“As far as I know. My wife will remember.”

“Why would Rose want to make trouble for Ms. Anderson?”

“I don’t know.”

“How well does your daughter do at English?”

“It’s not her best subject, or her favorite.”

“Was she jealous?”

“Of what?”

“Of the attention Luke got from Lauren Anderson?”

“Why don’t you ask Lauren?”

“I will. But I’m asking you first.”

“And I’m telling you I don’t know.”

They stared at each other, and Annie tried to weigh up whether he was telling the truth or not. She decided he was holding something back. “What is it, Mr. Barlow?” she asked. “If it’s nothing to do with Luke’s death, it will go no further than these walls, I promise.”

Barlow sighed and stared out of the window. The clouds had split in places and shafts of light lanced the distant hills. The laptop hummed on his desk.

“Mr. Barlow?”

He turned back to face her, and his facade of benevolent authority had disappeared. In its place was the look of a man with a burden. He stared at her a long time before speaking. “It was nothing,” he said finally, his voice little more than a whisper. “Really. Nothing.”

“Then tell me.”

“Ms. Anderson. Lauren. If you’ve seen her, you must have noticed she’s an attractive woman, quite the Pre-Raphaelite beauty,” Barlow said. “I’m only as human as the next man, but everyone expects me to be above reproach.”

“You’re a head teacher,” said Annie. “You’re supposed to be responsible. What happened? Did you have an affair? Did Rose find out?”

“Oh, good Lord, no. Nothing like that. I might have flirted a bit, as one does, but Lauren wasn’t interested in me. She made that quite clear.”

Annie frowned. “Then I don’t understand.”

A thin smile twisted his lips. “Don’t you? Sometimes things can seem other than they are, and any attempt to explain them away only makes you seem more guilty.”

“Can you elaborate on that?”

“Lauren came to see me in my office shortly after Christmas. A family problem. Her father had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and she was upset, needed some time off. I put an arm around her, just to comfort her, you understand, and Rose chose that moment to come barging in with some family matter. It’s one of the disadvantages of being the head of the school your daughter attends. Rose was usually pretty good about observing the boundaries, but on this occasion…Well, she misread the situation and went running off.”

“I see,” said Annie. “Did she tell your wife?”

“No. No, thank God. I managed to talk to her. I’m not sure she quite believed in my innocence, but she agreed not to say anything.”

“And that’s the root of her animosity toward Lauren Anderson?”

“I should imagine so. Maybe she had a crush on Luke Armitage, too, at one time, but believe me, I’d have known if there was more to it than that.”

“Are you sure there’s nothing else?”