Swansong Read Online Free PDF Page B

Hatton.
    ‘Not much of a false ID, is it?’
    ‘Sorry, Charlesworth never . . .’
    ‘It’ll have to do. Did you mention which school I went to?’
    ‘No, why? Is that a problem?’
    ‘I wouldn’t want anyone knowing I’d gone to a school in Taunton. If anyone asks, we can say I went to King Alfred’s in Burnham-on-Sea.’
    ‘Fine. I’ve got a couple of lessons tomorrow morning that you can sit in on. The first one’s at 10 a.m. so be here just before that. Robin Phillips is expecting you in the masters’ common room at 9 a.m . and he’ll give you a tour of the school. You’ll be with him for the rest of the weekend after lunch.’
    ‘Yes, Sir.’
    ‘This is a letter I’ve written confirming who you are and what you’re doing here,’ said Hatton, handing an envelope to Dixon. ‘Just in case anyone asks.’
    ‘Thank you.’
    ‘Come along, then, and I’ll show you to your rooms. They’re Haskill’s, actually, but he’s on sabbatical. He won’t mind. Laos or Cambodia, somewhere like that, I think. We go past the MCR on the way too.’
    The door at the back of Hatton’s office led to a small corridor that connected directly to the main corridor inside the school building. Dixon followed Hatton along it, past the main entrance hall towards the library. He looked at the green felt notice boards that lined both sides of the corridor above the dado rail, each with any number of different bits of paper pinned to it, and tried to read them as he went past. Various drama groups, the canoe club, team sheets for all sorts of different sports, martial arts he had not even heard of, the debating society, computer club. He gave up halfway along.
    ‘Everyone’s studying now until 9 p.m., so it should be pretty quiet. There’s the odd thing going on. Father Anthony has a confirmation class in the Lady Chapel and there’s a rehearsal for the school play in the Bishop Sutton Hall. That’s it, I think.’
    Hatton stopped at the bottom of a flight of stairs.
    ‘That’s the library,’ he said, looking at two large doors opposite. ‘And that’s the MCR over there,’ pointing to a smaller door further along the corridor. There were more notice boards in between the two. A door at the end of the corridor led outside and a flight of steps opposite the MCR led down to a corridor running at right angles to the main corridor. ‘That takes you down to the dining room. Turn left along the cloisters for the chapel.’
    Hatton then turned and went up the stairs. He paused at the top.
    ‘Those are the physics labs over there,’ he said, pointing to three doors on the far side of the large landing. ‘Locked at this time of night, as you might imagine. And those are Mr Small’s rooms. Classics and ancient history.’ He began rummaging in his trouser pocket and produced a Yale key. ‘Haskill’s.’
    Dixon followed Hatton through a door that led into a dark corridor , with wood panelling that made it gloomy even after Hatton switched the lights on. There was a small kitchen on the right as Dixon went in, then a shower room with no window and, at the end of the small corridor, a larger room with a small lounge area in front of the door and a single bed at the far end. The whole of the wall to his left was covered in bookshelves and the furniture consisted of a coffee table, a two seater sofa and a small armchair.
    ‘I asked Matron to change the bed, so you should be all right. Here’s the key and I’ll see you in the morning.’
    ‘Yes, Sir. Thank you.’
    Dixon heard the door slam. He looked around the room but could not see a television so he looked at the books on the shelves. He decided that he wasn’t in the mood for Homer or Plato so he took out his phone and sent Jane a text message.
    No effing telly x

    Dixon waited five minutes to give the headmaster time to get back to his house and then walked down the stairs and across to the library. The left of the two large oak doors creaked as he opened it. He