Sorcerer by David Menon

gardening gloves. ‘And come inside. I don’t want to have this conversation where all the gossips can hear us’.
    ‘Have you got something to tell us then, Tony?’ asked Rebecca.
    Tony Chambers ignored Rebecca’s question as he led them into his house. ‘My wife is at work’ he said. ‘I took early retirement’.
    ‘Yes, we understand you moved on to the prison service after you left Pembroke?’ Rebecca went on.
    ‘And I retired from there last year, look, will you tell me what exactly it is you want?’
    ‘Well I’d have thought that was obvious’ said Jeff. ‘We need to ask you certain questions’.
    ‘Alright, alright’ snapped Chambers. ‘Go into the living room and sit down. I’ll just go and wash my hands and be there in a minute. I’ve been tending to the back garden’.
    The floor of the living room was covered in darkly varnished wood that looked like it had been laid fairly recently. There was a large mirror above the fireplace which was framed in brass made to look like gold. A couple of tall yucca plants stood to one side between the fireplace and the flat screen TV that dominated the entire room. A large flower arrangement covered the space where the fire would’ve been raging and both Jeff and Rebecca sat down on one of the two large cream coloured sofas. Jeff quite liked the place. He’d sometimes thought that he and Lillie Mae would buy an older place when Toby and the other kids they’d planned to have had all grown up and flown the nest. Somewhere they could do a lot to and really make their own with plenty of space for just the two of them but also for when the grandchildren came to stay. Sadly those dreams had been destroyed. He’d be growing old without Lillie Mae by his side and there were moments when it hurt like Hell.
    Tony Chambers came in and sat down on the other sofa. He folded his hands together and leaned forward. He looked nervous.
    ‘So what went on when you were at Pembroke House, Tony?’
    Tony wrapped himself over and over again in all the ways he’d used down the years to forget what had dragged him out of his job at Pembroke. But none of it worked. The day of reckoning had come. He was minded to completely capitulate and bare his soul for the first time since he’d been put on the spot like this. There was nothing else he could do. The police would cut through the crap in the end. No point in prolonging the agony.
    ‘I haven’t spoken about any of this for twenty years’ said Tony.
    ‘Spoken about what, Tony?’ Jeff wanted to know.
    ‘I was never party to anything that … that went on in that dungeon. None of the staff were. There’s no point in you going after any of them. They’re guilty of nothing except turning a blind eye’.
    ‘Well you’d better tell us what you know’ said Rebecca.
    ‘It was a hell hole’.
    ‘So why didn’t you leave?’
    ‘He had something on all of us’ Tony revealed. ‘George Griffin I mean’.
    ‘So you’re saying he was blackmailing you?’
    ‘Yes, that’s exactly what he was doing’.
    ‘You’ll need to elaborate a bit more, Tony?’ said Jeff, trying to hide his impatience. Interviewing Tony Chambers was like trying to pull teeth.   
    ‘I presume you’ve looked at the employment records for Pembroke? That’s how you found me?’
    ‘Well we were hoping that professionals in the field of child care would’ve stepped up to the mark and come forward once they knew we were investigating events at Pembroke’ said Jeff. ‘I mean, I presume you do read the papers, Tony?’
    ‘There was no child care at Pembroke’ said Tony. ‘We fed them, we made sure they washed and got to school on time. But we didn’t care for them’.
    ‘Did you administer beatings using for instance the cane?’
    ‘Yes’ Chambers confirmed.
    ‘So you were guilty of physical abuse?’
    ‘We were expected to be more than just strict. The place ran on fear and that came directly from Griffin. Look, when you were looking at