‘I know.’ I quickly explained where we were with Caleb. Then a bell rang, signalling the end of recess; I was about to break off when Linda cleared her throat. She looked uncomfortable.

‘Is this yours?’ Fishing around in the pocket of her linen dress, she pulled out a sanitary pad, partly unwrapped.

‘Uh…’ It was the brand I used. ‘Maybe.’

‘Could Aaron have taken it out of your purse?’

‘Aaron?’ I gaped at her. ‘Aaron had it?’

‘He was trying to flush it down the toilet. I heard rustling and muttering, so I went in.’ She pointed at a scratch on her arm. ‘He got very upset when I stopped him.’

‘God. I’m sorry.’

‘And when I asked him, he said that’s what you do with pads. You flush them down the toilet.’

‘Only if you want a blockage,’ I began, then stopped.

Shit.

‘He might have seen his mother disposing of hers,’ Linda said with a frown. ‘I’d be interested to know if he brought this to school…’

‘I’ll check.’ There were children heading our way, but I had just enough time to rifle through my handbag.

Sure enough, my spare pad was missing.

‘Would you kindly tell me what this is?’ Howard pushed a piece of paper across his desk.

I leaned forward to look. ‘That’s the report I wrote for Joyce.’

‘Why? Why would you do that?’

‘Because she asked me to.’ As Howard took a deep breath, I added, ‘Krystal wants a teacher’s report. I was trying to be fair.’

Howard sighed. ‘Jesus.’

‘What’s Joyce saying now?’

‘You shouldn’t have done this. You shouldn’t be getting involved.’ He shook his head and dragged a hand across his face, rearranging his eye bags. ‘A teacher’s report is one thing, but this is a provocation. What were you thinking?’

‘She asked me to write down what happened.’

‘She says you’re blaming her for the cockroaches.’

‘Only because she has a guilty conscience.’

‘For Chrissake!’ Howard slammed his palm down on the desk. ‘This isn’t a joke!’

‘I’m not joking, Howard.’ Angered by his bully-boy tactics, I told him about Pat in the hallway. I also told him about my stolen pad and Krystal’s plumbing problems. Though I had no direct proof, I couldn’t help wondering if Joyce had encouraged Aaron to block his mum’s pipes. ‘I know it sounds nuts, but people have told me to watch out for Joyce. She does crazy things. She’s malevolent.’

Howard’s shoulders were up around his ears. He was leaning on the desk, rubbing his forehead as if he had a migraine. ‘You’re going to have to let this go,’ he said.

‘Howard—’

‘I’m telling you, this is nuts.’ He was shaking his head. ‘Do you know what Joyce said? She said you’re biased against boys. She said you don’t like boys because you don’t like men.’