Child's Play
| Child's Play |
| Michael McKenna [5] |
| Alison Taylor |
| UK |
| (2001) |
When Superintendent Michael McKenna and his team move in to
investigate the death, the school's charismatic headmistress insists it
was suicide - but McKenna isn't so sure.
With the truth inextricably bound up in the secrets and lies of the
young girls, the investigation soon proves to be as labyrinthine as the
woods surrounding the school.
Scratching the glossy surface, McKenna uncovers a dark and dangerous ethos underpinning the school. Nothing in that dangerous hot bed of passionate, brooding resentments is
what it seems, and no one can be trusted, least of all Freya Scott, to
whom McKenna is recklessly attracted.
Copyright ©
Alison Taylor 2014
The right of Alison Taylor to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
First published in the United Kingdom in 2001by William Heinemann.
This edition published in 2014 by Endeavour Press Ltd.
For
Dorothy
Bulled
—
for
the
title
The
Hermitage school, the characters and the events in this novel are wholly fictitious.
S
ukie received the whispered message as the girls were filing out of the refectory after tea.
‘
Imogen wants you to meet her in the stable yard at half-eleven. Tonight.’
Even
as her heart leapt with joy, her mind was flooded with doubts. ‘Why?’ she asked, searching the messenger’s face. ‘Why there, and not her room?’
The
other girl shrugged. ‘How should I know?’ She began to walk away. ‘I’m simply telling you what she said.’
Sukie
went to her own room and stayed there for the rest of the evening, counting minutes, so agitated that she only remembered about supper when Torrance knocked on the door to remind her.
‘
I’m not hungry,’ she said. ‘I think I’ll have an early night.’
Torrance
frowned at her. ‘You don’t eat enough.’
‘
I’m OK.’
‘
You’re not “OK”,’ Torrance snapped. ‘You’re really beginning to worry me.’
‘
I
am
,’ Sukie insisted, wanting to be left alone. ‘Honestly.’ She smiled. ‘
Honestly
!’
Once
Torrance had left, albeit with some reluctance, Sukie leaned on the window ledge, watching night fall about the trees and the grounds. A breeze stirred the leaves now and then, and blew in gently on her cheeks. Shortly after ten thirty, she went to the showers.
At
eleven fifteen, clad in jeans and T-shirt, she walked quietly along the corridor to the fire exit. She met no one and no one heard her leave the building, for the door alarm had long ago been disabled. The girls could go in and out at will, or smuggle in anyone they wished.
When
she reached the bottom of the fire escape, a figure materialised in front of her.
‘
Hell, you gave me a fright!’ Sukie exclaimed. ‘What are you doing here?’
As
she set off down the path, the girl who had earlier delivered Imogen’s message fell into step beside her. ‘Just keeping an eye on Imogen,’ she replied.
Sukie
glanced at her. ‘And you’re very good at that, aren’t you?’ she remarked sarcastically.
‘
Matron calls me “a real little Christian”.’
‘
She wouldn’t if she knew the facts,’ Sukie retorted, raising her voice as a military jet screamed overhead. ‘You only clean Imogen’s room so you can pinch her things.’
‘
That’s a lie!’ The girl stamped her foot and, in so doing, kicked a stone. It clattered down the path for several yards before rolling into the muddy verge.
‘
Be quiet!’ Sukie hissed. ‘You’ll wake people.’ She quickened her pace, hoping her companion would take the hint and return to school.
The
girl glanced back at the building, and saw Torrance at her bedroom window, bright pale hair slung about her shoulders. After a moment’s thought, she trotted after Sukie. ‘It
is
a lie,’ she insisted, when she caught up with her. ‘I never touched anything except her pendant, and I only borrowed that!’
‘
You stole it,’ Sukie said wearily. ‘And you lied to me when I found you with it.’ She hurried on towards the stables. ‘It wasn’t very Christian to tell me she’d given away my Christmas present, was it? That really hurt.’
‘
Well, she’s got it back now.’ The girl’s voice was low and sullen. ‘So you won’t have to rat on me, like you threatened.’
Sukie
made no response. After all, what right had she to judge others? It was her own wilful stupidity that had destroyed both Imogen and their friendship, and left Imogen at the mercy of all comers.
The
yard was empty. Easing open the stable door, Sukie searched each stall in turn, then looked in the tack room before going back outside. ‘Where is she?’ she demanded.
The
girl shrugged. ‘She must have gone for another walk.’
Sukie
grabbed her by the shoulders. ‘Another walk? She’d be hard pushed to get this far!’
She
twisted free. ‘That’s all you know! She often comes out at night, so she can practise without half the school watching.’ Smugly she added, ‘And I help her!’
Sukie
could barely hold back her tears. I should be beside Imogen, she thought; I should be helping her, caring for her, trying to undo some of the dreadful harm I did.
‘
She’s probably gone to the Strait,’ the girl offered. ‘She likes the view.’
Without
a word, Sukie ran out of the yard and into the woods, along the path that made a short cut to the water’s edge, expecting, at every turn, to come across Imogen, lying fallen, hurt and helpless. I couldn’t bear that, she realised; I couldn’t bear causing her more pain. She skidded down the last few feet of path and stood in the mud, looking in vain for the friend she had loved like a sister for as long as she could remember.
Out
in the Strait, where even at night the water was luminous, the currents already ran fast, although the tide would not peak for a few hours yet. Close by, the water was pitch black, lapping stealthily at the edge of the land.
Hearing
a movement behind her, Sukie whipped round.
‘
I can’t think where she’s got to,’ the girl remarked. ‘She definitely said half-eleven.’ Peering at the ground, she screwed up her face in puzzlement. ‘If she’d been here,’ she commented, ‘her stick would’ve left marks, wouldn’t it?’
Almost
frantic with worry, Sukie again grabbed her shoulders, and began to shake her. ‘Where is she?’ Her voice rose. ‘What’s going on?’
The
girl pulled away, so violently that she stumbled and fell.
As
she scrambled to her feet, a glimmer of light caught Sukie’s eye. ‘Oh, God!’ she whispered. ‘You
didn’t
give it back to her.’
Even
in darkness, the diamond found light to absorb and transform into cold and sinister brilliance. The girl fingered the chain round her neck, then dropped her hand as Sukie advanced, to raise it again in a stunning side-on blow as she came within striking distance.
Sukie
collapsed, face in the mud. Hesitating only briefly, the girl snatched up a broken branch and brought it down with every ounce of her strength on the back of Sukie’s head. Tossing aside the branch, she grabbed her arms and began dragging her towards the water. At first the weight of her body was astounding; once on the move, it skimmed over the mud like a sledge on ice, and slithered into the sea.
The
girl leaned over, pressing hard on Sukie’s shoulders until she was satisfied that not a flicker of life remained. With the tide sucking hungrily at her own feet, she straightened up and tried to kick Sukie afloat, but she moved barely a yard before drifting back. The girl waded thigh-deep into the water, the undertow pulling her off balance, and as Sukie’s lifeless fingers wrapped themselves around her leg, she gave the body a vicious shove, watching with elation as it was caught by the current and carried slowly out of sight beyond the overhanging trees.
Shivering
violently, her feet and legs numb with cold, she retrieved the branch, walked several yards upstream and slung it far out over the water. Then, triumphant, she retraced her way along the path, but well before she reached the school, her mood crashed, back to the familiar, dispiriting emptiness. She crept up the fire escape, caressing the diamond that nestled at her throat, wondering if all her fortune must be so hard won. As she pushed open the door of the fourth-form dormitory, she consoled herself with the thought that killing was absurdly easy.