Tony Hill u Carol Jordan 08 - Cross and Burn

round the industrial estate and come at the school from the other direction.’
    Paula gave her a quick glance. ‘How do you know that? Have you been moonlighting as a cabbie?’
    ‘When I first moved to Bradfield, I had a horrible little bedsit down by the canal. That was the quickest way to get there in the rush-hour traffic.’
    ‘I never knew that.’
    ‘My feminine mystique. I have to keep you on your toes somehow.’
    They drove in silence for a couple of minutes. Paula was dreading what lay ahead. Breaking the worst possible news was something she’d done more times than she cared to remember; it never got any easier. As if she read her mind, Elinor said, ‘No matter how many times I give people bad news, I still feel inadequate to the task.’
    ‘I’ve never had to tell someone I know.’ Paula turned in at the school gates.
    ‘Sometimes I’ve grown to know a patient quite well. At least you have a sense then of how to approach it. Take Torin. Like you, he’s already expecting the worst. There’s no leading up to it gently. Direct but kind is the best way for him, I’d say.’
    Not for the first time, Paula thought her partner was Blessing by name and a blessing by nature. She’d cut straight to the heart of what was troubling Paula and she’d resolved it. If only the inconvenient issue of Tony’s DNA could be so readily settled.

    The news barely caused a ripple with the head teacher, a man who clearly believed that emotional crises needed practical responses. Paula warmed to him straight away. He installed them in a cosy room with soft armchairs and a low table. ‘Our main guidance suite,’ he explained. ‘I’ll send someone for Torin’s form teacher and have her bring him here. What about tea, coffee?’
    ‘Just water. And a box of tissues if possible,’ Elinor said, matching brisk with brisk. His secretary swiftly brought what they’d asked for and left them to wait. It felt like a long time, but it was only minutes before the door opened and a large-bosomed woman in her forties ushered Torin into the room.
    One look at the pair of them and his face crumpled. All his efforts at toughing out Bev’s absence crumbled away, leaving him lost. ‘She’s dead, isn’t she?’ It was a roar of anguish. His knees couldn’t hold him and he crouched low on the floor leaning into the side of a chair, his arms over his head, racking sobs tearing through him.
    Elinor was first to his side, kneeling on the floor next to him, pulling him close and folding her arms round him. She didn’t speak. She just held him and let the wave of grief suck him under and drag him with it.
    Slowly, the sobbing subsided. Between them, Elinor and Paula helped him into a seat while the teacher watched helplessly. ‘We’re not supposed to touch them,’ she muttered to Paula, who managed to restrain herself. Elinor sat on the arm of the chair, a hand on Torin’s shoulder.
    He looked up at Paula, eyes swollen, cheeks wet with tears, lips trembling. ‘What happened?’
    She chose her words carefully. ‘Someone took her against her will, Torin. And then he killed her. I’m so very sorry.’
    ‘Did he hurt her? Was it over quick? Did she suffer?’
    The first thing they always wanted to know. With murder, you couldn’t lie because the details would eventually come out in court and they wouldn’t thank you for misguided attempts to spare them. ‘I won’t lie to you, Torin. He did hurt her. But I don’t think she was in pain for long.’
    His face twisted with the struggle not to crack up again. ‘Thank you,’ he stammered. ‘For being honest. Did he – Did he interfere with her?’
    The other thing they always wanted to know. This was, for some reason, the place where you had to let them down easy, without actually lying. ‘We don’t know at this point,’ Paula said.
    Torin started shivering, like a dog left out in winter rain. ‘I d-d-d-don’t know what to do,’ he moaned through chattering teeth. ‘What about the funeral? Who sorts all that out?’
    ‘Come home to ours,’ Elinor said. ‘Your auntie Rachel will be here this afternoon.’
    ‘Perhaps your form teacher could collect your bag and your coat?’ Paula said firmly. The teacher looked dubious but left the room anyway. Paula followed her out into the hallway. ‘He’s been staying with us,’ she said. ‘Elinor’s a doctor. She worked with his mum at Bradfield Cross. We’ll take care of him.’
    ‘Shouldn’t you contact social