Death at the Jesus Hospital by David Dickinson Read Free Book Online Page A

weeks of compassionate leave to begin the Monday after next. He had refused to tell anybody, not the headmaster, not even me, his closest friend in Allison’s, where he proposed to go. And now this.’ Peabody waved his hand back in the general direction of the school. ‘All this fuss. Policemen. Anxious mothers. Special investigators from London. The headmaster fretting about the future of the school. All of this Roderick Gill would have found very hard to bear. Whatever it was he was afraid of,’ Peabody stopped and looked Powerscourt in the eye for the first time during their talk, ‘he never told me. He never told me what it was. Roderick Gill was a very frightened man in the last days of his life. Whatever or whoever it was he was frightened of, he was quite right to be terrified. They’ve got him in the end.’

3
    Powerscourt found Inspector Grime staring wearily at a large map of North America on the wall of the geography classroom. Grime was grey haired now, with lines etched on his face and on his forehead. He had the air of a man who had seen as much as he wanted of crime and most other human activities. He was one of those unfortunate people who give the impression that they really enjoy being miserable.
    Powerscourt told him of his conversation with Peabody and the fear that had gripped Roderick Gill in his last days.
    ‘Peabody?’ he said. ‘That the one who teaches maths and wears those strong glasses? It’s a wonder he can read his own equations when he writes them on the blackboard.’
    ‘The same,’ said Powerscourt. ‘I’m sure some schools wouldn’t employ him because he looks so scruffy. Bad example to the pupils, that sort of thing. Shoes polished, blazer middle button fastened, tie straight, that’s what they like.’
    ‘That’s as may be,’ said the Inspector, ‘but the boys say he’s a brilliant teacher, especially with the ones who don’t like mathematics. Anyway, he’s told you more about the dead man than I’ve learnt from these boys all afternoon. Only thing we’re sure of is that Bursar Gill died somewhere between eight and nine thirty in the morning. I don’t know if you’ve noticed that corridor where his office was. It’sthe main thoroughfare of the school, with classrooms and offices off it, including the dining hall at one end and the chapel off a side corridor at the other.’
    ‘Would there be lots of boys moving about between those times?’ Powerscourt asked.
    ‘Breakfast is at eight o’clock, my lord. By about twenty past lots of them are going back to their dayrooms or their studies to get the books they need for morning lessons. By a quarter to nine they all charge up the corridor again for morning prayers. By nine o’clock they’re back in it again en route to the first lesson. Somebody must have seen something .’ The Inspector gave an aged globe a vigorous shove and the continents of the world whizzed round on their axis. ‘They’re so young, these boys, and so innocent most of them, even the older ones, they leave you feeling quite exhausted and very old, very old indeed.’
    ‘What did they tell you?’ asked Powerscourt.
    ‘Well, I don’t know if somebody told them to say as little as possible or not. It certainly sounded like it. I’ve heard burglars in Norwich in my time who were more forthcoming than some of these lads. Basically, they didn’t know the bursar at all. He didn’t teach them, he didn’t do any coaching at games. They hardly ever saw him. The only thing they knew about him was that he had dismissed the previous head cook for overspending his budget and fiddling the figures. The new man, apparently, is terrible. One cheeky monkey suggested one of the boys might have killed him because the food is now so bad they’re hungry all the time. A couple of them said he looked worried. One of the senior years said Gill had been spotted in the town drowning his sorrows in The Poacher’s Catch with the maths teacher Peabody. He