Alex Gray - Glasgow Kiss

‘But wise parents sent her back before she made her depression worse sitting all day in her room, I suppose,’ Lorimer said.

‘You’re right. It’s horrible, though, this silence in registration class instead of the usual load of noise. Never thought I’d hear myself say that.’ She grinned weakly. ‘Even some of my S4 boys are actually tackling their work in a meaningful way.’

‘So it’s not all bad, then.’

‘I’d feel better if you weren’t on the case,’ Maggie blurted out, then looked away as she saw the tight line of her husband’s mouth.

‘It was decided there was no serious conflict of interest,’ he said in clipped tones that made Maggie realise he was trying to contain his temper.

‘But nobody asked me!’ she protested.

‘You weren’t part of the decision-making process,’ Lorimer began.

‘And why not? I know these kids better than most folk,’ she stormed at him. ‘I’ve been Julie and Kyle’s registration teacher since First Year as well as their English teacher! Doesn’t that count for something?’

‘Look,’ Lorimer said, ‘I understand how this is affecting you. Of course I do. But wheels have to be set in motion like every other case. I have to appear as dispassionate as I can here for the sake of good objectivity. Don’t think I can’t feel anything for these kids, though,’ he added, taking Maggie’s hand in his.

For a moment it seemed that she would pull away from his grasp, but she didn’t. Maybe she realised she’d been overreacting. Not seeing things from his point of view.

‘Just today we heard that a careers woman is coming into school,’ Maggie told him, a flag of truce waving in the deliberate change of subject.

‘An outsider can be a big help at times,’ Lorimer said, his voice gentle with relief that the spat between them seemed to be over. ‘It’s something to focus their minds away from all of this. When does she start?’

‘Next week. We’ve drawn up a timetable for her to interview all the S4 pupils. I’ll be keen to see just what they all decide to do. Visits to the careers fair will be the next thing to tackle.’ She sighed.

Lorimer listened as she talked on, sipping his tea, not saying much. It had been his decision not to let Maggie know the latest information about Kyle Kerrigan and how the boy might well be back in the frame for the murder of Julie Donaldson. And only Julie. It had happened before: a series of killings that they assumed to be the work of one person turning out to be quite different. But how could the teenager’s death fail to be part of this larger inquiry?

Lifting his mug, Lorimer drained the last of the tea and rose from the table, a faraway expression in his eyes.

Maggie clicked shut the dishwasher, pressed the start button and leaned against the sink. The sound of the evening news was coming from the room next door. More murder and mayhem in some other part of the world, she thought cynically. Was he watching it, or was the sound simply a background noise to drown out the worst of his thoughts?

She was well aware that there were things about this case that her husband was leaving deliberately unsaid. They were both skirting around the subject. I have to fit in some extra time to do a little bit of sleuthing, she might have told her husband. But this was treading in a delicate area. To make enquiries among the pupils, however discreet, was perhaps going against the very authority that her husband represented.

Yet, however much she tried to justify her plans to herself, Maggie Lorimer realised that she was being driven by a sense of guilt. Whether that was a feeling born of doubts about Eric or the knowledge that she ought to have owned up to witnessing Julie’s passionate anger that day, she didn’t rightly know. What she did know was that if she could find out something, anything, to exonerate the RE teacher, it would assuage all of these guilty thoughts.

She heard the footfall behind her just as she turned into the street. It was becoming darker now and already the sodium glow from the street lamps was making yellow puddles of light on the pavements. Don’t turn round, Jessica told herself. That’s what he wants you to do.

There was a large, glass-fronted shop opposite so she gave a quick glance left and right to check for traffic, then hurried across the street. The shadowy figure that had dogged her steps for the last ten minutes hesitated then Jessica could only hear one set of feet pattering along the hard tarmac, her own high-heeled boots that were hastening her ever nearer to home.

As she fitted her key into the lock, Jessica could not resist turning to give a quick glance behind her. Was that a shadow by the trees across the road? Or was it a figure standing stock-still, watching her? Shivering, the girl slipped into the empty house and closed the door firmly behind her. The ringing telephone made her scurry through the long hallway into the darkened kitchen.

‘Hello?’ Her voice was breathless.

A small pause that seemed to open up a black space in her head was followed by the click of a handset being replaced. Had it been a wrong number? But why not ask for someone by name? Why that infinitesimal sigh of nothingness? Jessica put down the telephone, the cold wrapping itself around her as she crept towards the front of the house once more.

Sliding along the wall of the living room, she peeked out into the night. That shadow by the trees had vanished. Shouldn’t she feel relieved that her pursuer had gone? Biting her lip to stop it trembling, Jessica visualised him walking away somewhere out in the darkness, mobile phone in his pocket and a sense of satisfaction on his invisible face that he’d succeeded in frightening her.

She yanked the curtains closed, a sense of outrage making her heart beat faster. It had to be someone from school, some idiot boy trying to scare her. How else would they know her number? Or that she’d be all alone in the house, her parents away on business?

Her mind only half-aware of what she was doing, Jessica went from room to room, turning on every light, banishing every trace of shadow until she came at last to her own bedroom that looked out towards the street. Jessica stood just inside the doorway, hesitating, her hand on the dimmer switch. This was her sanctuary, her safe place. Should she announce her arrival in the room by turning on this light too? What if he was still out there, watching? The wall opposite her window glowed with the reflection cast by the street light; would she be seen slipping across the room? With a muffled sob, she flung herself down on the bed, pulled off her boots and scrambled under the duvet, not bothering to undress.

For several minutes she heard nothing but the thumping of her own heart. And then the phone began to ring once more.

‘Her name is Miss Munro. She is going to be interviewing you all later today and tomorrow for careers guidance, so make sure you have plenty of questions to ask her,’ Maggie continued, her eyes taking in all the expressions on the faces of her Fourth Year pupils. Announcing the arrival of a careers officer along with all the other administrative details was being met with the usual bored indifference by most of them; Amanda and Jessica were deep in conversation about something, heads down and whispering behind their smooth curtains of hair. Only Kyle Kerrigan seemed to be sitting up a bit straighter, his eyes glued to Mrs Lorimer as if he could see right through her. Did he see her as his teacher any more or had she become a different figure of authority simply by being DCI Lorimer’s wife? Maggie shivered, aware that she was already having misgivings about meddling in affairs that were rightly her husband’s.