all during the evening?"
Brian was no fool. His face told Lynley that even if he had not done so before, he saw the direction the questions were taking. He hesitated before saying, "Clive Pritchard was in and out.
He's a bloke from Calchus House."
"A prefect?"
Brian looked wryly amused. "Not prefect material, if you know what I mean."
"And Chas? Was he at this party?""He was there."
"All along?"
A moment for thought, for recollection, for a decision about truth or deception. "Yes. All along." The spasm that jerked his lip betrayed him.
"Are you sure about that? Was Chas there every moment? Was he there when you left?"
"He was there. Yes. Where else would he be?"
"I don't know. I'm just trying to get at the truth of what happened here on Friday when Matthew Whateley disappeared."
Brian's eyes clouded. "Are you thinking Chas had something to do with that? Why?"
"If Matthew ran off, he had to have some reason for doing so, didn't he?"
"And you see Chas as the reason? Sorry, sir, but that's rot."
"It may be, which is why I'm asking whether Chas was in the social club for the entire evening. If he was there, he could hardly have been seeing to Matthew Whateley."
"He was. He was there. I saw him every moment. I never took my eyes off him. He was with me most of the time anyway. And when he wasn't..." Brian stopped talking abruptly. His right fist closed. His lips whitened as he pressed them together.
"So he left," Lynley said.
"He didn't! It's just that there were some phone calls for him. Maybe three. I don't remember. Someone came and got him and he went to the front of Ion House where the phone is and took the calls there. But he was never gone long enough to do anything."
"How long was he gone?"
"I don't know. Five minutes, ten minutes. No more than that. What could he have done in that time? Nothing. And what difference does it make? None of the calls came before nine o'clock and everyone knows that Matthew Whateley ran off in the afternoon."
Lynley saw the fine edge of the boy's control, and used it by asking, "Why did Matthew run off? What happened to him here?
You and I both know that behind closed doors things go on in a school that the Headmaster and the staff either don't know about or turn a blind eye to. What happened?"
"Nothing. He just didn't fit in. He was different. Everyone could tell. Everyone knew it.
He never got the picture that one's mates are important - more important, the most important...For him, it was lessons and prep and getting ready for university and nothing else.
Nothing."
"So you knew him."
"I know all the boys in Erebus. That's my job, isn't it?"
"And save for last Friday, you do your job well?"
His face closed. "I do."
"Your father pushed Matthew for the governors' scholarship. Did you know that?"
"Yes."
"How did you feel about it?"
"Why should I have felt anything? He promotes a student every year for the scholarship.
This year, his protege won. So what?"
"Perhaps that made it difficult for you to smooth Matthew's way into the life of the school. He was from a different background than most of the boys, after all. It would have taken some effort on your part to see that he felt at home here."
"What you really mean is that I was jealous of Matthew because of my father's interest in him, so I didn't lift a finger to make it any easier for him to fit in. In fact, I made him so miserable from the first that he finally couldn't stand it and ran off and got himself killed in the process?" Brian shook his head. "If I put the heat on every boy that my father took an interest in, I'd be spending all of my time at it. He's looking for another Eddie Hsu, Inspector. He won't rest until he finds one."
"Eddie Hsu?"
"An old Bredgardian that my father tutored." Brian smiled, an expression of bitter pleasure. "Until he killed himself, that is. In 1975. Just before his A-levels. Haven't you seen my father's memorial to Eddie in the chapel? It's hard to miss. „Edward Hsu... beloved student.' My father's been looking for his replacement ever since. He has a real Midas touch, does Dad.
Except that everything he touches dies on contact."
A sharp knock sounded on the door. "Byrne! Let's do it! Hey! Let's go!"
Lynley didn't recognise the voice. He nodded at Brian who said, "Join the party, Clive."
"Hey,