Play@YSDC

”If she ain’t on de system, ‘ow’s she gettin’ paid?” said Des. ”I mean, youse are payin’ ‘er, ain’t ya? Nobody’s gonna work for free…”

Replete with Welsh tea cake, Skipper drank hot beverage happily. "Does he have a Missus then, this Short? She here in the village somewhere still?"

"The Met coppers probably already know all that of course, I can never be bothered reading the files." Skipper shrugged and looked unguilty.

"Some people do volunteer," says Jordan, "and she seems like a very giving person. I look forward to meeting her."

Des rolled her eyes. ”Two words,” she said. ”DBS checks!”

DBS = Disclosure & Barring Service - runs checks on people who work with children, vulnerable adults, etc, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disclosur ... ng_Service

Still looking at the mural, Eli asks,"How long has Mrs Evans worked here? Sorry but i didnt catch her first name."

Izzy is actually quite pleased at Des for recalling something like a DBS check, and gives her a quick smile of appreciation. It's a great shout and a good area to focus on - if the school doesn't have records on Mrs Evans in the form of those safeguarding checks, if not employee information, then they could be in a lot of trouble if an incident occurs. Like a kid vanishing from a school crossing in broad daylight. And the police are good at getting people to cooperate under threat of being found in trouble themselves...

"My colleague here is absolutely spot on. You do realise you should have valid DBS checks for all employees and volunteers, before they're allowed to work with the school in any capacity? If you don't have them in place and something happens to a student, then you could be found legally liable..."

Izzy smiles sweetly at the deputy head as she continues.

"Ideally you need to be updating these every three years, but at the minimum you should have one from when she was first employed. Or when they were first introduced, back in, oh... 2012?"

"Yes, that's a great idea!" says Jordan. "She's been working here for decades, so certainly before they started, but there should be a record. When exactly did she start here?"

Leo looks over at Des and nods. "That's a great question. How is she getting paid?" Then after Jordan mentioned working for free, he started shaking his head. Something wasn't passing the sniff test here. "I know those positions are paid in the London area, and I have to believe even in a smaller town like this, there would be some level of remuneration."

Without saying anything out loud yet, he wonders if the lollipop lady might be spectral. A friendly ghost, like Casper. Stranger things have happened in the Folly records. Now he is very curious whether she can produce a DBS.

Inside the school

""DBS check...? Pay...?

Even if you missed it earlier, it's plain to see Miss Driffield's eyes glazing over this time. It's as if your clever lines of questioning just wash over her.

“She's a lovely person... Very dedicated..."

Please make a POW roll.

The glamour here - present since you entered the town you realise - is so very strong all of a sudden. It's as if a radio, playing music in the background, has suddenly been turned up to full volume.

Lovely Mrs. Evans - it's really not worth bothering with these silly questions. You decide it's best just to leave her be - maybe buy her a nice cake for when you meet her.

----------------

Skipper - In the cafe

The old ladies shrug, more or less in unison.

"He was married to a local girl for years, but couldn't keep it in his trousers, so they reckon."

"That's right - Mary Morgan. She divorced him and went to live in Florida with the kids - so I heard anyway."

"Then he married that foreign girl - Russian or Romanian or summat, Very expensive tastes by the amount of jewellery she used to rattle around town in. She flounced off to Cardiff as soon as all this trouble started."

POW (70) 1d100

Des looked around quickly. Was she here?

Skipper grunted with amusement / sympathy between glugs of tea. "In the grand tradition of bastards - pardon my French - who make some cash then dump the poor wife for the newer, younger Russian upgrade. I hope the first wife has found some much nicer new bloke in the US. Does sound like she's better off without Short."

"Ummm, when you say the upgrade wife took off for Cardiff when the trouble started, which trouble would that be, sorry? Was it when Short went missing?"

"Is there a cake sale going on now?" asks Jordan. "I'd like to buy one for her."

POW roll (30% stat) in the office:
d%

Eli looks at his colleagues, brow furrowed. He sees Jordan with the same glazed look in his eyes as the staff and Des seemingly shaking herself as if trying to shake a feeling, a feeling he himself was feeling, like a noise or thrum in the background, trying to drown out his senses.

POW: 60%

1d100

Hard success!

Even as Izzy speaks she can tell her words are falling on deaf ears. By all accounts it's likely the deputy head is a fully competent and professional woman with all the authority that befits her position, but even if she has the records in place for every other member of staff, there likely are none for Mrs. Evans, because as far as the staff are concerned, Mrs. Evans is simply a 'nice, friendly old dear' who's been around since forever. The glamour is strong, but Izzy is a trained practitioner, and she's met river goddesses and talking foxes and half-goblins and all sorts. She's used to it by now.

"Team, we're not getting anywhere with this one. We'd be quicker knocking on every door in the town and trying to find her house that way. Or waiting until the kids finish and catching her when she's working."

As much as Izzy doesn't want to go near that crossing point again...

"Plus we need to update DS Singh. She was expecting us to check in and let her know of any developments. I don't think we need to interview everyone who was on the street now, they'll all no doubt be as blank as this one here when we mention the crossing or the lollipop lady."

Leo's eyes narrow. This is getting incredibly suspicious. His mind races as he struggles to imagine just what's going on here. He steps up between his colleagues and nods. "Yes, knocking on doors might be more helpful at this point."

Then, while he's still in the school, he does a vestigia check, dreading what he might feel.

POW (80/40) : 1d100

Sense Vestigia (60/30): 1d100

”Dere ain’t nuthin’ happenin’ ’ere,” said Des dismissively. ”Mention ‘er name an’ dey all shut down.”

"All right, let's check in with DS Singh," says Jordan.

" Yeah your probsly right, its like everyone has pre-programmed responses to any questions about her. Woukd be interesting to see if it has the same effect on everyone else in the town." Eli responds.

Izzy speaks in a lower voice, enough for her colleagues to hear without the school staff doing the same.

"The glamour's been there since we got into town, we just never noticed it until now. I think we should watch the DS very closely when we mention Mrs. Evans. See if she reacts the same way. I reckon it's affecting everyone here, and if so then finding her is going to be harder. I wasn't joking when I said going door to door, it's not exactly a big area to search after all."

”Let’s ‘ope it don’ come to dat,” grumbled Des.

An idea occurred and she pulled out her phone and looked for the local Facebook page. Finding ‘Spotted in Cwmllyn‘ she searched for “Mrs Evans”…