‘Did you see anyone else come out of the office? Any other teachers?’
Curious, Allie shook her head. ‘No. But I left right after that.’
‘Hmmm.’ Staring off across the room, Nicole rested her chin on her hand. ‘It could be.’
‘Could be what?’
Nicole blinked at her. ‘It could be that Eloise isn’t a spy. It could be that she was in there with Jerry having sex.’
There is no way I heard that right.
‘What?’ Allie gaped at her. ‘Are you saying Eloise and Jerry Cole are…’
Nicole nodded. ‘Shagging, as you English say. Yes.’
Allie couldn’t seem to get her mouth to shut. The very idea of the librarian and the science teacher having sex was repulsive. Why would Eloise, so young and pretty, want a man so old? He had to be at least… nearly forty.
Trying to imagine what the librarian saw in him, she had a sudden memory of Jo staring at him dreamily – she’d always had a crush on Jerry.
But still. Eloise wouldn’t. She could have anyone.
‘I think that’s rubbish,’ she announced. ‘There’s no way Eloise would want him.’
Nicole seemed surprised. ‘Why not? I think he’s quite handsome. He has a great body.’
‘Jerry?’ Allie stared at her in horror. ‘He’s an old man, Nicole. You can’t think he has a good body. That’s just… gross.’
‘Oh, you English girls are so naive.’ Nicole sighed. ‘Jerry is very good-looking, I assure you. And I know they are having an affair. That much is certain.’
‘How do you even know that?’ Allie tried to disguise her dismay but failed.
‘I think the question is how do you not know? Haven’t you seen the way they look at each other? They liked each other for ages and they got together last term. I kept seeing them going off into the woods together. Once I caught them kissing in the training room before the others arrived… I thought everyone knew.’ She shrugged carelessly. ‘They are in love.’
Allie tried to force herself to process this information.
‘OK, but even if they are together – which I am not OK with – how did they get in Isabelle’s office? And why would they go in there to… to shag? Why wouldn’t they just do it in their rooms?’
‘I don’t know,’ Nicole conceded. ‘But teachers aren’t allowed to date and sex is totally forbidden. So… maybe they got the key somehow and, knowing Isabelle was away for the day, they went in there because it is private. I mean, I don’t know, this is just an idea.’ She looked up at Allie with a thoughtful expression, as if she were working out a complex homework problem. ‘It is a small office but there is space in there enough for two people to make love, non?’
Allie wrinkled her nose. This is grim, grim, grim.
‘It’s possible, I guess. But if that’s what she was doing, wouldn’t she just tell them? Then Jerry would back her up and they would let her go.’
‘If she tells them she and Jerry are having a relationship they will both get fired. So she could be protecting him. Or she could have told them and – but this is inhuman – he could deny it to protect himself.’ Nicole’s expression grew serious. ‘Or it is possible Raj and Zelazny simply don’t believe them.’
Allie held her gaze. ‘What do you believe? Do you think Eloise is working for Nathaniel? Do you think she’s the one?’
‘Of course not.’ Nicole’s response was immediate and emphatic.
Until she’d asked the question, Allie hadn’t realised how much, on some level, she’d hoped it really was Eloise. Even though it would be awful, at least they’d have answers. The hunt would be over. And that was something.
But in her heart, she didn’t think it was Eloise either. It didn’t feel right. It didn’t fit.
Despair, black as a storm cloud, swept over her. She was so tired, and they’d tried so hard. All for nothing.
Nathaniel was still out there. The wrong person was being held against her will. The spy was still around, still threatening, still unknown. Nothing was better. Everything was just as bad as it had been before. If not worse.
She looked up at Nicole with empty eyes. ‘Then who is?’
For a long moment Nicole held her gaze then, as if she’d had a sudden idea, she sat up straight. ‘Let’s work this out. Could I have a piece of paper, please?’
Climbing out of bed, Allie grabbed a notepad and pens from her desk and handed them to her. Nicole was, like Rachel, an advanced science student. It made sense she’d want to look at this as if it were a complex equation.
‘Let’s just stick to the actual attacks.’ Nicole drew a few squares on the paper. In one she wrote, ‘Ruth’. In the next, ‘Jo’. And in the last, ‘Chapel’.