Between the Prison and the Sewage Works by Maryline Suchley (e book reader android .TXT) 📕

However, whilst Mara was in the office the deviant boy had run off.

‘Don’t worry, he won’t get far I’ll catch up with him,’ Jim said grinning as if he was looking forward to the challenge.

Jesus what a start to the morning, how could things get any worse?

Coffee, I need coffee. I feel like absolute crap. She said to herself.

Entering the staffroom, it was obvious that people had for once made an effort to be early. Usually morning staff briefing was an afterthought that people rushed to. The topic of conversation on everyone’s lips was of course the body. Looking across the room Mara could see Gordon talking to Tony, who was explaining something which involved waving his arms and hands around. Gordon listened intensely, following Tony’s arm movements and nodding with enthusiasm.

Clearly Gordon wasn’t the victim, she thought as she made herself a coffee. Tony had walked away and Gordon was sitting down looking through papers he had found in his pigeon hole. Mara walked over to him.

‘Hey Gordon. How are you?’ Mara asked.

‘Okay, better than yesterday. I had one of the twenty four hour bug things. I was glued to the toilet.’

‘Sounds nasty,’ Mara replied mildly not really wanting to know any more.

‘Yeah it was. Did you know Tony plays table tennis in his spare time?’

‘Uh. No, wouldn’t have thought he would have the energy.’

Alan marched importantly through the archway followed by his body of people. The room quickly quietened eager for news.

‘Good morning. As you know the events of yesterday were quite unprecedented in the school. Police have not yet released the name of the man found at the bottom of the stairs; there is however some speculation that this was no ordinary burglary as no attempt was made to get into the computer room, which probably has our most valuable resources. There’s only superficial damage to doors and locks. I can’t tell you a great deal as I am as in the dark as much as you are.’

Yeah right. Mara thought.

‘Needless to say, we are aiming to get back to normal as quickly as possible. The cordoned area near the management offices is strictly off limits to everyone; STAFF and students. Please ensure you keep yourselves and pupils as far away as possible from this part of the school, take the long way if necessary.’

That certainly wasn’t worth having a mare of a morning for. Mara thought. I should have rung in sick; said I had one of those twenty four hour bug things and glued to the toilet!

Having finished his speech Alan left the staffroom leaving Jim to read out the notices, while Joyce scribbled on the white board.

‘And finally, no students should be out of the class room without a note,’ ended Jim

Mara walked back to the prep room with Gordon who was now complaining about his year eight classes.

‘Little shits,’ he said clenching his fist. ‘I blame the parents; some people need to be sterilised!’

‘Things not going well then?’ Mara asked.

‘Yeah, Boyo has the same class and he thinks they should be euthanized!’

It suddenly occurred to Mara that Boyo was not at the briefing!

The recent events were the chosen topic of conversation around the school, with most having some kind of an idea about who was murdered and why. Theories ranged from a former student breaking in to trash the ‘stinking place.’ To Muslim extremists, which caused a fight with a group of Somali boys who accused another boy of being a racist and threatened to throw him down the stairs. One girl had in fact pointed out that Mr Boyd was not in school today; suggesting that he probably got drunk and fell down the stairs while looking at a porno mag.

Rampant speculation coupled with the fact that it was Friday, made the day long, hectic and stressful. Mara really needed a drink. But with no Boyo to announce debriefing, she had to search out someone to go down the pub with. Much to her surprise she found Deon in the staff room asking if anyone was going down to the Pig’s Gut for a drink. Despite his neanderthal like qualities, Mara found him harmless and the call of alcohol was strong.

‘I’m not sure if anyone else is going Deon, but I fancy a drink. I can always ask in the prep room if anyone wants to come down.’

Mara half heartedly headed back to the prep room and asked if anyone wanted to join her and Deon at the pub. Both Daniel and Piles were more than keen. Roger said he would come for one. Gordon however was long gone.

‘I’ll see you later; I’m walking down with Deon,’ she said.

The news cameras had disappeared from outside the school building and the police presence much reduced, with only the forensics van in the car park.

As Deon and Mara walked out of the grounds, someone shouted.

‘Wait.’

‘Oh bloody hell it’s the bunny boiler,’ muttered Deon.

‘Oh God ,Steffi!’ Mara whispered.

‘I heard you were going for a drink. I’ll walk down with you,’ she stated.

The walk down was one sided. Steffi talked almost nonstop about her stage performances with her amateur dramatics club and how she regularly played death scenes. When she did engage in conversation it was directed at Deon who responded in monosyllables.

‘Really,’ he said.

‘Absolutely. Dying from a heart attack is very different from a stroke,’ said Steffi.

‘Yep,’ replied Deon.

‘I’ve also been stabbed in the eye; that required a lot of pain!’

‘I bet,’

Bill was behind the bar looking exceptionally grouchy. He was on his own and the pub was full of teachers lined up along the bar, making life difficult for him by ordering different types of drink. His facial expressions would become contorted when someone either changed their mind or ordered something that involved mixing.

It took Bill about fifteen minutes to get to Mara, Deon and Steffi.

‘I’ll have a vodka martini and don’t forget the olive barman,’ Steffi said to Bill, whose face knotted.

At this point she spotted Mat and gave a spectacular wave. His reaction was a less than enthusiastic wave back. Deon looked at Mara and smirked. Once Steffi had her drink, without paying she took the express line to Mat, who was sitting next to a hysterical librarian bobbing her head up and down and vigorously waving her finger.

‘I don’t know whose worse, Steffi or the librarian,’ Mara whispered to Deon.

‘I’ll have a pint of Stella and whatever the lady wants, I’m not paying for that other woman’s drink,’ insisted Deon, to the now very irritated Bill. ‘Oh definitely Steffi,’ he added

‘I’ll have a red wine.’

‘Shall we go and sit by Mat? It’s a bit unfair to make him sit with those two,’ suggested Mara as she watched a disgusted Steffi pull out something that looked like an olive but clearly wasn’t.

‘No way I’m not going near her,’ she’s fucking mad.

‘Alright, then it’s over there with that lot, but I’m not sitting next to the freak Piles,’ she replied.

Mara hurried over and sat between Roger and Daniel, forcing Deon to sit in the empty chair next to Piles.

To her amusement Deon sat with his legs so far apart it looked like he had a pole jammed horizontally between his knees.

Who said cavemen were extinct? They’ve just morphed into PE teachers! She thought.

‘Hi guys. It’s busy in here isn’t it?’ Mara said cheerfully.

‘Yep. It’s been an interesting couple of days. Everyone’s here to gossip about some of the rumours that have been going around,’ Roger replied.

‘Oh do tell more.’

This was of course the main reason Mara came to work today, gossip and she knew Roger was the longest serving member of staff and would probably have all the info.

‘Word is Boyo knows the guy who died,’ Roger said.

‘You’re kidding,’ Deon gasped.

‘How, who, who is it?’ Mara asked.

‘Apparently it’s someone who used to teach here,’ answered Roger.

‘That narrows it down. This school has the highest turnover in London.’ Deon grunted.

‘I heard they were trying to get into Alan’s office, because most of the damage was on his office door,’ Daniel interjected, feeling left out and wanting to get in on the conversation.

The next half hour was taken up with Roger and Piles going through a list of disgruntled past employees. The catalogue included ten people who had left the school claiming that they had been bullied by Jim Davison. The deputy head before Jim Davison had apparently left rather quickly under a cloud.

Roger thought the victim was a former teacher called Bob Parker coming back to exact his revenge.

‘Do tell more Rog?’ Mara asked.

‘This guy was the head of science, but he was also in the senior management team. He was just below a deputy head, even so he was still involved with important decision making within the school. About three years ago there seemed to be a definite rift appearing between Bob and Alan. He would deliberately inform other teachers about issues being discussed at senior management meetings; disclosing information that he knew would cause uneasiness or be unsettling to the staff; like a proposed longer school day and staff appraisals. It was also rumoured at the time he was having an affair with Tess the French teacher, who’s married to the principal’s best mate. Anyway, somewhere along the line, something came to a head and he just resigned. He had an interesting leaving speech. He was very drunk, and I can’t remember word for word what he said but he sort of spoke in tongues. Said that, although he was leaving he would still be around and that a few things would reveal themselves over the next few years. He also said he was happy to be moving on. Now, I worked with him for nine years and he was dedicated to this school, it was his life. He would often stay late, always going the extra mile. He was definitely working his way up to the top job. It didn’t make sense that he’d leave. I thought he’d be here until retirement! That would actually explain the dents on Alan’s door; if you’re going to look for something damaging on the school, you’re going to start in his office.

‘Yeah, and do you remember how tense he was for a few months before he left? I thought it was just stress because we were going through a science inspection by the local authority, something about complaints,’ Piles said.

‘What complaints?’ Mara asked.

‘Parents complaining about poor teaching, I mean, what do they know,’ Piles replied casually.

As the evening rolled along, people drifted away. They obviously had homes to go too; in any case most were driving. Daniel left early declaring he was going to Soho on the pull with his mate James. Deon said he was going home to watch Charlton FC on Sky sport and Roger was playing bridge. By nine thirty all that was left was Mara, Mat, who had now escaped from Steffi and joined the table and Piles.

‘I suppose, I’d better get home. Where do you live Mat?’ Mara enquired.

‘Lewisham,’ he replied.

‘Do you catch the train or the bus?’ she asked.

‘Train, but this time of night I’ll have to catch the bus first’

‘I’ll catch the bus with you Mat.’

‘Yeah, that’s fine, you can never be too careful around here. There’s quite a high rate of crime in this area.’

‘Bye,’ Mara said blandly to Piles, who looked particularly sad sitting on his own with a new pint.

‘You could almost feel sorry for him if he wasn’t so repulsive,’ Mara whispered to Mat as they walked out the doors.

Mat laughed nodding in agreement.

‘Hey do you fancy going into Blackheath for a drink on the way home?’ he suggested.

‘Yeah why not.’

Mara had consumed six glasses of wine already but was still in the mood to drink more and besides, she didn’t have much to go home too; not even a cat.

They found a pub called