B Gill - Death Drop

Brannigan's face seemed visibly to thin so that the bones were prominent "Go on "

"I think the child who's disappeared had good reason to disappear – if he's the child I saw here the other day "

"Describe him "

"About ten or eleven, small build, red hair. He had been frightened to the point of throwing up " He went on to tell Brannigan about the boy running from the direction of the hollow "I went to investigate, but I saw no-one. I have no doubt at all that there was someone there Does the description fit the boy who's gone?"

"Yes."

"Then you've a problem on your hands – a nasty one. I didn't tell you because you've worry enough with the Fleming case. I intended telling you after the inquest. That was a misjudgment on my part. I'm sorry."

Brannigan said heavily, "Obviously there was a reason for his going. It's not.pleasant having it confirmed. You say he vomited?"

"Yes – with fright. And his hands had been tied. He managed to loosen the knot" He didn't add that he had dropped the tie in the bushes – a temporary tidying away of a disturbing situation "It's more than normal bullying. I thought you were fussing too much over Fleming's accident Now I'm not at all sure that it was an accident. I won't say so at the inquest, of course, but I'm telling you. Praemomtus, praemumtus. Forewarned is forearmed. You see, I haven't forgotten my Latin." He smiled wetly, but with genuine sympathy. "Damned good school this."

Alison waited until he had gone before returning. "What did he want?"

He decided not to tell her. "He'd heard about Corley – through Goldthorpe."

"And by the look of you made you see how serious it is. The school's good name is being ruined by an irresponsible little brat… Where are you going?" He was walking over to the door.

He nearly said, To breathe – to get away from yon. "To my study. Durrant can make his phone call to his mother from there."

"Durrant? You're bothered about Durrant – now? At a time like this?"

Yes, lie thought, he was particularly bothered about Durrant at a time like this.

He sent for Hammond first. He had asked him to make the phone call as quickly as he could. "Or she'll keep hogging the line." He hadn't bothered asking him the result of it. He asked him now.

Hammond said mildly, "She's crazy. I told her the boy had started the term with eight pounds in his account – and that if any more money had come through he would have given it to me to bank for him. She wanted to know if I opened his letters. I said my duties here were to teach not to run a censorship department."

Unwise, Brannigan thought, but didn't blame him.

"She didn't take that kindly. She even had the gall to talk about a moral duty to open his letters. Moral duty! Mrs. Durrant!" It was the only funny thing that had happened to him for days.

"And then?"

"And then one of the new lads – Wilkinson – ran down the corridor in a pair of football boots, with one of the other lads after him. You know the rule about that. He dislodged a piece of parquet – the bit that's just been repaired where the damp was getting through."

"And you cut Mrs. Durrant off and attended to it."

"Quite."

"Do you think the lad's father sent him any money?"

"No, Headmaster. Do you?"

"No," Brannigan said, "I don't. But I intend asking him about it."

It took Hammond nearly half an hour to find Durrant and in that time Brannigan got through to the police again. There was still no news of Corley. Minutes afterwards Corley's father rang Brannigan. He had no news either and his tension was coming out as barely concealed aggression. Brannigan listened to his criticisms tiredly. On the whole, he thought, they were just. At that moment he would have gladly handed over the school to Corley's father and told him to run it -just to see how easy it was. He had a vision of a bothy in Scotland set miles from anywhere with not a single human being in sight.

Durrant knocked at the door and came in. "You want to see me, sir?"

In some odd way some of the boy's obsequiousness had gone. He had never exactly grovelled before Brannigan, but he had tended to stoop and mumble. Brannigan, catching a look from the boy's eyes, felt uncomfortably as if he were being measured up and found wanting. It was a familiar enough look from Alison – especially during the last few days – but he had never noticed it in Durrant before.

He came crisply to the point "How much money did you spend on your mother's camera, Durrant?"

The question visibly took the boy off-balance. "What do you mean, sir? What camera?"

"Don't stall. I haven't time for that. The camera you gave her for her birthday. It was to have been a book of Keats – obviously you changed your mind."

Durrant lost an inch or two. "Not very much, sir. I had meant to buy her the book of poems, sir. But I saw the camera in Franklin's – the nearly new shop at the corner of Brook Street."

"How much did you give for it?"

"Four pounds fifty." His voice became ingratiating. "And then I bought the razor, sir. The one you told me to buy." He rubbed his chin. "It does a good job, sir."

"Have you a receipt?"

"For the razor?" He saw Brannigan's expression and went on hastily, "For the camera? Yes, sir, I did have a receipt. But I don't keep them, not unless they're for a lot of money. I threw it away."

"Have you a lot of money? From your father – for instance?"

Durrani's surprise was genuine – so much so that he didn't answer. He seemed to be casting around in his mind for the reason behind such a stupid question. At last he thought he'd found it. "That money you advanced me, sir. You did get it back, didn't you? I told Mr. Hammond about it and asked him to give it back to you."

"Yes, I did get it back. Have you had a substantial sum of money from anyone recently?"

"Chance would be a fine…" Again he caught Brannigan's eye. "No, sir."

"Your mother seems to think you have. She phoned me this morning and wants to speak to you. You might as well make the phone call now." He indicated the brown leather armchair. "Go and sit over there and take the phone with you. I have this paper-work to see to." He implied that Durrant would disturb him less if he didn't make the phone call at the desk. Durrant hesitated. Brannigan lied irritably, "I won't listen."

As Durrant picked up the telephone and began to dial, Brannigan noticed his hands for the first time. They were large and bony with prominent knuckles. The nails were well shaped and well kept. Somehow he had expected them to be bitten to the quick. His overall appearance was scruffy, but that was mainly due to the way his hair grew over his collar and to the side-burns the razor had carefully avoided. He looked a strong young brute, but a strong young brute who showered daily without being told. He was a child in a man's body – but some of the time not a child at all.

He was a child now.

His whole attitude as he got through to his mother dropped years off him. His obvious delight as he heard her voice showed in the slight flush in his cheeks and in the relaxing of his attitude. He sat more comfortably in the chair, cradling the telephone base on his knee, stroking the flex absently with his left hand.

"Many happy returns for Tuesday. Did you like my card? And the present?"

Brannigan couldn't hear Lorena Durrant's side of the conversation, but he could see the effect of it. It was as if a cold, unexpected wind had caught the boy naked. His hand on the flex became still.

"What do you mean… my father?… Why should he?… What friend?… I don't think I know that friend (there was ice in his own voice now)… How would your friend know?… Eighty pounds (genuine surprise)… You think I spent eighty pounds?… If I had it, then I would – on you."