Storm and Stone (18 page)

‘I think it’s part of the hold over the participants in the favour exchange,’ explained Kieran. ‘What’s to stop one of the parties getting cold feet and spilling the secret to a government or employer? The students who’ve been on the course had all got into difficulties with the school authorities. I’m wondering if, as we get nearer the time of the course, Mrs Bain might not come up with some evidence of our misdemeanours that a concerned parent or guardian would not want to have made public. They might even engineer the problems in the first place for the ones they want in their scheme.’

‘Funny you should say that: she has already suggested you enrol on a personality development course and promised me a detailed report on you both.’ Isaac smiled. ‘I look forward to reading it.’

Joe shook his head. ‘And I hadn’t even put our names down yet.’

‘She wants to smooth your rough edges.’

‘Geez, keep her away from me!’ joked Joe. ‘I’m thinking she is keener on getting favours out of you, Isaac: our impressive godfather, Colonel Isaac Hampton,
frightfully
senior in the Ministry of Defence.’

‘Yes, I’ve a notional desk in Procurement.’ The senior ranks of the MoD were supportive of Isaac’s college and allowed him an official cover with them as he was former military. ‘You can do the course if you think it’ll move the investigation along, but I promise you I’ll kick you from here to Canberra if either of you change one iota as a result.’

Kieran weighed up the offer. ‘I think this contact with you will develop into a form of blackmail. Your kid is broken: I’ll fix him but on the understanding you stay on our side. If you take what you know to anyone else, both you and your kid will suffer.’

‘And they are doing more than fixing,’ added Joe. ‘They’re making accusations go away by framing someone else for the most visible crimes.’

‘That’s an intriguing twist of nastiness. How are they managing that?’ asked Jan.

‘There’s this girl with a stealing problem—it got to a stage where other students were noticing things going missing. They “cured” her by making her believe it wasn’t her behind the thefts and gave her someone to blame—her former best friend, Raven Stone, the caretaker’s granddaughter. A complete rehabilitation—everyone, including the girl, thinks she’s innocent and the only one to suffer is someone no one needs care about because Raven has no useful connections or powerful parents.’

‘I think it’s not just this case where Raven has been made a scapegoat,’ said Kieran, reminding himself not to get angry—this wasn’t the place. ‘The school is using her as a convenient target for many of the so-called reformed students. She helps consolidate their group identity—a shared enemy.’

‘Fascinating.’ Jan loved delving into the murky depths of criminal behaviour. ‘I’m jealous you’ve got to spend all this time in a hotbed of intrigue.’

‘It’s not so much fun. There are victims.’ Kieran rolled his pen between his fingers.

Jan’s gaze settled on his face with a thoughtful expression. ‘Crime always has victims, Kieran; that’s why we’re here.’

In fact, Kieran had to admit she was wrong about him: he had been attracted to it by the chance to solve puzzles; only now was he seeing it from the point of view of those involved.

‘Still, it’s ugly to witness it in action.’ Joe saved Kieran from having to reply. ‘The girl they are picking on is a friend now; we want to make sure nothing bad happens to her. Don’t we, Kieran?’

Kieran would have kicked Joe under the table if he could have reached.

‘Just remember your focus is on your mission, not playing knights in shining armour.’ Isaac had caught the byplay between them and Kieran feared he was drawing the right conclusion. Not much got past Isaac.

‘I think we aren’t seeing the whole picture yet, sir.’ Kieran dragged his thoughts back to his job. Damn, it was getting more difficult to do so; he kept worrying about Raven.

‘Why do you say that?’

‘We’ve possibly spotted the set-up but not what makes the whole thing hold together as a scheme.’

‘Well, once you’ve done one favour for the network, they’ve got that to hold over you. The temptation would be to keep your head down and do what’s asked.’

‘That’s the problem—it doesn’t look to me as if it works like that. It’s more than silent grudging consent—it’s active participation. I don’t get the feeling that blackmail is the main motive. Self-interest and something else.’

‘Yeah, Key’s right.’ Joe poured himself a glass of water and topped up Jan’s drink with his usual thoughtfulness. ‘From what we’ve seen of the parents, they’re acting more like they’re part of one of those secret societies, Freemasonry, that kind of thing. They probably have funny handshakes—I bet they go the whole nine yards.’

‘Carry on investigating the dynamics of this group, but we now need to move to evidence gathering if we are to take it down.’ Isaac gestured to the files. ‘We’ve got a pattern but it would be next to impossible to prove this in a court, as it’s easily denied.’

Jan nodded. ‘But just as Al Capone was sent to jail for tax evasion and not murder, our boys have to find the loose thread that we can pull—something that’ll get them arrested.’

‘Yeah, good point. I don’t mind what the crime is as long as we can make the charge stick. These guys are dangerous, but take out the kingpins—the trustees—and I think the network will collapse.’ Isaac looked over at Dr Waterburn. ‘Have you anything to add, Naomi?’

Her fingers hovered over the keyboard as she paused in her typing. ‘Isn’t that rather a job suited for B or D stream students?’

Kieran frowned at his fingers. Logically, his mentor was right but Kieran did not want to hand Raven’s future over to one of the smooth-talking Cobras like Daimon, or even a hunter Wolf like Nat.

‘Kieran, do you assess this situation to have gone beyond your capabilities?’ asked Isaac.

He meant had it moved from the deduction phase to action? ‘No, I think there’s still a role for Joe and me. Besides we’re embedded in the school. A new team would have difficulty taking over this late.’

‘So the level of danger is acceptable?’

‘Yes.’

‘Joe?’

‘I’m cool with staying.’ Joe glanced over at Kieran. ‘There’re lots of loose ends that still need tying.’

‘All right. Tie them up for me; get the evidence; then get out: those are your orders. I’ll handle the take down of the trustees but any tip-off when they are next in one place would be useful.’ He gathered the files and tapped them straight on the table top. ‘I think we’re done here. Enjoy your free afternoon.’

Joe snagged Kieran’s elbow as they left the meeting.

‘What?’

‘In a hurry to meet Raven?’

‘No.’
Yes
.

‘I want to talk to you about the prom.’

‘About what?’ Sometimes Kieran couldn’t find a logical thread to Joe’s conversation. ‘Correct me if I’m wrong but aren’t we in the middle of a complex operation here? What has the prom got to do with anything?’

‘You can’t keep up the cover if you miss the details, my friend. You must have noticed that almost everyone is going on about it. Hedda has been dropping heavy hints she expects me to ask her.’

Kieran grinned. Finally: payback for Joe’s sins enrolling him in arts. ‘Are you going to take one for the team and do it?’

Joe’s lips curled in disgust. ‘I suppose so—it would keep me on the inside track of her clique. But have you asked Raven yet?’

‘I don’t think she wants to go.’ He had given himself a pass on the prom thinking they would both prefer to remain at home that night. He’d been thinking pizza, a sofa, a couple of DVDs she liked and a little together time.

Joe sighed. ‘And I thought you’d made such progress on female psychology, but you’re still on course 101. Yes, she hates the school prom but also it would be worse to have no one ask her. She would enjoy shocking everyone’s expectations and turning up looking amazing on your arm. Think of it as her giving the finger to all those who have tormented her.’

This female brain stuff was far more complex that Kieran had guessed. ‘So she hates them all but still wants to spend the evening with them?’

‘Yes.’

‘With me?’

‘Yes.’ Joe nodded encouragingly.

‘That’s not logical. And I thought you told me not to get too serious about her—to keep some distance as the rules demand? Isn’t the prom something of a declaration, you know, that we’re dating.’

‘Key, you
are
dating—your brain hasn’t caught up yet with your subconscious. I’m not asking you to get serious, just to make sure she’s OK for the big night. Ask her.’

Kieran suddenly felt very worried. ‘What if she turns me down?’

‘That, my friend, is the problem of being the boy in a relationship. Even in these days of sexual equality, you are still expected to stick your neck out.’

‘That’s not fair.’

‘Welcome to my world, Key.’

Raven perched on the wall outside the Globe, people-watching—one of her favourite pastimes. She wondered what the party of Chinese tourists would make of the play they’d booked to see. She sometimes had to find a translation for Shakespeare, so imagine making sense of him from another language. Four skateboarders rolled by—a single file cavalry charge, scattering people out of their path. A woman fed the pigeons and seagulls, a lumpy collection of bottles in a plastic bag at her feet. She moved off, taking the flock with her, birds wheeling over the choppy grey waters of the Thames.

Then someone pounced and put his hands over her eyes. ‘Guess who?’

As if that woodsy smell of his aftershave wouldn’t give him away? ‘Um, the Mayor of London?’

‘Nope. Try again?’

‘Prince Harry.’

‘Sorry, no.’ He lifted his hands away and dug them in his pockets. Who needed a prince when she had Kieran standing in front of her?

She swung her legs over the edge of the wall so she could stand and face him. ‘Then it must be Kieran Storm.’ She went up on tiptoe to brush a kiss on his cheek. ‘And that’ll do nicely.’

‘It will?’ He smiled down into her eyes. ‘Well then.’ He dipped his head and kissed her lightly on the lips, her lids closing as she savoured the sensation.

When she opened them again, he was smiling down at her, green eyes no longer distant but very present. ‘Hello, Kieran.’

‘You got here OK?’

She grinned. ‘Obviously I did because I’m standing right in front of you.’

A little frown line appeared between his dark brows. ‘Yeah, I suppose that was a stupid question.’

It was sweet to find that he wasn’t his usual arrogant self with her. Both of them were fumbling to find a new way of relating now they had shifted up a level to more than friends, and it was reassuring that he wasn’t too confident with his moves. She tucked her thumbs in her jeans, unconsciously mirroring his stance. ‘You’re never stupid. It’s not possible.’

‘Thanks. I’m glad you think so.’ He brushed the backs of his fingers over her cheek, letting them drift to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. It recalled the moment in the garden when he had first touched her in that way. She held his gaze.

‘Did I really have grass on me?’

He knew exactly what she was talking about. His eyes skated away for a second to rest on the flags flapping on the poles along the edge of the Globe site. ‘You could’ve.’

‘But I didn’t, did I?’

‘No.’

Thoroughly pleased by his answer, she linked her arm with his and tugged him towards the theatre. ‘I’m glad.’

‘Glad?’

‘Yes. I thought I imagined the moment, that I’d stood there like a chump dreaming up a special tingle between us when all the while you’d just been thinking practical thoughts about getting me tidy.’

He shifted from holding her elbow to putting his arm around her shoulders, bringing her to his side. ‘I wasn’t thinking
practical
thoughts, I promise you.’

She laughed. It was so perfect to be with him she wanted to do something foolish like sing at the top of her voice. Not wanting to embarrass him, she settled for more conversation.

‘How was home?’

‘Fine.’

‘Mum, Dad?’

Kieran’s eyes flickered over the crowds on the South Bank. He rolled his shoulders, relieving some tension he had stored up since the day before. ‘Same as usual. Asking what I’m doing, how the exams are going—you know the kind of thing. They liked the sound of the dance we did—said they wished they could’ve come.’

‘Why didn’t they?’

‘Oh, they would’ve but were too busy with their jobs. Do you want to hire a cushion?’

‘No, I’m OK. So we are sitting, not standing in the pit?’

‘Maybe another time we can be groundlings. I thought I’d treat you on our first date.’

First date: that sounded wonderful. ‘And so you should, Ace. What’ve you done with Joe?’

‘He’s meeting us later. He’s seeing friends.’

They passed the lady checking tickets at the door and climbed up the wooden staircase that wound inside the circular walls of the Globe. Built to match the original Elizabethan theatre that had stood near this site, the Globe was a unique acting space, open to the elements just as it would have been in Shakespeare’s day. Raven was really excited to see it: the pictures on the web didn’t do it justice.

‘Oh, it’s so pretty!’ She leant over the railing. ‘I didn’t know the canopy above the stage was painted—wow—there are stars and zodiac creatures. And the thatched roof: that’s just so amazing.’

‘They made it as accurate as they could. A bit daft really considering the number of days of rain we get in London.’

‘But it’s only the groundlings who get wet and who cares about them?’ joked Raven.

‘Not us, not today, as we are in the posh seats.’

‘What are we seeing?’

‘
The Winter’s Tale
. Raging jealousy and women pretending to be statues. And there’s a great bear scene.’

‘Yeah, my all-time favourite stage direction.’

Despite knowing about that, Raven had never read the play so wasn’t aware how it all unfolded. It was rather fun watching a Shakespeare play without foreknowledge of how it ended—fresher somehow. The acting was riveting, helping her over the more boring stretches; the intimate space of the wooden O involved every member of the audience with the cast. The only thing that annoyed her was the insipid heroine of the second half, Perdita. The play could’ve done with someone who was less of a doormat.