Murder In School by Bruce Beckham

go home?’
    ‘No one seems to know, Guv.’
    ‘What about the shotgun?’
    ‘Belongs to the school, Guv.  Snyder
recognised it straight away.  I got him to take me to the gun room –
it’s like a horror movie, down there in the cellars – he showed me the
empty space in the rack.  Right old arsenal, they’ve got.’
    ‘What’s his explanation?’
    ‘He says he’s certain it was there last
time he checked.’
    ‘When was that?’
    ‘A couple of weeks back.  He says
they don’t shoot in summer term.’
    ‘And he’s sticking to his story about
being the only key-holder?’
    ‘Yup.’
    ‘What about Hodgson, did he have keys on
him?’
    ‘That’s the strange thing, Guv –
car keys and what looks like a house key, but nothing else.’
    ‘Yet he was locked inside the gatehouse.’
    ‘Well – kind of, Guv.  I spoke
again to the old boy who found him.  He now says he couldn’t swear on the
Bible that the door was actually locked.  It’s got one of those clunky
mortises and he reckons it’s possible it was already open.  He had to
fiddle with the key to get in, and thinks he could have locked it and then
unlocked it again.’
    ‘Brilliant.’
    ‘Sorry, Guv.’
    Skelgill doesn’t trouble to absolve DS
Leyton of any misplaced blame.  ‘And how was Snyder?’
    ‘Laying it on a bit thick, if you ask me,
Guv.  Slagging off Hodgson for sneaking his key away.  Claims he must
have nicked it from his desk while he was in assembly one morning.  I suggested
he could have left the gun room unlocked, but he was having none of it.’
    ‘What about any connection between
Hodgson and Querrell?’
    ‘He pooh-poohed it, Guv.  Except to
say they didn’t get on.  I don’t think it’s a lover’s pact if that’s what
you’re driving at.’  A note of hilarity creeps into DS Leyton’s voice.
    ‘Leyton, behave.’
    ‘Sorry, Guv – but you never know
these days.’
    ‘I think it’s a theory we can rule out.’
    ‘Suits me, Guv.’
    ‘So why did he go to Querrell’s cottage to
do it, Leyton?’
    ‘Suppose he knew it’d be empty. 
Maybe he got some bad news?’
    ‘Did he have a mobile?’
    ‘Not that’s been found, Guv.’
    ‘No other clues at the property?’
    ‘Oh – there was one thing.’
    ‘Yeah?’
    ‘The toilet window was unfastened. 
Somebody could have locked the place on the inside then climbed out.’
    ‘Bit obvious, though, Leyton.  Stage
a suicide then leave your signature?’
    ‘Perhaps if they were in a hurry, Guv?’
    ‘Or stupid.’
    Skelgill realises DS Jones is again
looking at him quizzically.  He indicates with an impatient nod that she
should watch the road ahead.
    A moment of silence passes, then DS
Leyton asks, ‘What next, Guv?’
    ‘You’d better get over to Hodgson’s
place.  Is he married?’
    ‘Snyder doesn’t think so.  Then
again, he says he knows next to nothing about him.’
    ‘What’s the address?’
    ‘Cockermouth, in the main street.  I
looked it up and it seems it’s a flat above the newsagent’s.’
    ‘Ask in there first.’
    ‘Will do, Guv.’
    ‘Better mind how you go, Leyton – in
case he’s dismembered his missus and left her in the freezer.’
    ‘Cheers, Guv – one corpse is quite
enough for a day.  I don’t have your cast-iron stomach.’
    Skelgill indicates with his left hand to
DS Jones that she should take the approaching service station slip road. 
‘On that note, Leyton, I feel a burger coming on.  We’ll love you and
leave you.  I’ll call you later.’

16. FLYING
ECONOMY
     
    ‘Think England will ever win the World
Cup again, Guv?’
    Skelgill shakes his head ruefully. 
They have the pair of seats on the starboard side of the aircraft.  Skelgill’s
is adjacent to the window, while Jones’s beside it is separated by one of two
aisles from the central bank of four.  They’re watching the great arch of
Wembley Stadium, highlighted in the afternoon sunshine, gradually disappearing
as the jumbo banks