.Nico intervened, and Manville excluded them both from the class.And when their dance partners left with them, Nico got labelled a ringleader.”
Roz’s grin matched Jack’s.“Not entirely wrong, that picture, is it?”
“Can’t tell you how grateful I am for it,” Jack admitted.“Most of the parents are blind to the rumours.When I went to watch the dance lessons, another mum turned up to do the same.She knew about Manville and apologised because she hadn’t considered that boys could be vulnerable, too.That was an interesting conversation.”
“Yes, I can see that.”Roz watched the video one more time.“You’ve blurred out all the faces.”
“I’d do that even if the video was legal.None of the kids deserve to be tarred with the victim brush.”
Roz touched his arm, a brief caress, and nodded.“Leave it with me, Jack.I’ll drop words into the right ears.”
Jack drained his mug and stood.“I appreciate it.”
“You have that video safe, right?”
“More than.I’m headed for the Yard next.I want to wave it past Baxter.See if he has the guy on his radar.”
“Good man.”
“Is there anything you need?”Jack asked as he put on his shoes.“I’m on first name terms with the local builder’s merchants and DIY stores.”He saw her hesitate and raised a hand.“Think about it.If anything needs doing, text me.”
“Thanks, Jack.”She held the door for him and Jack had headed out to the Land Rover.Coming to see her had been the right thing.He knew it, but he felt her searching gaze on him long after he’d settled into the driver’s seat.
The most unobtrusive way to have a chat with Detective Inspector Clive Baxter was to meet him for a coffee.Jack sent a text before he left Roz’s driveway, and half an hour of crawling traffic later, he walked into a coffee shop on Piccadilly.
As usual at this time in the morning, the place was heaving.Jack craned his neck until he found Baxter at a small corner table, writing in a notebook.Jack ordered his caffeine and joined him.“Sorry to drag you out of your warm office,” he quipped as he sat down.“Must be such a chore doing paperwork amongst the hoi polloi.”
“It would be, if that’s what I was doing,” Clive replied.“I’ve just come off shift.I’m headed home to bed as soon as you’ve told me what you need.”
“Honestly sorry then,” Jack said.“I won’t keep you long.Just something I wanted to run past you.”He set his slate on the table between them and pulled up the video.“Here, watch that while I fire up my brain.”He sipped his coffee and watched Baxter’s face.The detective could be as informative as a blank slate when he needed to be.Sitting opposite Jack in the coffee shop, he wasn’t.But while Jack read disgust and the beginnings of anger, he didn’t spot anything that resembled recognition.It had been a long shot, Jack reminded himself.
