‘Here at the school?’
He nodded, still not looking comfortable.
Kate thought for a moment, before pulling out her identification. ‘You said you like Sherlock Holmes; would you like to see my detective’s badge?’
His eyes widened with excitement. Kate flipped open the wallet and showed him her warrant card and badge. He reached out like he wanted to take it.
Kate pulled it back a fraction. ‘Oh no, Neil, I can’t let you take it. But I’ll tell you what, you said you like puzzles, do you think you would be able to help me with a puzzle?’
He looked up at her. ‘You want my help?’
Kate nodded for Mrs Kilpatrick to depart, before turning back to Watkins. ‘I should warn you, it’s a tricky puzzle. You’d need to be pretty smart.’
‘I’m smart.’
Kate nodded encouragingly. ‘Were you working in the school this week, Neil?’
‘I work every Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.’
‘And you worked this Thursday and Friday?’
He nodded proudly.
‘Can you remember where you were working on Thursday and Friday?’
His brow furrowed and he put a finger to his mouth.
Recognising the gesture, Kate leaned a little closer. ‘I need you to think really hard, Neil. Let’s take one day at a time. Thursday, can you remember where you were working?’
He tapped the side of his head with his palm. ‘It gets jumbled.’
Kate tried to remember back to the course she’d taken on cognitive therapy for dealing with memory issues. ‘I understand, Neil. Sometimes our memories seem to merge, don’t they? I’ll tell you what, let’s try this another way. Can you tell me what you ate for breakfast this morning?’
He grinned at her. ‘Porridge. Hot with lots of honey.’
‘That’s good, Neil. What about yesterday, what did you have for breakfast then?’
He thought for a moment. ‘Toast.’
‘And you’re sure it was toast?’
He nodded. ‘There was mould on the crust I pulled off. Wrote a note to buy more bread.’
‘Okay, Neil, what about the day before that. Can you remember what you had for breakfast that day?’
He grinned again. ‘Waffles.’
‘How can you be so sure you had waffles?’
‘I was at Mum’s house, and she always makes me waffles for breakfast.’
Kate smiled to show he was doing well. ‘I see, so you were at your mum’s house. Did you spend the night at your mum’s house?’
He nodded, still smiling at the memory of the waffles.
‘Okay, so thinking about that morning, Neil, you had the waffles at your mum’s house, and then what did you do? You drove to the school, and—’
The door to the classroom burst open. ‘How dare you interrogate my son, without my consent?’
Kate’s head snapped round to see a woman standing in the doorway, arms folded, face glowering with rage.
Kate was about to enquire who the woman was and why she was there when she spotted Mrs Kilpatrick running up behind her.
‘Detective Matthews,’ Mrs Kilpatrick said breathlessly, ‘may I introduce you to Imelda Watkins, one of our school governors, and Neil’s mother.’
‘Hi, Mum,’ Neil cooed, as he waved.
Kate’s cheeks flushed slightly. Standing, she made her way to the door. ‘Mrs Watkins? I’m—’
‘I don’t care who you are!’ the woman snapped back. ‘You have no right to interview my son without me present. There are rules about this kind of thing.’
Kate glanced at Mrs Kilpatrick. ‘Perhaps you could sit and wait with Neil, while Mrs Watkins and I have a quiet word outside?’
Mrs Kilpatrick nodded, and moved past them, approaching the table.
‘Bye, Mum,’ Neil’s voice called after them, as Kate followed Mrs Watkins out of the room and down the corridor. They stopped when they reached the school’s reception area, twenty yards from the classroom.
‘Firstly,’ Kate began, keen to calm the situation before it escalated, ‘I apologise for what you feel you have stumbled upon. I was merely asking Neil a couple of questions to establish whether he was in the school on Thursday and Friday of this week.’
Mrs Watkins stared over Kate’s shoulder to the classroom. ‘Why?’
Being careful not to reveal too much about the activity in the sports hall, Kate kept her voice low. ‘We have reason to believe that something sinister occurred in the school this week, and—’
‘And you saw a groundsman with special needs and assumed he was a suspect,’ Mrs Watkins interrupted, shaking her head in disappointment. ‘It frustrates me that whenever something goes wrong, all fingers point at poor Neil.’
‘No, you misunderstand me, Mrs Watkins. We’re asking all faculty members and school visitors if they witnessed anything suspicious or noticed anybody strange lurking about over the course of this week. I’m not accusing your son of anything, I just wanted to establish his whereabouts and whether he may have seen or heard anything odd.’
‘And?’
‘And, what?’
‘And, did he?’
‘I don’t know, Mrs Watkins, I was still trying to establish where he was working on Thursday and Friday.’
Mrs Watkins continued to shake her head in disbelief. ‘All his life, people have assumed that because he struggles to communicate that there must be something wrong with him. I had to pull so many strings to get him a job here, and despite that mess a couple of years ago, he’s done so well to hold it down. My son is a good person, detective. He loves working outdoors and I’m so proud of the wonderful job he’s done with the garden and pitches here. He should be commended for his dedication, not ridiculed.’
Kate could see the years of hurt in Mrs Watkins’ eyes. ‘I’m sorry if you thought I was trying to accuse your son of anything untoward. As I said, I was merely trying to establish whether he witnessed anything that might aid my investigation into what occurred at the school.’
Mrs Watkins eyed her suspiciously. ‘Why? What did occur at the school? Is this to do with that girl who went missing? Uh, what’s her name… Daisy?’
Kate chose her words carefully. ‘I can’t comment on an ongoing investigation, I’m afraid.’
Mrs Watkins raised a sceptical eyebrow. ‘Well, before you go linking Neil with any of that, I can tell you he’s not allowed contact with any of the pupils who go to this school, and on the night she ran away he was at my house.’
‘How can you be so certain?’
‘Neil has dinner at my house every Friday night; he has done since his father passed away three years ago. He comes home to keep me company. We have a fish-and-chip supper and watch the television together.’
‘So, he was with you last night?’
She looked almost offended by the challenge. ‘Of course! You can ask any of my neighbours and they’ll verify his van is always parked outside of my bungalow on a Friday night.’ Mrs Watkins unfolded her arms, and brushed her hands down her green cardigan, flattening out a couple of wrinkles. ‘Now, if you wish to ask Neil any other questions, I hope you will allow me to be present. He gets easily confused.’
Kate was about to respond when she spotted Laura peering through the glass in the main door. On making eye contact, Laura opened the door and rushed in. ‘Ma’am, I’m sorry to interrupt, but can I speak to you in private?’
Kate looked to Mrs Watkins. ‘My team will need to speak to Neil again at some point, but I will have them arrange it through you so that you can be present.’
Mrs Watkins offered the first sign of gratitude, smiling thinly before proceeding back towards the classroom.
Kate continued to watch her, before turning back to Laura. ‘What’s so urgent?’
‘Sorry, I tried to call. I’ve managed to get hold of the building inspector. Mr Phillips? Anyway, he said he is due at the airport at two, but can meet with us now if that suits? Are you done here, or do you want me to go alone?’
Kate glanced back along the corridor, spotting Mrs Watkins and Mrs Kilpatrick leading Neil out of the classroom and hearing him proudly telling them he was going to be a detective like Sherlock Holmes.
‘This can wait for now. Let’s go and speak to this Mr Phillips and find out why he’s so keen to get on an aeroplane.’
11