surprise. It was decided that I would oversee the transition to a new leadership team.’
‘I see.’
Warren decided to change tack slightly.
‘Tell me more about Ms Gwinnett. Help me understand her as a person.’
The priest was silent for a few seconds, before pushing air through his lips.
‘Jill was a very good leader. Very good. And she knew it. She and Noah Ball turned this school around in spectacular fashion and much of that was Jill’s doing.’
‘I imagine that such a major change of direction for a school was not without its… challenges.’
Beresford gave a sigh.
‘There were some who felt that the pace of change was too rapid, and not everyone agreed with the school’s new direction. Some staff chose to move on, whilst others eventually accepted that was how it needed to be.’
‘And what about Ms Gwinnett’s appointment as deputy head?’
‘Jill had already been a well-respected year head for several years at the school. She wasn’t a member of the SLT at the time of the inspections and so wasn’t held accountable for the school’s shortcomings. It was decided that her appointment as deputy head would provide much needed continuity, whilst the school adjusted to Noah Ball’s leadership. Largely speaking, I would say her appointment was met with approval by the school community.’
‘And what about more recently?’
Beresford paused. ‘This is not for public consumption, you understand?’
‘I can’t make any promises, but I will be as discreet as possible.’
‘In answer to your question, Noah Ball is nearing retirement. He’ll be sixty in nine months’ time. When that happens, Jill would have had a very good chance of being appointed his successor.’
‘I would have thought that such a position has to be opened up to a public interview?’
‘Of course. But the opinion of the governing body holds a lot of sway in these matters.’
Warren wasn’t sure what the relevance of the information was, but something told him it was important.
* * *
Matthew Waring was ambitious, that much was obvious. Barely seven years into his teaching career and he’d already had a stint as head of Geography, and eighteen months previously had been made an assistant head; all before his thirtieth birthday. He too had been present at Monday night’s SLT meeting, and was in interview suite two opposite DI Tony Sutton.
‘I last saw Jill a little after six-thirty. I went back to her office with her for a quick chat before leaving for the day.’
‘What time was that?’ asked Sutton.
‘About quarter to seven, I suppose, perhaps a little later.’
‘Did you leave immediately?’
‘No, I stopped by my office to pick up some marking and finish up some paperwork.’
‘How long would you say that took.’
‘Um, fifteen minutes maybe?’
‘Do you know who else was still in the building?’
‘Not really, I guess some of the site team were probably still around. I didn’t see if anyone else from SLT went back to their office or if they all left immediately.’
‘What about the car park? Were there any other cars still parked there?’ asked Moray Ruskin. The murder of Jillian Gwinnett was the first homicide case to be handled by Middlesbury CID since the probationer had been assigned to the unit full-time. Tony Sutton had been appointed as Ruskin’s mentor and so far he was pleased with the young DC’s instincts.
Waring thought for a moment. ‘None that I saw, but the Geography department is at the other end of the school, so I park in the PE car park; everyone else is up on the main site.’
Ruskin jotted down his reply. Sutton said nothing, letting the silence stretch out. Waring stared back.
‘OK, thank you for your help, Mr Waring, we’ll call you if there is anything else we need.’ Sutton clicked off the recorder.
The door snicked closed behind the departing teacher.
Ruskin looked over at Sutton.
‘He’s lying.’
* * *
‘Cause of death was strangulation.’ Professor Ryan Jordan showed Warren a series of glossy photographs. ‘You can see the petechial haemorrhaging on the eyeballs, and the hyoid bone in the throat is broken.’ He swiped to the next photograph. ‘She was strangled with hemp rope approximately one and a half centimetres in diameter; you can see superficial scratching from the fibres.’
The photographs were far from the goriest images that Warren had seen, nevertheless he was glad that he’d already eaten his lunch. He found his appetite tended to disappear otherwise. At least Jordan hadn’t insisted on inviting him down to watch the procedure.
‘You can tell from the way in which the bruising extends around most of the circumference of her throat that the rope was looped and dropped over her head. There are burst blood vessels on the top of both shoulders, suggesting that the killer pushed down on them to increase leverage. I identified some loose textile fibres that might have been transferred by her killer.’
‘Any sign of sexual assault?’
‘None. Her clothing was apparently undisturbed and I’ve done a full internal examination.’
‘Any ideas about time of death?’
‘It’s a pretty poor measure, as you know, but the drop in her core temperature is consistent with her dying late yesterday evening, rather than early this morning. Stomach contents revealed the remains of pasta and tomato sauce, which she is reported to have had for lunch, and what appears to be some sort of fruit cake and some grapes, which matches the catering order for the meeting she attended after school. Again, the degree of digestion supports the idea that she died late evening.
‘I’m awaiting blood toxicology tests, but so far I see no evidence that she was drugged or had consumed alcohol recently.’
* * *
The first twenty-four hours in a homicide investigation are known as the ‘golden hours’. Based on her apparent time of death, the inquiry into Jillian Gwinnett’s murder would soon be entering its second day. The victim had lain undiscovered for anything up to twelve hours, giving her killer valuable time to hide evidence, and so Warren and his team were already playing catch-up. Therefore, Warren decided to call a late-evening briefing. Most of his team had already been on shift for twelve hours, but they were still bright-eyed and full of energy, coffee and adrenaline keeping fatigue at bay. It couldn’t last in the long-term, of course. After the initial flurry of activity, if the killer wasn’t apprehended, by necessity the investigation would soon settle
