Spy on Mrs Oversight

You’ve still got a few minutes before class starts. And anyway, it’s the Upper Sixth ‘A’ Stream. You can leave them alone for a few minutes without them causing trouble.

You can’t help but sneak into the storage room next to Mrs Oversight’s office. You can hear the conversation.

“Father Norris is trying to give an assembly again. I’m worried. This time even managed to recruit Mr Smith to help.”

“How did he get involved?”

“I don’t know. But it shows he’s getting pushier. We need to get him under control.”

“We had him under control. Until she destroyed the controls. We need to get them reinstalled.”

“And that requires Father Norris. Do you think he’s deliberately failing?”

“No, I’ve always doubted his ability. I just think he can’t do it. Maybe if you gave him an incentive, told him he reinscribes the controls correctly, you’ll let him speak. I mean, he’s not dangerous to our girls. Even the youngest are older than he likes.”

“But you know what he’s doing. If he can get us to accept him, then the junior schools might accept him. They follow our lead. That’s what he wants.”

“But if he reinstates the controls, he becomes harmless again. Gives him an incentive. Think about it. How could we be so blind to let her in, let her destroy everything? Speaking of her, I hear Mr Altobello visited. Has he found her?”

“No.”

“Then why was he here?”

“You heard what happened last week at the leisure centre. Several of his men harassed Miss Coventry, Miss Speed, Miss De Gaulle and Mrs Mano. He wanted to make amends. The three men who did it are now paying reparations to the school by working as groundskeepers for the rest of the term.”

“Is that safe?”

“He’s given his word. Promised they won’t interact with the staff and students. Doing the manual labour needed as far from us as possible.”

“He gave his word he’d find her. And that hasn’t happened. And this trouble at the leisure centre, that’s because of what she did. You know that. The controls are fading. It’s only going to get worse. Everything our ancestors did, undone by her.”

“I know. But he wanted to make amends. I believe him.”

“That doesn’t matter. The controls are going. You’re not from here. You don’t know how it is when controls are loosened. Lionel and my first year of marriage was… You can imagine. We were no longer under the controls. We went a bit mad. It’s happening to everyone, except they’re not married, they don’t have a moral out. They will succumb to an immoral one.”

“All the more reason to keep those whose urges are illegal out of temptation. I’m worried Father Norris has some control over Mr Smith. You need to keep an eye on him. He’s a risk already, with the controls gone. We can’t have him allying with the priest.”

“I’ll see what I can do. Now I have a lesson to go to.”

You wait until you hear Dr Stricture leave, before sneaking out of the storeroom