Page 76 of A Game of Lies

‘You’re not far off,’ Leo says morosely.

‘Really?’

‘Not really. She’s just …’ Leo pauses. ‘Persistent.’

‘So tell her where to go.’ They reach Pam’s door and Ffion gives Leo a sidelong glance. ‘Grow a spine.’

The throwaway insult smarts, and Leo opens his mouth to say something back, but it’s too late: Ffion’s knocking on Pam’s door.

When Ffion asks Pam who she saw in the courtyard when Miles’s body was discovered, the head teacher closes her eyes to think. ‘I saw you two,’ she says slowly. ‘And your colleague. Georgina, is it? And the runner, Caleb.’ She places invisible figures around the room with her hand, her eyes still closed. ‘Jason wasthere, then Roxy and Owen came out of the house and stoodthere, and then Aliyah washere.’

‘Aliyah?’ Ffion looks at Leo.

Pam opens her eyes. ‘I asked her how the interview went.’

‘You’re sure?’ Leo says.

‘DS Brady, there are a hundred and seventy-four girls in my sixth form and if any of them skip assembly I could give you their name in a matter of seconds. I think I can remember who was standing in the courtyard a few hours ago.’

Leo doesn’t doubt it. Pam Butler is a formidable woman. ‘What were you doing immediately before the murder?’

‘Being suspended,’ Pam says quietly. Her eyes glisten. ‘The chair of the Board of Governors called me. Apparently the decision was unanimous.’

‘We’ll need to speak to someone who can verify that,’ Ffion says.

Pam reaches for a spiral-bound notebook and flips through the pages. ‘This is his number.’ Beneath the digits, Pam’s neat writing gives a summary of her call.Full pay, Leo reads.Appeal?He takes a photo of the page.

‘This must be very difficult for you,’ Ffion says.

‘It’s my girls I’m worried about.’ Pam sighs. ‘I hate to think what they’ve been told. The deputy head’s covering but, well … you worry when you’re not there, don’t you?’

Leo does indeed. He was gratified when DCI Boccacci asked him to take command of the scene, but, now that the initial rush has dissipated, he’s desperate to know what’s going on in the incident room.

‘We’ll move things along as quickly as we can,’ he tells Pam. ‘In the meantime, please stay in your room and don’t speak to the other contestants.’

‘Of course. I must say, you’re awfully nice for police officers. Very reassuring.’ She gives Ffion an appraising look. ‘Have you ever thought of teaching?’

Ffion waits until she and Leo are out of earshot. ‘Can you think of anything worse than being a teacher?’

Leo certainly can’t think of anything worse thanFfionbeing a teacher, but he decides to keep that to himself. ‘Jason next?’ he says instead.

‘I fucking hated Miles.’ The firefighter sits with his arms folded tight across his chest. ‘But I didn’t kill him.’

‘We need to establish where everyone was at the time of the murder,’ Leo says.

‘I was on a video call to my solicitor.’

Leo flips open his notebook, which is rapidly filling up with actions. ‘I’d like their details, please.’

‘Are you calling me a liar?’

‘This is a murder investigation,’ Ffion says. ‘And, as it stands, you don’t have an alibi. So if I were you, I’d give us your solicitor’s details, before you find yourself wearing a fetching pair of bracelets.’

As they cross the courtyard on their way back to the kitchen, Leo’s phone rings.

‘Sarge? It’s George.’

‘How’s the incident room?’