‘Not impossible, not impossible by any means,’ Diamond said.
‘What did she teach?’
‘Art.’
‘Ha.’ Georgina clearly had a poor opinion of art teachers. ‘If this had come into my in-tray, I’d have been on to it directly. Do we know anything about the company she kept?’
‘Not much. She hasn’t been an active line of enquiry.’
‘That’s got to change. We must speak to the head. Is there any suggestion of the teacher having an unhealthy influence on the girl?’
‘I don’t think it’s been raised.’
‘It should be.’
‘They didn’t go off together, if that’s what you mean.’
Georgina replaced the knife on the plate, ‘But you told me the girl came to the police station to ask about Miss Gibbon. That suggests determination. Or devotion.’ She glanced left and right, leaned forward and said in little more than a whisper, ‘Peter, as a man, you may not fully appreciate the intensity some women feel for each other. I’m sorry this has to come up over breakfast, but it must be said. We can’t ignore it.’
‘A lesbian relationship?’
‘Keep your voice down.’
Her prudery amused him enough to prolong it a little. ‘Are you thinking Mel and Miss Gibbon...?’
‘I am.’
‘Mel wanted to find her and now she has and they’re together?’
‘It has to be considered.’ As if she urgently needed a break in the conversation, Georgina said, ‘I’m going to get myself some cereal.’ She was up from the table and away.
Diamond helped himself to a slice of her toast and waited.
When she returned with a bowl of cornflakes, she said, ‘We need to know a whole lot more about Miss Gibbon.’
‘I’m not sure who we ask.’
‘The head — obviously.’
‘Miss Du Barry? She’s very guarded.’
‘Leave her to me. I’ll speak to her, woman to woman.’ She hesitated. ‘But I don’t want you present in the room.’
‘That’s all right,’ Diamond said. ‘I’ve met Miss Du Barry anyway. I’ll speak to some of Mel’s fellow students.’ He hoped he wasn’t glowing in triumph, but he felt like it. The arrangement was ideal. While those two formidable women went head to head, he’d find out what really went on in this school.
Georgina couldn’t resist saying, ‘You see? When you joined me, you looked quite sorry for yourself and now you’re relishing the day ahead. There’s a lot to be said for a working breakfast. We must do it more often.’
Naseem, an Asian girl, had been sent for and asked to show Diamond to the art room. He tried chatting with her as they went through the corridors, but she gave one-word answers for the most part. He managed to find out that Mr Standforth was known to the students as Tom. At the mention of Miss Gibbon, Naseem didn’t even speak. She nodded and looked away.
Tom Standforth appeared nervous when Diamond said he was a police officer. Tall, in his twenties, with quite a mane of loose black hair, the teacher crossed his arms defensively.
‘It’s about the missing student, Melanie Mason.’
‘Mel?’ Standforth said — and it was clear from the pitch of his voice that Melanie hadn’t been foremost in his thoughts. ‘Oh, Mel.’ His arms relaxed and returned to his sides. ‘Yes, I’ve already been asked. She hasn’t been in for a couple of days.’
‘She hasn’t been home,’ Diamond said. ‘Her parents are very worried. We all are.’
‘Sure — and so are we. She’s a sweet girl and a talented artist, too.’
‘Does she have close friends?’
He glanced around the room. About a dozen students were present. ‘These are the girls who know her best. You met Naseem. And there’s Jem.’
‘Jemima,’ a girl standing by the window said, ‘Jemima Hennessy.’
Diamond was getting the message that no one here was keen to assist the police. Jemima was already looking out of the window again.
Speaking to the class in general, Tom Standforth said, ‘Has anyone heard from Mel — a text, or an email?’
Nobody answered.
Diamond said to them all, ‘Would you expect her to get in touch?’
The only response was a slight nod from Naseem.
This was hard work. He couldn’t be certain if they were holding back information, or simply didn’t know. From the direction of the looks being exchanged, one thing was clear: there was a dominant personality in this class.
He turned to the teacher. ‘I’d like to speak to Jemima in private. Is there anywhere we could go?’
‘The stockroom.’
Some sounds that could have been subdued giggles were heard, but not from Jemima.
Standforth said, ‘Jem?’
The girl said, ‘I can’t tell him anything. I don’t know where she is.’
‘But you can give me some background,’ Diamond said. ‘I know very little about her. You’d like to help your friend, wouldn’t you? I wouldn’t be here if we weren’t taking her disappearance seriously.’
Difficult to refuse. Without a word, Jem moved to the front and through the stockroom door.
Standforth told the rest of them to go back to what they had been doing.
Among the easels, blank canvases and stacks of paper of various colours and sizes, Diamond found two stools. Jem’s feet didn’t reach the floor. Short as she was, she looked unlikely to be pushed around.
‘We’re better off here,’ Diamond said. ‘It’s not a good situation when all your classmates are listening, not to mention the teacher. I’m hoping you can give me some pointers as to why your friend is missing.’
‘No,’ she said.
Not a good start.
‘Can’t?’ he said. ‘Or won’t?’
‘Take your pick. It comes to the same thing.’
He wasn’t going to be shut down by a schoolgirl. ‘Well, I’ll tell you something instead. Mel came to see us at the police station the day she disappeared. I spoke to her myself. She wanted to know if we had any news of Miss Gibbon, who used to teach here.’
Jem’s eyebrows arched. Resolved as she was to give nothing away, she’d been ambushed. ‘Miss Gibbon?’
‘The lady is on the missing persons’ index.’
‘I know that.’
‘Then maybe you know why Mel wanted information. She was deeply concerned.’
Now she was frowning. ‘She said nothing to any of us.’
‘Yep,’ Diamond said, ramping up the ill-feeling. ‘I got the impression she was acting alone.’
‘She’s like that, telling nobody. You never know where you are with Mel.’ Now that what amounted almost to a betrayal had sunk in, Jem’s tongue loosened. ‘The rest of us don’t want the Gibbon back. She can stay missing as long as she likes. We’re far better off with Tom. He’s nice. We all look forward to art now instead of dreading it. He hasn’t been here long and he’s got us doing all kinds of really cool stuff.’
‘Quite a change from Miss Gibbon, then.’
She nodded. ‘He’s an ace teacher. Even Mel will tell you that. She’s doing a gorgeous mosaic with bits of glass from the beach for her extended personal project. We’ve all raised our game with Tom. All we ever did with the Gibbon was boring old perspective, more like geometry than art.’
‘Did you give her a bad time? Not you, personally. The class, I mean.’
‘She kept order.’
‘But was it stressful?’
‘For her, or for us?’
‘Her.’
‘You’d have to ask her.’
‘Where do you think she went?’
Jem shook her head. ‘We were so pleased to see the back of her that we didn’t give a toss as long as she stayed away for keeps. It was, like, only a couple of days ago we found out she was a missing person.’ She remembered something and gave a gasp. ‘And it was Mel who found her name on the website. Thinking back, she kept going on about why the Gibbon left so suddenly without getting a leaving present. Then we were out at Tom’s one day—’