In the Light of Madness Read Online Free Page A

pocket.
They watched the boy swagger out, leaving the door swinging wide open behind him.
“Arrogant arse,” Lennox muttered.
“Not all kids are like him.”
“I know that, but I fear my two are going to turn into his type.” He looked down at his shoes and pursed his lips.
By the time they had interviewed the entire twenty-nine surly or overly animated students in Colin Pollock’s form, they were exhausted and no closer to discovering more about the two boys, except that they appeared to be misfits and not well liked.
“I think we need to re-visit Tom’s parents. They may be more emotionally stable to talk now,” Lennox said.
Somehow, Wednesday doubted that. The Dolby’s may not welcome the police’s presence in their home, as that would make their nightmare real.
Stewart Cleveland gave them a frosty look when Lennox announced he could have his office back after showing them the inside of both boys’ lockers. They followed him towards the cloakroom area where he opened them.
Tom’s locker contained a pack of football stickers, a local map, a French dictionary and a packet of cheese and onion crisps. They bagged the contents and then moved onto Darren’s locker. There they found a smelly sports kit, some school books, and an appointment card to meet the school counsellor at the end of the week. Again, the contents were bagged to take back to the station. After giving Stewart Cleveland an evidence slip, they returned to the car.
Lennox leant forward and delved into the glove box to retrieve a packet of cigarettes. He helped himself to one and then indicated to Wednesday to help herself. She frequently toyed with the notion of quitting, but as Lennox smoked, she thought it would be near impossible.
“We need to concentrate our focus on Tom Dolby. The Giles boy smacks of a runaway teen from a hellish home.” Lennox did not look at her as he spoke.
“I hear what you’re saying, but I sense a link. A boy goes missing the same night his friend is found murdered.” Wednesday twirled strands of hair around her finger whilst she savoured the smoke.
Lennox inhaled deep into his lungs and then breathed the smoke out through the crack of the open window. “We’ve got to call in to see the reverend at the church first then we’ll go back to the Dolby’s. No point in putting it off. By the way, did you get anything from Tom’s notebooks?”
“I haven’t had time to check them. I’ll glance at them now.”
She thumbed through the dog-eared pages. Page after page she read scribbled ramblings about “eternal light,” and saw drawings of eyes placed all over the pages. She came across one page that had the word “hate” scrawled all over it. He had pressed so hard with the pencil that the word was indented on the following four pages. The other notebook contained nothing but a list of songs and a few mathematical problems that were scribbled out.
“For a young person with a seemingly normal home life, he was certainly full of anger about something.”
“Maybe the parents weren’t telling us everything about their little angel.”
“Sometimes, there’s never enough truth,” Wednesday replied as she closed the notebooks.

Chapter Four
 
Reverend George Olong placed the receiver back in the cradle before heaving a sigh. His mop of curly grey-flecked hair bounced around as he made his way to his study, where his wife, Vera, was placing a tray of mid-morning tea and biscuits on his desk.
“Something wrong?” she asked as she saw his face drain of colour.
“That was the police. Young Tom Dolby was found dead in the cemetery late last night. They’re crawling all over the grounds right now.”
He put two lumps of sugar in his teacup and slowly stirred the steaming liquid. He breathed out heavily through his flaring nostrils.
“I’ll need to visit the Dolbys and go to Markham Hall to counsel the students. This will rock the community.” Absentmindedly, he munched on a digestive biscuit whilst words of