Dying Fall Read Free Page B

You’d have to be an expert or extremely strong. Both, for preference. Whoever did it managed to get at the right angle between the ribs, the right distance from the spine. And he – let’s assume it was a he – had to be strong enough to cut through that jacket. Leather, remember.’
    â€˜A lot of … of blood,’ I said.
    â€˜Not from the point of entry, though. The blade severed the aorta. He bled to death very quickly. It’s just that all the blood collected in his chest cavity.’
    â€˜So that when I –’ I gestured.
    Ian Dale offered another mint. I took it.
    â€˜Quite,’ said Groom.
    There was a little silence.
    â€˜Can I just clear one thing, so we know where to find you? We’ve seen the canteen, such as it was, and we’ve seen your office. Where’s the common room?’
    â€˜There isn’t one. They had that last year for the Computer Suite. We use our offices for everything.’
    â€˜Everything?’ echoed Dale. ‘You mean you eat and work and relax and everything there?’
    â€˜Not much relaxation,’ I said, ‘as you’ll see if you hang around. But now we’re losing the canteen, yes, everything. There are offices – we call them staff rooms – like that scattered at intervals throughout the building, housing staff doing different types of teaching. Engineering. Beauty. Languages.’
    â€˜Must make communications a bit tricky,’ said Groom, making a note.
    â€˜Phone, rumour or carrier pigeon,’ I said. ‘And now I really must dash.’
    The ideal is to get a whole class together and attentive before you start teaching. Today, my GCSE group fell far short of that. I was a couple of minutes late myself, but it was a further five minutes before anyone else turned up. This was Karen, a girl whose classroom silence was always catatonic, and she retired to her regular corner to chew her hair and look morose. I tried asking about queues and lifts and she looked as if for once she might utter. As she opened her mouth, however, the door was thrown open and a green-uniformed young man strode in.
    â€˜You,’ he said, pointing his radio at her. ‘ID.’
    The college management had evidently decided to tighten security. To be honest, I’d expected little more than a flurry of memos and a succession of protracted meetings to which the lower echelons, of which I was one, would not be invited. This sudden overreaction was as startling as it was unpleasant. I ached for the gentle but firm Winston and his long suffering colleagues, who endured constant abuse from the students but managed to keep a tenuous control over the incipient drug dealing, gambling and general nastiness which constantly threatened.
    â€˜Good morning,’ I said.
    He contrived to ignore me.
    â€˜I said, good morning. You are in my classroom, young man, and I expect you to behave as I expect anyone else in the room to behave.’
    His radio spluttered. He started to reply. I caught his eye. He left the room. Karen started to weep, silently.
    By eleven, there were still only six out of a possible twenty-four students. I gave them some work to prepare for the next week, and toiled back up to my office.
    There was sufficient uproar to divert attention from my minor role in last night’s affair. Where you have two lecturers gathered together, there are generally at least three opinions. Since I shared a room with thirteen colleagues and three hyperactive telephones, the noise level was unbelievable. I herded out into the corridor three or four students who’d strayed into the room and shut the door. In general they have more or less free access, but today would have to be an exception. For good measure, I locked the door.
    I joined the seethe and made what I could of the arguments.
    The basis of it all was shock and distress, there was no doubt about that. We valued our students, all of us, and were