Miss Take - Chapter 2 (4011)

Chapter 2 (4011)

Kelly Take, or Kelly Kane as she styled herself these days always ate her lunch at a coffee shop ten minutes walk from the school. She always ate alone and never invited any of the other teachers along. There were some that had suggested she was actively trying not to make friends, and this was precisely true. She sat away from the window, in one of the cubicles if she could get one, or at one of the small tables tucked away at the back, out of sight of the street. When she was working she dressed every inch the teacher. Her afro hair was done up in a large, tight bun and she wore glasses, although there was nothing wrong with her eyesight. The frames contained nothing more than clear glass and she wore them solely to look more the part. Today she had on a tight A-line skirt and matching suit jacket, one of four similar outfits that hung in her wardrobe at home. As always she had padded her bra to give herself more of a figure. At the weekend she mostly dressed in jeans and a hooded top and could easily be mistaken for a twelve year old boy. Dressing how children imagined a teacher should look, she found, helped her a lot in her job. With other teachers too, when it came to it. She was not old, and had been born in South London to parents that had come over the UK from Guyana in the sixties. She wore heals. While wearing them she could just about manage the walk back to the school from the cafe. There only purpose was to give her just enough height to edge over five feet. She was not a big woman, without them on she was four foot eight.

Kelly was a supply teacher, and had been teaching History at Jesmond Academy for six months. The woman she had replaced, Mrs McKinney, was off long term sick with a malady so mysterious Kelly had yet to learn what it was. She was not particularly interested in any regard, and did not gossip with the other teachers, generally having as little to do with them as possible. Avoiding the staff room, she went straight to her classroom and did some marking while waiting for the next troop of children to come in and take their seats for the lesson. She was diligent in her work, she kept strictly to the syllabus, but she was not overly concerned about how much the children picked up. They learned or they did not. No one so far had guessed at her indifference to the advancement of her pupils as she was a good teacher and perhaps even better than some of the teachers at the Academy that took the children’s improvement seriously or at least professed to. Kelly had a lot on her mind, it was Friday and usually she had a big weekend planned, but what with the way things had been going lately in her life she was starting to think she might lay low in her small Duddingston Mills flat and watch Friends re-runs until Monday morning.

The first year pupils all came into the room, rowdy and boisterous. She smiled as they entered, they were like a big litter of puppies, fresh from primary school, but already acting like seasoned veterans after having survived their first term. Kelly tapped her pen on the desk to get their attention and once they had more-or-less settled down, started them on the Highland Clearances. A subject that she thought must be dry and alien to these kids, who had mainly grown up on housing estates around the east-end of Edinburgh. Some of the children from the rougher areas had never left the city, let alone gone north into the mountains. She could command the attention of the class though, and put in just enough effort to keep them as interested as they were ever likely to get. They day wore on, the first year class left and then one of the fourth year classes entered in their place. This was a tougher crowd, and she had to put on a really convincing teacher act to stop them being disruptive. She had a reputation for quick wit and could hold her own when dealing with hecklers and trouble-makers.

After the first fifteen minutes, the deputy head, Mrs Hunter, quietly tapped on the door and put one foot over the threshold.

‘A quick word, Miss Kane?’ gasped the red-faced spinster.

Kelly followed her out of the class and shut the door behind them and they talked in the otherwise deserted corridor.

‘I’ll take your next class dear,’ fussed Mrs Hunter. ‘The polis have just arrived and the head wants you. It’s about Paul Bevy again.’

‘What’s happened now?’

‘Och, it’s an awfy business, just awfy, much worse than last time.’

There was a crash and a laugh from the other side of the door. ‘You’d better run along dear, they are already causing trouble in there.’

Kelly nodded and with clicking heals made her way down the corridor to the Academy administration wing. She hadn’t been expecting the police to turn up at the school today, no one had told her. She wondered why not.

The headmaster’s office was on the other side of the large wooden panelled entrance hall of the Academy. It was an old building and in various stages of disrepair, but the hall floor was kept well polished and smelled of disinfectant. The huge coat of arms, carved from oak, that hung over the rear of the hall was regularly dusted, but not painted, the lion and unicorn on either side of the blue shield were now rather formless and sinister in appearance.

Kelly opened one of the double doors across the hall and entered the administration corridor, an area that smelled ever more like a hospital as the cleaners mopped the floors more regularly.

She knocked on the headmaster’s door and after a curt “Enter” was called from the other side she quietly opened the it just enough to get inside, then shut it behind her.

The Headmaster’s study was large and gloomy, with tall windows that rarely had their curtains opened more than a few inches. The single light bulb, high on the tall ceiling provided scant illumination. The Headmaster, David Carrie was there, an unimposing man considering the size of the chamber he inhabited, short, bald and fat, but much friendlier than the stern expression on his face advertised. The others present were Paul’s social worker, a middle-aged woman wearing a bright scarf and with her red winter jacket still worn, but unzipped. The other two people in the room were plain clothes police officers, she could tell that straight away just by looking at them. Paul himself was not there and Kelly presumed he was in the care of one of the Guidance teachers. Of the police officers, one was a young man, tall, with rather longer hair than might be expected for CID, and the other was a black woman of medium height, slim, with short straightened hair. Kelly judged her to be African rather than West Indian.

They had all be talking, but stopped as she entered.

‘Ah yes, here is our Miss Kane,’ chirped Carrie. ‘One our finest supply teachers. Come ye, come ye, why don't ye, Miss Kane. Take a seat, take a seat.’

Kelly sat in one of the armchairs beside the headmaster’s desk.

‘This is a dreadful business, just dreadful,’ said Carrie in his plummy Morningside accent, nearly repeating word for word what Kelly had just heard Mrs Hunter say. ‘Another burglary and now murder too? I just can’t grasp that such a thing could be done by a Jesmond boy. Paul Bevy again, Miss Kane, and this time there is a dead body involved if you can believe it!’

Kelly remained perfectly still in her chair.

'Well,' continued Carrie, getting rather flustered. 'I dare say you'll get the whole story soon enough Kelly dear, but what we want you to do now, is just tell Detectives Lavius and er... well, about the argument you had with Paul a few weeks ago, before the first...'

Carrie came to a stammering stop, having been put off by failing to remember the female officer's name, and running out of steam. The female detective, who was sat across from Kelly, raised her hand in greeting and gave her a reassuring smile.

‘Hello Miss Kane, my name is Detective Constable Yoyuwevuto. You can call me Mable, though. I realise it is a bit of a mouthful. We just need you to tell us about your incident with Paul, Miss Kane. The headmaster told us that he threatened you?’

Kelly was slightly annoyed to be dragged into whatever was going on, but she was not surprised. There had only been once incident that they could be referring to, something that had happened over a month ago and that she had told Carrie that she could handle herself.

‘Oh well, it was nothing really,’ Kelly stuttered. ‘I had to talk to him about... well, bothering some of the girls. When I confronted him, he was rather nasty.’

'I see,' said Yoyuwevuto. 'It's just that we did not know about this incident. It happened a week before the Orlando break-in I understand.'

'Well, yes,' said Kelly calmly. 'It wasn't a secret or anything, it was just one of those things we teachers deal with every day. I had told Mr Carrie that I would deal with it.'

'So what happened exactly?'

Kelly took a moment to arrange her thoughts, then said, 'I learned of him being somewhat lewd with some of the girls. I talked to him after class and he became a little aggressive, that was all there was to it really. He said some things to me, that were meant to hurt me, just the usual juvenile stuff. Sometimes we take these things to the headmaster, but I decided to handle it myself.'

'And how did you handle it?' asked Yoyuwevuto.

'Well, then Orlando happened, and it seemed rather pointless to hand out a detention or two after he'd been arrested.'

'I see, of course,' said Yoyuwevuto. She looked over at Detective Lavius who was gazing up at some of the portraits hung up on the walls of headmasters gone by. He turned to her and shrugged.

‘Thank you, Miss Kane. That’s been very helpful, we'll be in touch through the school if we have any more questions.'

Kelly smiled and nodded, then got up from her chair and left the room. She couldn't help but notice that the male officer had never spoken. He’d almost looked bored.

Instead of going back to her class and letting Mrs Hunter get back to her snug office next door to the head’s, she went to the staff room to get a cup of coffee. She could barely hold it, her hands were shaking so badly. She loathed the police, they filled her with terror and had done since she was a child.

As she slowly calmed down, she went over what she had told them, checking her story for anything that might have given her away. The only people that knew what had gone on between her and Paul Bevy, were her and Paul themselves, and he, undoubtedly, had more important matters on his mind than an argument he'd had with his teacher over a month ago.

There had been certainly more to the incident than she had told them, or old Carrie come to that. Not even the girls that had been the cause of the encounter knew anything about it. It had all happened, really, due to her illicit habit of using the girls toilets in the afternoons. By the afternoon her feet were tired from the heals and the girls toilets were much closer than the nearest staff ones, which were up two flights of stairs. They were usually quiet at afternoon break time so she would often sneak in to relieve herself before the bell went. On that day though, three girls came in just as she was sitting down in the cubicle. One of them was crying.

‘He’s a wee bastard. We should get him, I can tell my brother,’ said a voice that Kelly judged to be Jennifer Knight, a solidly build third year girl.

‘No!’, screamed the crying girl between sobs.

‘Well what?’ said another voice that evidently didn't have time for this shit. ‘Are you just going to let him away with it?’

To Kelly's ears it had sounded like Hannah Paterson. Not normally a girl that hung about with Jenny.

‘Just!...’ said the tearful one. ‘Just no! I Dinnae...’

She was then cut off by her sobbing. Eventually Hannah spoke.

‘Well, what did he do to you?’ she said impatiently.

‘I saw it, he put his hand right up Helen's...’ Whatever Jenny was about to say was cut off by more sobs. 'Oh, don't Helen,' said Jenny plaintively, seeming to be enjoying her role as a consoler.

So it was Helen Clark, the pretty third year girl, Kelly had realised. Divorced parents, lived with her dad. Good looking and sweet natured, but not very bright.

‘I don’t want to tell anyone, I just want to forget it ever happened.’

‘Paul should pay for what he did,’ hissed Hannah.

There was a pregnant pause, then in a loud whisper Jenny said, 'Oh? Is there someone in that cubicle?’

Kelly in that moment didn’t know what to do. As a teacher she should be taking control of the situation, but on the other hand, her using the pupil's toilets would be quite a scandal and probably lead to a verbal warning as their were strict school guideline about that sort of thing.

She hesitated. And in that time the girls left silently, to most likely take their conversation elsewhere, much to Kelly's relief.

For the rest of the next class she had thought over what to do. Telling the headmaster would escalate it all much higher than Kelly suspected that a shy girl like Helen could take. In addition, Kelly would have to be circumspect about how she had found out, and if she initially lied about how she knew about Paul and then was found out in her lie she would be sacked on the spot.

Was she even sure who they had been speaking about? There were two Pauls in third year, but neither of them were capable of sexual assault. Paul Bevy in fourth year though. He was a nasty piece of work and no mistake. There had actually been a similar incident the year before, or so she had half-overheard in the staff room a few months back.

She was really working herself up into a state of high anxiety by the time her next class came in. Fourth years, and a class that contained none other than Paul Bevy himself. She had watched him all the way through the class. He was a smug, evil looking brat, who was liked by the popular kids because his parents were wealthy. Fifteen, but small for his age, and good looking in a sullen sort of way. Not the sort of boy that would have difficulty getting a girlfriend she thought, as he was considered a bad boy by anyone that knew him and almost certain to get a decent car when he was old enough to drive. Just the type, in short, that the idiotic teenage girls that attended Jesmond went for. She'd just about made up her mind to forget about it, but when the class was leaving, the last class of the day in fact, she blurted out, ‘stay behind a moment Paul.’

He turned to looked her in the eye. They were the same height.

‘What is it Miss?’ he asked insolently.

She remembered vividly the expression he had had in that moment, and how much she wanted to wipe it off his face.

'Paul. Have you been bothering the girls?'

Paul smirked, then said, 'what have you heard?'

'Never mind what I've heard. I'll just say this, you'd better put a stop to it. Behaviour like that can land boys like you in big trouble.'

Again the infuriating boy had smiled. ‘You should mind your own business, Miss.’

‘I could take this to the headmaster Paul,' hissed Kelly, feeling that she was about to lose her composure.

‘And what? What evidence do you have? You want to put Helen through all of that?’

Kelly had realised then, when he had said Helen's name, that there was no doubt at all that it had been him that had assaulted her. He already had his excuses lined up, he knew exactly what he was being accused of.

‘No. I don't. That’s why I’m talking to you about this privately.’

He remained silent, looking her directly in the eyes, trying to stare her out. She'd dealt with plenty of little horrors like Paul before, but all she could mange was a limp, ‘I know it was you.’

‘Well, knowing and proving are two different things, aren't they Miss?'

'You think you're so clever don't you Paul?' she growled, now very much loosing her cool. 'Well, let me tell you, you can't win this one. You don't feel the slightest bit of empathy or compassion for that poor girl do you? She's just thirteen. She's still a child. You should be ashamed of yourself.'

She could tell she was hitting the mark with trying to shame him, as he was flushing red with anger. But then he calmed down and smiled again.

‘You know what, Miss?' he said as he moved his face closer to hers. 'I think you’re mum deserved what she got.’

‘What do you know about my mother?’

‘The police shot her didn’t they? She must have deserved it.’

By now Kelly was digging her fingernails into the palms of her hands.

‘Get out,’ she hissed.

‘Bleed a lot did she? You saw it didn’t you? Must have left a mark, you just a wee bairn and all.’

Kelly wanted no more of this, knowing that any more talk was pointless, she walked out of the classroom.

‘Aye, yer maw should have walked away too!’ called out Paul after her. She left the door open and walked as fast as she could to the staff room to calm down, not caring what the wretched boy was doing behind her. The next morning Carrie had come to talk to her. Someone, probably Mrs Rogers in the classroom next door had told him about the incident.

‘It’s nothing I can’t handle David,’ she had said.

‘Bethany said she heard raised voices. You walked out of the classroom?’

Bethany Rogers was a terrible eavesdropper and tattle-tale. A woman that had no love for supply teachers and always went running to the headmaster with every rumour or piece of gossip she could lay her hands on.

‘It was just me and Paul. The others had gone.’

‘So what was it about?’

Kelly sighed, feeling rather put on the spot. ‘Well, he knows about my mother. It’s not a secret, but I don't go around advertising it.'

‘I’ll call him in.’

‘No, not yet David. I’ll handle him.’

The headmaster gave her a long concerned look, but then smiled sweetly. 'As long as you're sure then dear,' he said. He had put his hand out to pat her on the shoulder, but then thought better of it and put it back in his pocket before smiling once more and walking away.

Kelly remembered being fairly upset about the whole situation for the rest of the day, until she'd come up with a plan for dealing with Paul that in hindsight now appeared utterly stupid.

Once she had calmed down enough to take on a classroom of teenagers again, she washed out her cup and put it in the dishwasher, then went back to her class and let Mrs Hunter get back to whatever it was she did in that overheated office of hers. As she taught the class she kept an eye out of the window that overlooked the car park, watching for when the police left. The exited together, not speaking. The male officer got in at the drivers side, she had already forgotten both their names, and the female threw some papers in the back before getting in at the passenger side. They then drove away and that was that. Kelly let out the breath she had been holding and looked down at her desk. She could handle police being in the building, at a school like Jesmond's it was not so uncommon, but when they wanted to talk to her, that was a whole other matter.

***

Mable Yoyuwevuto had just settled down for the night to watch a film with her husband , there daughters having not long been put to bed, when her phone went.

'Oh my lord,' she exclaimed mildly. 'It's my boss.'

Her husband kissed his teeth, got up and went into the kitchen.

'Hey Yoyo,' said Lavius once she'd answered her mobile. 'Up to much? I've been thinking. Well reading reports and thinking. Paul Bevy? It doesn't add up. The first robbery, it was a skilful cat burglar. I mean, hat’s off to them. Edinburgh has got a proper Raffles going on, like Harvey says. Down at HBU they call this guy “the Squirrel” right? At least ten robberies with an MO that matches the Squirrels in the last four years.'

Lavius paused, she could hear papers rustling at the other end of the line.

'I am gratified to hear you have been reading my reports, Sergeant.'

'Loving it, Mable. So, he’s a climber, this squirrel, he gets in through blind spots in the security. Finds a top floor window usually and jimmies it open. He goes in with a shopping list and gets out again the same way. What he does not do, is fuck about with cameras, or alarms. He doesn’t cut phone lines or any of that James Bond shit. And most of all, he doesn’t kill big time drug dealers. There were two separate people there that night I think, besides Big Mack, and that kid is neither of them. He’s a wee bully, but that’s it. You still there?'

'I'm still here, Sergeant,' replied Yoyuwevuto without any hint of the slight weariness she was feeling.

'There is enough there to charge him I suppose, but what's the point, when we know he didn't do it right?' Lavius didn't wait for an answer and carried on. 'I mean, we can make a case, the same case that was made for Orlando, and we'd probably get him, even with him being a minor. If we don't get him, the Hamiltons will - that's Mack's family by the way.'

'Are you so sure Paul Bevy did not do it, Sergeant?'

'I was just looking at some of the private CCTV that came through tonight. There is another man on the scene. Unknown, but I'm putting him through the system now.'

'Are you still at work?'

'Aye, aye,' replied Lavius with a laugh. 'Oh here's another thing. Any idea at all about Paul's teacher Miss Kane?'

'Well, other than the fact that there was no love of the lost between her and Paul, no Sergeant.'

'Love of the lost? Oh, I get you. Aye, and I should imagine she has no love lost on us either.'

‘I don’t understand Sergeant.’

‘You know who she is right? She’s Kelly Take. Going by her mother’s maiden name now, though. Maybe to hide her past.’

‘Still not with you.'

‘Kelly Take, daughter of Veronica Take. Spelt T-A-K-E, but pronounced Tak-ay. The woman that was shot in the stomach by Metropolitan Armed CID back in the nineties.’

‘Oh, I see. I remember that, yes. A dark day for the CID.' Mable paused then said, 'Does it mean anything though?’

‘Probably not, but it’s interesting. I wonder how she ended up here? All I know is what I’ve just been reading in Wikipedia. Her mum was completely innocent. The Met had the wrong address, they were looking for her brother, our Miss Kane’s uncle. He, on the other hand was a real baddie. Guns, drugs, gangland murder. You name it.’

‘So you think... I give up Sergeant. What do you think?’

‘Nothing at all. Just a weird thing, I suppose. Well anyway, I'll let you get back to it. See you in the morning Yoyo.’

Yoyuwevuto said goodbye, but he had already hung up.