Vicky Newham - Turn a Blind Eye

From the school’s reception area, I continued along the main hall, past the science labs and the music rooms, along the corridor past the walls of metal lockers that had seemed like monsters on my first day of school here. I made notes in my pad as I walked; recorded and analysed impressions; took snaps on my phone. The display boards didn’t fool me. I knew they were designed to portray a positive image to whoever saw them, but they somehow seemed too perfect. Who were all the smiling faces, and messages of progress and harmony, aimed at? And where was the information for the people who passed the boards the most often? The information for pupils on internet security, bullying and drugs? It all prompted two conflicting impressions: the place had clearly benefitted from the stewardship of Linda Gibson, but underneath the cheery faces and camaraderie, something wasn’t right . . . I could feel Linda’s murder reeling me in. Her legacy and achievements were all around me, vying for my attention, but very much at odds with the fact that she was now dead, with parents outside the school, desperate for information about what’s happened to the head teacher.

When I returned to the incident room, I hurried over to where I had been working earlier. A few seats along, Dan was hunched over the table, checking off numbers on a printout with a ruler and yellow highlighter. He was facing me but had his head down, engrossed in what he was reading. Through his number one shave, his white scalp was visible.

At that moment, Alexej arrived, a bunch of papers in his hand. ‘Shen dropped these off for you.’ He handed them to me. ‘Still no trace of Roger Allen. And Linda’s post-mortem is scheduled for nine a.m. tomorrow.’

I scanned the list of names Shen had brought. I cross-checked these with the information on HOLMES. Rich, the school caretaker, had arrived late this morning after a delayed return flight from Spain. With all the commotion about the power cut and lack of heating, he’d got distracted and forgotten to switch the school’s CCTV back on after the electricity was restored. Wait. His name was on the list of people outside the school earlier. If he wasn’t in the staffroom with his colleagues, he might’ve had the opportunity to kill Linda. I scanned the records. Uniform had interviewed Rich after Linda’s death but it needed following up.

‘Any luck locating CCTV?’ I asked Alexej. Without any, we were reliant on eye witnesses and forensics.

‘Still trying to establish what’s in the school vicinity. I’m heading over there in a minute to have a chat with one of the parent governors, a man named Talcott Lawrence, and re-interview the caretaker, Rich Griffiths. Rich swears no doors were left open this morning and all of them are entry-code protected, but given he forgot to switch on the school’s CCTV, I don’t know how reliable he is.’

‘I was just reading about the caretaker. Can you grill him on where he was when Linda was killed and how he managed to get outside the school? Check his alibis. Also, find out who the heating engineers were and where they went?’

‘Will do.’ He put his pen in his jacket.

‘And ask him why the power went off, can you? Was someone helping the killer, or did the killer switch it off so there would be no lights and no CCTV?’ Crime scene photos were scattered over my desk. ‘This wasn’t a frenzied, spontaneous attack. A strangulation of this sort suggests a quiet rage, don’t you think? It was meticulously organised. The killer would’ve had to print the precept onto card, bring it with them – and the cloth for Linda’s hands – strangle her, position the body, tie her wrists, then leave.’

‘Exactly. That takes planning.’ Alexej was shaking his head. ‘I’ve checked the staff register. Only Roger Allen was absent today. Theoretically, Allen and Steve Rowe had the opportunity to kill Linda. And Rich, depending on where he was.’

‘Yes, they’re our obvious suspects. But we also need to consider the possible involvement of Linda’s husband – however unlikely – and a student with a grievance. Unfortunately, we don’t have any motives at the moment.’ I added these to the list of suspects on the board. ‘I’ve been reading the interview summaries. No-one has uttered a bad word about Linda. Good at her job. A competent leader. Nice person. Cared about the kids and staff. Passionate about education.’ It made me think about the display boards and the school video. ‘It always arouses my suspicions when no-one has anything negative to say about a person who’s been murdered. No-one is so nice there’s nothing negative to say. It’s the British thing of not wanting to speak badly about someone who’s died. And I respect that. But it only takes one person with a grudge.’

After Alexej left, I laid out several images of Linda on the table in front of me, alongside the staff photographs from the school data management system. I was keen to add pictures of Linda’s family and friends to get a grasp on the people in her life. I was struggling to get a sense of what Linda’s death might be about. In Tower Hamlets, in East London as a whole, it was mainly stabbings, shootings and beatings, and invariably to do with gangs, grudges or honour.

Seconds later Dan was back in front of my desk, clearing his throat. ‘The parent delegation is growing and they’ve assembled next to the reporters.’ He was holding out a paper cup of steaming liquid.

I took it. ‘Thanks.’

‘And your pal, Dougie, has just called. The technicians have given their initial reports. Linda Gibson has been wiping stuff off her computers on a regular basis.’

‘You’re kidding?’

‘I wish I was. The techs are trying to recover the files but they wanted to warn you: she’s used a professional programme to overwrite them.’

‘What’s the programme?’

‘PermErase.’

‘Argh. That’s a pig of a piece of software.’ The news sent my thoughts reeling. ‘Why’s she been doing that? You don’t use PermErase to delete a few photographs and draft emails.’ I still wasn’t sure about Dan – I wasn’t used to sharing my investigations with someone so pro-active. But the hot drink was a friendly gesture. I took a swig.

Dan’s expression was thoughtful. ‘Course, it could just mean that she’s extremely organised or security conscious?’

‘Until we know what she’s deleted, there’s no point speculating. But I definitely don’t know anyone who uses professional software to overwrite blurry photographs.’

Dan tilted his head but didn’t comment. Presumably it was his way of agreeing. ‘Is there any chance it could be a school policy? Or a – what d’you call it here? – local government thing?’

‘Local education authority. Can you find out? Shari and Neil should know if it’s a Tower Hamlets policy.’

He tapped into his phone.

‘Has Dougie’s team got Linda’s mobile phone? I want to know what’s on it. Her contacts, texts, photographs. We need her call records, and details of her social media accounts, so we can assess the passive data for gaps and patterns. I want to know who she’s been in touch with recently.’

‘Already requested these. Her mobile was part of her handbag contents. I’ve been going through her call records.’ He pointed at the printouts on his desk. ‘The technicians are running checks on her handset, then we can have it. Once we have her passwords, Alexej can check any Facebook and Twitter accounts she uses.’

‘Well done.’

‘A few other things. Neil Sanderson has asked if the staff can go home now.’

‘Has everyone been interviewed? Got contact details and prints for them all?’

‘Almost. Shen is double-checking against the staff lists.’