The Secret Place

Detective Stephen Moran is surprised to receive a visitor just as he arrives at work: Holly Mackey, the daughter of his colleague Frank. A few years ago, Holly was the main witness in a murder case, and Stephen worked closely with her. She has grown up a little since then, and he notes her posh school uniform, serious voice, and observant gaze. She tells him that she has something to give him, and he ushers her into a conference room.

Holly explains that one year ago at St. Kilda’s, the Catholic boarding school that she attends, the nuns found a body on the grounds: Chris Harper, a student at Colm’s, the neighboring boys’ school. Holly hands Stephen an envelope and describes a bulletin board at St. Kilda’s called the “Secret Place,” where students can post anonymous notes in order to unburden themselves. Someone posted a postcard made from a photograph of Chris, along with a note saying, “I know who killed him” (10). Because the note is printed, there is no handwriting to analyze in order to find out who created it. Stephen is pleased to see that Holly, who has absorbed some of her father’s on-the-job-knowledge, has taken care not to get her fingerprints on it. He bags the evidence and takes an official statement.

Stephen immediately researches the case of Chris’s murder and learns that Antoinette Conway is the lead detective. In a male-dominated world where equality is only “paper-deep,” Antoinette has done well for herself and is widely respected as a skillful detective, even though the men in her department dislike her assertive personality. Stephen and Antoinette went through school together, and he respects her. They were both out of uniform within a few years: Antoinette focused on murder cases, while Stephen dedicated his time to cold cases. Like Stephen, Antoinette grew up in Dublin’s inner city. Stephen would love to move from cold cases to murder investigations and decides to bring her the note in person instead of merely sending it to her office. When he hands her the note and explains, she tells him that she interviewed Holly a few years ago and got nowhere. Stephen says that he and Holly have built up a rapport, and he believes that he can convince Holly and her friends to talk about Chris’s murder. Antoinette agrees to allow Stephen onto the case on a provisional basis, and the two head to St. Kilda’s.

The narrative shifts to the past to describe Holly and her friends’ experiences during their first week at St. Kilda’s. At this point in time, everything feels new to best friends Holly, Julia, Selena, and Becca. The girls always stay together, and during mealtimes, they observe the loud and obnoxious behavior of a rival clique, dubbed the “Daleks,” consisting of girls named Joanne, Orla, Gemma, and Alison. There is usually friction between the two groups of girls.

At Colm’s, the neighboring boys’ school, the male boarders have also returned to their classes. Chris Harper arranges his belongings in his dorm room and heads down to eat. Although he does not yet know it, he has only a few months left to live.

Back at St. Kilda’s, Selena, Becca, Holly, and Julia explore hidden paths and secluded places on the school grounds. Each clique of girls has specific secret places, and there is an unspoken agreement that members of one clique will not encroach on the other clique’s territory. The girls sit down in their grassy cypress glade and discuss the opening day’s remarks. They all agree that the matron’s speech was elitist, but Julia points out that St. Kilda’s is a better school than most. Selena’s father lives on a commune, and Holly’s father is a working-class police officer, so they are both more aware of the school’s upper-class status. Becca, whose parents work in Dubai and who was brought to school by the housekeeper, mostly stays silent during this conversation about social class.

On the way to St. Kilda’s, Stephen and Antoinette discuss the case. By all accounts, Chris was a good student who only partied occasionally and was generally well-liked. Antoinette says that another girl, Joanne, claimed that Chris and Selena were secretly dating when he died. Selena and her friends denied this, as did Chris’s friends, but when his body was found, he had a condom in his pocket and a small bouquet of flowers that he’d picked on the school grounds. Antoinette doesn’t believe Joanne’s story because she is sure that Joanne was romantically interested in Chris and is now implicating Selena out of jealousy. Joanne’s crowd is considered to be the “cool” group at the boarding school, but Antoinette characterizes Joanne as malicious and manipulative. Stephen asks if the murderer could have been female, and Antoinette answers in the affirmative; the murder weapon was a garden hoe, and anyone could have wielded it with enough force to crack Chris’s skull.

When they arrive at the school, Antoinette shows Stephen around the grounds. The girls and the nuns each have separate quarters. The girls’ dorm is locked at night, but various staff members have keys. Last year, the nurse’s key went missing. Many of the girls, including members of Joanne’s and Selena’s cliques, had accessed the nurse’s office, but neither the school staff nor the police were able to figure out who originally stole the key.

The two detectives discuss the particulars of the case. They both believe that the murderer had to have been someone at the school; this means that at least a few of the girls must know more than they are admitting to.

The narrative shifts to the earlier timeline. It is the beginning of October, and Chris and some of his friends are at the Court (the local shopping mall). The girls from St. Kilda’s are also there, chatting among themselves. However, Becca is alone in her dislike of the mall. She doesn’t understand why her peers are so excited about such a “crappy” shopping center. As Becca reluctantly goes along with the crowd, she ruminates on how powerful a role conformity plays in her life. She reflects that teen girls emphasize conformity, and she is bothered by the fact that they must all wear the same clothing, hairstyles, and shoes or risk social ostracization. Suddenly, her friends fall silent, and Becca realizes that they are eavesdropping on Joanne, Orla, Gemma, and Alison, who are discussing the Colm’s boys. Joanne is displaying her familiar mix of faux kindness and cruelty. Holly’s group knows that Joanne rules her own clique with an iron fist, asserting her dominance whenever she can. Today, she is mocking Orla, one of her closest friends, in order to appear more sophisticated in front of the boys.

In the present, Antoinette and Stephen make their way to the office of the school’s headmistress, Aileen McKenna, a stern, serious woman who is used to getting her way. The detectives ask Ms. McKenna about the Secret Place, the bulletin board on which Holly found the note that she brought to Stephen. Ms. McKenna explains that the girls need a safe outlet for their troubles, so she set up the bulletin board to counteract the girls’ creation of a cruel gossip website that devolved into an unchecked space for bullying. She argues that the board gives the girls a place to vent their frustrations—one that remains visible to staff and gives them a window into the girls’ lives. She asserts that even the nastier postings on the board give the staff insights into which students are bullying whom. The board is monitored regularly, and the detectives ask if she might know which students had access to the board around the time when Holly found the note. She explains that the note was found after school hours; there will be a list of girls who were using the space.

The narrative shifts to the past. Behind the Court is an empty, disused field where adolescents gather to socialize, drink, smoke, and sometimes have sex. The tall, unkempt weeds hide the area from the mall. Today, everyone is gathered there, including Chris, Joanne’s clique, and Holly’s group. Julia goes to make out with James, one of Chris’s classmates. Julia doesn’t like James, but she sees James as desirable because kissing him will give her social capital. Julia is also motivated by her awareness of Joanne’s jealousy over the fact that James chose Julia over her. The two girls’ respective cliques dislike each other, and Julia loathes Joanne in particular.

Holly and Becca muse that life must have been easier back when no one had sex before marriage, but Selena points out that society was so strict in those days that unwed, pregnant girls and women were whisked away to the Magdalene laundries and hidden from society. She argues that girls and women now have more freedom and better choices. Suddenly, Chris does a backflip, and everyone turns to watch.