pen made scratching noises as she wrote down the address.
Time for an awkward silence, Cam thought, let Jeffrey stew for a bit. The mantle clock ticked on as he took in the degrees and diplomas covering almost every inch of wall space. Between the two of them, the Smithsons seemed to have enough qualifications to staff a university. The largest of these framed documents caught his attention; he narrowed his eyes, attempting to decipher the gothic writing.
The clock bonged out the hour. Its deep vibrations shuddered through the oriental carpet under their feet. Finally Jeffrey said, “Will that be all, Sergeant?”
Cam abruptly switched his gaze from the diplomas back to Smithson. “Where were you on Saturday evening between six pm and midnight?”
Jeffrey stiffened at the unexpected question. “Are you asking me for an alibi?”
“Just answer the question please, sir.” Cam’s resolve to tread softly began to falter. These two were hiding something and he intended to find out what it was.
“This is preposterous! You surely don’t think…”
“It’s a routine question, sir. It should be fairly simple to answer.”
Anne cleared her throat, meeting Jeffrey’s eyes with an unspoken question. He stared at her for a moment then nodded.
Back to her diary, she found the relevant page and began to read softly.
“At 6 pm we had an emergency committee meeting with the Glenroyd progress association. After that we went out to dinner with the Hamptons. On the way home we discovered our neighbours’ sheep had wandered on to the road. We tried to call our neighbours on the mobile phone but found we had no range, so we drove over to their house and together rounded the sheep up. When we were finished, they asked us in for a coffee. We didn’t get home until almost two.”
Up until now it had been Jeffrey jumping in to answer Cam’s questions. This response of Anne’s sounded like a well-rehearsed reading.
And Jill came tumbling after…
Leanne handed Mrs Smithson a piece of paper and asked for the names and contact numbers of the people they’d associated with that evening.
The clock ticked on while she wrote. Cam’s gaze once more roved the room. Finally he said, “I see you were a civil engineer, Mr Smithson. Why did you switch to teaching?”
“I can’t see how this has anything to do with the death of Mr Bell,” Smithson said.
Anne Smithson, though, seemed to brighten at the change of topic. She ignored the hostility in her husband’s voice and said, “Because I asked him to. My husband is a mathematical genius, Sergeant. He was once CEO of Super Tech. I imagine you’ve heard of the company?”
She wrote down the last name with a flourish of relief and handed the list to Leanne. Cam nodded. Even he had heard of the high-profile engineering company.
“I’d been unable to find a suitable head of the maths department and he agreed to the job. Jeffrey is also a highly skilled construction engineer. It is he who designed and supervised all the renovations.” She waved an arm around the lavish office, like a queen in her kingdom. “I would never have been able to do all this without the support of my husband.”
Smithson’s chest swelled but he only allowed the most humble of smiles to grace his face. Cam wondered about the circumstances behind Smithson quitting his engineering company: shonky trading, a collapsed building? Why would a man throw in a job that probably paid him hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to become a schoolteacher?
“I must compliment you both on the job you have done, though as a future school parent, I only hope the fees aren’t going to be reflecting these massive improvements.” He smiled, drawing a diagonal line through the writing on his note pad. All Smithson could see was the decisive hand movement. Cam noticed the little man’s frown, and the way he touched the knot of his tie.
But Mrs Smithson took the remark with its intended humour.“You don’t have
Time for an awkward silence, Cam thought, let Jeffrey stew for a bit. The mantle clock ticked on as he took in the degrees and diplomas covering almost every inch of wall space. Between the two of them, the Smithsons seemed to have enough qualifications to staff a university. The largest of these framed documents caught his attention; he narrowed his eyes, attempting to decipher the gothic writing.
The clock bonged out the hour. Its deep vibrations shuddered through the oriental carpet under their feet. Finally Jeffrey said, “Will that be all, Sergeant?”
Cam abruptly switched his gaze from the diplomas back to Smithson. “Where were you on Saturday evening between six pm and midnight?”
Jeffrey stiffened at the unexpected question. “Are you asking me for an alibi?”
“Just answer the question please, sir.” Cam’s resolve to tread softly began to falter. These two were hiding something and he intended to find out what it was.
“This is preposterous! You surely don’t think…”
“It’s a routine question, sir. It should be fairly simple to answer.”
Anne cleared her throat, meeting Jeffrey’s eyes with an unspoken question. He stared at her for a moment then nodded.
Back to her diary, she found the relevant page and began to read softly.
“At 6 pm we had an emergency committee meeting with the Glenroyd progress association. After that we went out to dinner with the Hamptons. On the way home we discovered our neighbours’ sheep had wandered on to the road. We tried to call our neighbours on the mobile phone but found we had no range, so we drove over to their house and together rounded the sheep up. When we were finished, they asked us in for a coffee. We didn’t get home until almost two.”
Up until now it had been Jeffrey jumping in to answer Cam’s questions. This response of Anne’s sounded like a well-rehearsed reading.
And Jill came tumbling after…
Leanne handed Mrs Smithson a piece of paper and asked for the names and contact numbers of the people they’d associated with that evening.
The clock ticked on while she wrote. Cam’s gaze once more roved the room. Finally he said, “I see you were a civil engineer, Mr Smithson. Why did you switch to teaching?”
“I can’t see how this has anything to do with the death of Mr Bell,” Smithson said.
Anne Smithson, though, seemed to brighten at the change of topic. She ignored the hostility in her husband’s voice and said, “Because I asked him to. My husband is a mathematical genius, Sergeant. He was once CEO of Super Tech. I imagine you’ve heard of the company?”
She wrote down the last name with a flourish of relief and handed the list to Leanne. Cam nodded. Even he had heard of the high-profile engineering company.
“I’d been unable to find a suitable head of the maths department and he agreed to the job. Jeffrey is also a highly skilled construction engineer. It is he who designed and supervised all the renovations.” She waved an arm around the lavish office, like a queen in her kingdom. “I would never have been able to do all this without the support of my husband.”
Smithson’s chest swelled but he only allowed the most humble of smiles to grace his face. Cam wondered about the circumstances behind Smithson quitting his engineering company: shonky trading, a collapsed building? Why would a man throw in a job that probably paid him hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to become a schoolteacher?
“I must compliment you both on the job you have done, though as a future school parent, I only hope the fees aren’t going to be reflecting these massive improvements.” He smiled, drawing a diagonal line through the writing on his note pad. All Smithson could see was the decisive hand movement. Cam noticed the little man’s frown, and the way he touched the knot of his tie.
But Mrs Smithson took the remark with its intended humour.“You don’t have
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