Academy is doing well this year.’ Grace heard pride in his voice as he continued. ‘There used to be two high schools until we joined forces, covering a wider area. There was initially concern about the number of its pupils, and special measures being in place at one of the two previous schools. It could have gone either way. One could have brought the other down to their level, but it didn’t. The academy’s performing well now.’
‘There was never any tension between the students from each school?’ she asked.
‘There was, but not for a long time.’
‘We’ll require a register of both staff and pupils – who is present and also who is absent today, please,’ Grace said. ‘Likewise, we have your CCTV to check, especially with the lack of surveillance equipment and witnesses in the lane.’
‘I’ve already arranged for that to be done.’ Nathan gave a loud sigh. ‘I only found out when Robert called me after he’d requested an ambulance. When I saw Lauren, that was when I called the police.’
‘What’s Robert like?’ Grace asked.
‘He’s a good man. I’ve known him for five years, since I started here.’ Nathan lowered his voice. ‘And there was no … sexual assault?’
‘It’s too early to say.’ Perry was non-committal. ‘But we’ll keep you informed.’
Nathan’s face paled as his thoughts went into overdrive.
‘It’s highly unlikely, seeing as the whole incident could have only lasted a few minutes according to the timeline of the Piggott twins,’ Grace said, hoping to pacify him. ‘We like to keep an open mind until we have forensic evidence, though.’
Grace thought back to her last case. She’d kept an open mind then but had been totally shocked at the end result. Relocating to Stoke after the murder of her estranged father earlier that year had left her vulnerable. The shock of her first murder case being on her family’s grounds was immense, and after her half-sister had been apprehended as the killer, things could have turned out worse for Grace, but her team had stood by her. She wouldn’t take any chances or make any assumptions this time.
Jade Steele was in prison now, awaiting trial for murdering four people and assaulting her brother Leon. It would stay with Grace for the rest of her life what Jade had been capable of, but she also believed it was only because of Jade’s upbringing. Jade had been abused for most of her life by their father and his friends, and she was taking revenge on a group of men who had been grooming young women. It had been hard to police – Grace herself got away from the man when she was twelve. Could she have gone down a similar path if she hadn’t? But it had also been thrilling when she’d been involved in solving the case.
‘Well, you have my full cooperation to do whatever’s necessary,’ Nathan said. ‘Also, if there’s anything you require while you’re here, be sure to let me know.’
‘We’ll need to set up a mobile police unit in your car park,’ Grace said, ‘and we could do with somewhere to use to speak to people.’
‘I’ve made the decision to close the school for lessons. It won’t be popular with everyone, but I thought it was the right thing to do. We can arrange counselling sessions from tomorrow. Most pupils will be collected as soon as possible, but we do have some who will need to stay here until parents can pick them up at the end of the day. You can use any of the classrooms.’ Nathan paused as if he were gathering his emotions. ‘We’ll look after everyone as best we can. I’ll assemble them in the large hall. It serves as a school canteen during lunch break. We can hand out drinks and food where necessary. I think it will do the students good to sit together.’
‘Yes, it’s going to affect a lot of them,’ Grace replied.
When there were no more questions, Grace turned to Nathan. ‘Can you see if Courtney and Caitlin are still here, please?’ she said. ‘We need to have a chat with them.’
‘Yes, of course.’ Nathan nodded. ‘I’ll get in touch with their form teachers.’ His phone went off and he quickly read the message. ‘Robert’s in the medical room when you need him. He was feeling sick, well, after seeing the body.’
Grace nodded. ‘Can you bring him to us?’
‘Yes. You can use my classroom, too.’
Grace was startled by all the images on the walls when they were shown into the classroom. It seemed as if she had walked into a set from Game of Thrones. She assumed they were in a history room and, even though the novels were fantasy, Nathan Stiller was using the popular series to encourage the pupils to learn about darker times.
She tried not to stare at an almost life-size image of the actor Sean Bean at the back of the room, looking all caveman rough-and-ready. To her right, fictional character Daenerys Targaryen, the Mother of Dragons, was looking just as tempting. It was quite some show, as were the books themselves. Grace had been bereft when the seventh series had finished on a cliff-hanger after binge-watching all of them. She looked forward to watching the final season, if she ever had time.
Robert Carmichael was sitting at the desk at the front of the room. He was of average build with dark brown hair. His face was as white as chalk, the smell of vomit lingering around him. He wore grey tracksuit trousers and a black T-shirt that was in need of an iron, obviously a spare. Grace knew that he would have changed out of his clothes regardless. Forensics would have bagged them up after he left the crime scene.
After introductions, Grace asked him to run through what had happened that morning.
‘It was another lesson, nothing out of the ordinary,’ Robert began. ‘Most of the pupils were in front of me, with only the lane to run. There was a supply teacher helping me out at the front.’
‘Name of?’ she asked.
‘Sarah Flynn. She’s only been with us a few weeks at the most.’
Grace wrote down the woman’s name for future reference.
‘There were a few girls at the back of the group who I’d had to cajole to finish,’ Robert added.
‘How many are in the class?’ Perry asked.
‘Thirty-one.’
‘So twenty-eight on the lane and three left in the field?’
Robert nodded. He held a hand over his mouth as he swallowed quickly a few times.
‘Are you okay?’ Grace asked, wondering if he was going to be sick. ‘Would you like a glass of water?’
Robert shook his head, faltering before speaking again. ‘I should have kept an eye on them.’ Tears welled in his eyes. ‘But when I looked behind me, I could see them on the lane, so I kept on going. I now realise there must have been only two of them. I was almost back at the school when Courtney came running down to fetch me.’
‘Courtney’s one of the girls who found her?’ Grace queried.
‘Yes, Courtney Piggott. She said that Lauren had collapsed in the
