“What?” Keres was worried. “What is it? Has something happened with Mr Barrett?”
“No, it’s nothing to do with that – it’s about Gemma Chiltern.” Keres looked at her for a moment, assessing the ethics of listening to whatever she was about to say.
“Alright – tell me.” With the command received, Hazel took a deep breath, and began.
“Well, you know how the police were searching her house for anything that could give them some clues?”
“Yes.”
"And they wanted to look in her school locker to see if they could find anything there, but the school records said she didn’t have one?” Keres had remembered hearing people talking about this, but at the time she hadn’t considered it important. The schools didn’t have enough lockers for all of the students, and those that wanted them had to get in first and put their names down for one along with a small nominal deposit, which would be refunded at the end of the year.
“Yes, I remember hearing that.”
“Well, it turns out that she did have one.” Keres looked at Hazel again.
“But why would her school say she didn’t? Obviously they would have checked their records properly – and they would have no reason to lie.”
“No, it’s not like that. She had one, but it wasn’t registered in her name. Her friend put the deposit down for her, and it was registered in her name.”
“Ah – so when the school checked their records, Gemma’s name didn’t show up?”
”Exactly. But this friend came forward and told the police about the locker.”
”I don’t understand,” Keres said, shaking her head, “why didn’t she just tell the police straightaway?”
“Apparently she didn’t want to get Gemma into any trouble, in case there was anything in there that shouldn’t have been. But now that she’s been missing a while, she was starting to get worried.”
”I see. But why is this news?”
”Because the police searched her locker, and found out that she has a boyfriend!”
“A boyfriend? I’m sure all of her friends said that she didn’t have one.”
”Well it turns out that she did. And no-one knew about him. Even her best friend swears that she didn’t know!”
“Is this the same friend that didn’t tell anyone about the locker?” Keres asked.
“I think so.”
”Then I’m not sure we should believe her.” Keres paused for a moment to think, as she tried to make sense of all of this new information. “Did they find out just who her boyfriend is?” Hazel shook her head.
“No. It seems even the police don’t know.”
"Ah. That is potentially problematic.”