Scott thought for a moment. There might be something she could do to help. He wasn’t in a position where he could turn it down.

“Casey quit the book club soon after we got together. It was awkward, for obvious reasons.”

Lauren nodded; she didn’t need him to tell her Casey and Natalie had attended the same book club. The school grapevine had taken care of that.

“The ladies there would recognise me. They’d get suspicious if I started asking questions about Casey.”

“But they don’t know me,” Lauren said. “Okay. Let’s do it.”

Scott almost asked her why again, but he decided against it. She was offering to help. That was enough. Dimly, he thought of Harvey and his cross, and he wished he’d asked him to light the vigil. He thought – and he’d never share this with anyone – that perhaps, if he’d grown into a different man, he might see Lauren’s willingness as a sign. An angel, driven by providence.

Opening and closing his hand, the bandage rubbed against the broken skin of his palm.

He was such an idiot.

14

SCOTT

After work, Scott sat in his car, his phone ringing through the loudspeaker system. The kids filed out in groups, a couple of the older ones casually lighting up cigarettes the second they were beyond the gates, even more sucking on colourful vape pens. Scott recognised Beth Vaughn, with her bleached blonde hair and one of the boy’s arms wrapped around her; it had been a different boy the previous week.

As Scott watched, both of them sparked up, smoking as one of their friends pulled a wheely on his bike next to them. Scott wasn’t judging Beth. As far as he was concerned, women could have as many partners as they wanted. He didn’t care. But Beth wasn’t a woman; she was a child. And he knew what she was doing. Seeking approval in the worst places, going down the wrong path.

It had happened with a couple of his previous students. That was the thing with being a teacher. Scott saw the cycles. One girl, exactly like Beth, now had two children with two different fathers, both absent. Scott had seen her around, heard her story from another teacher. She never looked happy. She seemed to hate her children. Scott felt sorry for all three of them.

If anything, it was the boys that made Scott the angriest. Teenagers could be grim when it came to the opposite sex. He’d overheard some nasty stuff. Once he’d suspended a student for roughly yanking on a girl’s bra strap.

The phone stopped ringing. “Good afternoon, Royal Lettings, Ellie speaking, how can I help?”

“Yes, hello. I was wondering if Rachel’s working today.”

“Can I ask what this is in regard to?”

“Uh, one of her houses.”

“Is it a maintenance issue? We’ve recently moved our services onto an online portal–”

“It’s not. Please, I need to speak with her.”

Ellie paused. Scott imagined her making a face at one of her colleagues. “Sure, I’ll connect you.”