Slowly, the sobbing subsided. Between them, Elinor and Paula helped him into a seat while the teacher watched helplessly. ‘We’re not supposed to touch them,’ she muttered to Paula, who managed to restrain herself. Elinor sat on the arm of the chair, a hand on Torin’s shoulder.

He looked up at Paula, eyes swollen, cheeks wet with tears, lips trembling. ‘What happened?’

She chose her words carefully. ‘Someone took her against her will, Torin. And then he killed her. I’m so very sorry.’

‘Did he hurt her? Was it over quick? Did she suffer?’

The first thing they always wanted to know. With murder, you couldn’t lie because the details would eventually come out in court and they wouldn’t thank you for misguided attempts to spare them. ‘I won’t lie to you, Torin. He did hurt her. But I don’t think she was in pain for long.’

His face twisted with the struggle not to crack up again. ‘Thank you,’ he stammered. ‘For being honest. Did he – Did he interfere with her?’

The other thing they always wanted to know. This was, for some reason, the place where you had to let them down easy, without actually lying. ‘We don’t know at this point,’ Paula said.

Torin started shivering, like a dog left out in winter rain. ‘I d-d-d-don’t know what to do,’ he moaned through chattering teeth. ‘What about the funeral? Who sorts all that out?’

‘Come home to ours,’ Elinor said. ‘Your auntie Rachel will be here this afternoon.’

‘Perhaps your form teacher could collect your bag and your coat?’ Paula said firmly. The teacher looked dubious but left the room anyway. Paula followed her out into the hallway. ‘He’s been staying with us,’ she said. ‘Elinor’s a doctor. She worked with his mum at Bradfield Cross. We’ll take care of him.’

‘Shouldn’t you contact social services? He’s only fourteen.’

‘You think he’d be better off in emergency care?’ Paula shook her head in bewilderment. ‘Listen, in my line of work, I see too many vulnerable kids screwed up by the so-called care system. Let’s see what happens when his aunt gets here. Nobody’ll get on your case for leaving him in the hands of a cop and a doctor, for heaven’s sake.’

‘There’s no need to be like that,’ the woman said huffily. ‘We have a duty of care here.’