Getting away with murder 101

Chapter 7 (Part 2): Eleanor's POV

Little did we know, with the Police coming to our school the next morning it would be so much harder to detect. Or so we thought.

Instead of usual Sunday morning prayer, we were shaken awake by Nurse Small at an ungodly hour (much to her displeasure as it was to ours). Bleary eyes, we pulled on our clothes over our nighties and were hurried downstairs into the hall, where two deadly serious inspectors stood on the raised platform at the head of the hall, both wearing grim expressions.

I glanced over at Rosalind, who made eye contact with me. We both knew that the body had been discovered. To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if it had made it into the kitchens by now. 1st formers aren't skilled in keeping secrets.

We filed into the hall, behind us the grumpy 4th formers followed, eventually the whole school was there. I looked around at the teachers. Mrs Atkinson was crying into Miss Mackelroy's shoulder, her shoulder shaking as tears streamed down her face. Mrs Cregana stood rigid, staring into space, a glint of light reflected off a single tear that was rolling down her face. Mr Simons stood with his hands clasped in front of him, head bowed. The rest of the teachers displayed similar sorrowful faces as one of the inspectors took a deep breath and stepped forward, clearing his throat noisily.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen," he began, "my name is Inspector Pisces. We were informed yesterday of a dead body that, unfortunately, was a member of staff at this school." He narrowed his eyes and scanned us with his beady eyes, "After some studying and confirmation from the other members of staff, it was agreed that this body, was the body of Mr Atkinson."

People started to mutter amongst themselves. If I hadn't already known about the body, I would be the one to listen to everything. After a few minutes the Inspector cleared his throat which mad the chatter die down instantly, before he continued to talk. "It has been determined that Mr Atkinson committed suicide on Frida 13th November, of course this is a devastating tragedy however since this is a case of suicide there will not be any police involvements."

This piece of information made me smirk. No police to get in the way of our investigation. This meant Rosa and I could detect without being interrupted. I didn't pay much attention to the rest of the assembly, I found daydreaming possibilities of what could happen on our case much more exciting. A sharp nudge in the rib brought me back to Earth, it was Rosa indicating that we could leave the assembly hall. We left arm in arm and headed straight to the library so we could discuss the latest news. We sat down at a table hidden amongst the bookshelves and started to talk.

"So, the police are not getting involved, this makes our investigation a lot easier" Rosalind whispered

"Yes indeed, our first job as detectives should be to-" I responded however we were interrupted by Alexander

"Are you guys trying to find out what happened to Mr Atkinson, I personally don't think it was suicide either,"

I turned red at the sound of his voice (gosh, why did I have to get so embarrassed, I make it so obvious that I like him)

"Must you interrupt all of our conversations" Rosa sighed irritably.

"Sorry, I just wanted to see if I could join you in your investigations, after all you might need someone to observe the teachers who teach the boys" Alexander stated.

To be fair he had a good point, even though none of the teachers we saw on Friday (other than Mr Atkinson) taught the 'boys only' subjects, it wouldn't hurt to have an extra pair of eyes and ears plus I would get to spend more time with Alexander. Rosa looked like she was about to say something rude however she stopped herself and after I flashed my puppy eyes at her she said, albeit with a slightly annoyed tone, "Well, I suppose however you must listen to everything we say, you cannot tell anyone, and you must treat my best friend right."

Alexander went a tiny bit pink at that last part however even though his face held an unreadable expression on his face he grinned "great let's get started"