Murder In School Read Online Free PDF Page B

a bit wide to me, though.  Couldn’t be certain, but I
think he might have smelled of drink.’
    ‘Name of?’
    ‘Royston Hodgson, Guv.  Ring any
bells?’
    Skelgill looks pensive. 
‘Maybe.  Does he run the shooting club?’
    ‘He says he just helps out, setting up
the clay traps.  Apparently it’s all above board.  Our licensing boys
inspected back in March and renewed their certificate.  They’ve got a gun
room in the cellars of the main school building.’
    Skelgill nods.  ‘Be interesting to
know who keeps the keys.’
    ‘A master called Snyder is in charge.’
    ‘He’s first on our list.’
    ‘Bit of a red herring though – shotguns
– eh, Guv?’
    Skelgill shrugs.  ‘I guess I just
like to know the lie of the land if I’m within a quarter of a mile of a
twelve-bore.  I developed a dislike of them early in my career.’
    ‘So you’ve mentioned, Guv.’
    Skelgill flashes DS Leyton a disapproving
glance.  ‘What’s Hodgson’s story, then?’
    DS Leyton consults a small black
notebook.  He flips it open where the elastic band marks a page. 
Considering his somewhat shambolic deportment, his printing is surprisingly
small and neat, if a little elementary.
    ‘He said the Head called him to ask if
he’d seen Querrell – and he replied not since the previous afternoon when
he was taking a cricket practice.  So Goodman asked him to have a look
round and check Querrell’s cottage in case he was ill.’
    ‘What time was that?’
    ‘He reckons about eleven.  He drove
to the gatehouse – he’s got a quad bike that he uses for the mowers and
whatnot.  It was unlocked and empty – the key was on the inside of
the door.’
    ‘Was that unusual?’
    ‘He’s not sure.  He said he wouldn’t
be surprised if Querrell didn’t lock up, the generation he was, though the lodge
is near the road and an easy target.  He says they’ve lost quite a bit of
sports equipment in the past couple of years.’
    ‘Probably the PE staff from my old comp.’
    ‘Ha-ha, Guv.’
    ‘Go on.’
    ‘Querrell owned a motorbike.  That
was still in its shed, so Hodgson figured he must be somewhere on the property. 
They’ve got a jogging track that more or less follows the perimeter of the grounds. 
He didn’t see anything until he passed the boathouse and noticed the boat
anchored out on the lake.’
    ‘What made him stop there, do you
think?  The water’s shielded by all the vegetation?’
    DS Leyton looks quizzically at his
superior, as if wondering how he knows this.  ‘Dunno, Guv – he
didn’t say.  Just that he went down onto the landing stage – climbed
onto the railing in case Querrell was asleep in the boat.  But he couldn’t
see anything, and since Querrell apparently wasn’t much of a swimmer that was
enough for him to raise the alarm.  Obviously it was our search team that
found the body.’
    Skelgill nods pensively.  After a
minute’s silence he says, ‘What did they use the boat for?’
    ‘He said Querrell kept the only key
– at least that he knows of.  And the boat’s not generally used any
more.  They don’t let the pupils out on the water – there was some
accident years ago.  And now there’s all this Health and Safety palaver.’
    ‘And Querrell didn’t fish.’ 
Skelgill says this as a statement – it’s something he would know.
    ‘That’s right, Guv.  I asked about
that.  It’s not proper angling here, apparently.’
    ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ 
Skelgill’s hackles rise.
    ‘It’s all coarse fishing on Bassenthwaite
Lake – you’d know this, Guv?  For the young gentleman fly-casting’s
the thing.’  DS Leyton must notice Skelgill’s black expression, for he quickly
adds, ‘According to Hodgson, anyway.’
    ‘I’ve caught plenty of big pike out there
on a fly.’  Skelgill tuts.  ‘I’d like to see them try that.’
    ‘Definitely, Guv.  You’re the
expert.’
    Skelgill nods, apparently feeling vindicated. 
‘And what did