‘Are these what you’re looking for?’ he asked, holding up a notebook in each hand. Renshaw took the one with flowers while Maggie flicked through the football one.

‘Imogen told me Byford found these in Benji’s room,’ Maggie admitted. ‘I was going to give him a chance to explain himself before I told you.’

Renshaw shot her a look that made it clear how unimpressed she was at Maggie not telling her sooner.

‘What’s in that one?’

‘It’s a story by the looks of things,’ said Maggie, reading on.

The writing was clearly that of a child, a spidery, lopsided scrawl, and the story about a boy called Leo who sneaked out of his house at night because he was a secret spy. On the evening the story was set Leo came across a man shoving a body into the ground. The man was tall, with ‘a grin that showed his teeth like a wolf’ and a round, shiny head like a skeleton’s. It wasn’t the most coherent piece of creative writing she’d ever read, but instantly Maggie knew it might be crucial and she relayed the story to Renshaw and the others.

‘Is it dated?’ Burton asked.

‘Sadly, no.’

Nathan chimed in. ‘So, do we think it’s a work of fiction, or is it Benji’s account of seeing someone bury a body in the grounds at Rushbrooke masquerading as fiction?’

They all looked at each other as the prospect of it being the latter sank in.

‘We should ask Poppy and the rest of his classmates if he mentioned anything about seeing a body, even as a made-up story,’ said Burton. ‘Worth checking with his mum too.’

‘Yes, let’s,’ said Renshaw. ‘Nathan, can you do the kids?’

He nodded. ‘I’ve got email addresses and phone numbers for all the parents now.’

‘Good.’ Renshaw flicked through the pages of the flowered notebook. ‘This one’s just pages of phone numbers with random letters after them.’

‘Imogen thinks Benji must’ve found the notebook somewhere and was trying to crack the code. He fancied himself as a spy, hence the story he wrote,’ said Maggie.

Burton peered over Renshaw’s shoulder.

‘It’s code, but not like you think. I’ve seen this before, on another case. The letters next to the phone numbers denote the person’s sexual preferences – what you’ve got there is a prostitute’s little black book.’

Renshaw looked baffled. ‘Wouldn’t it be simpler to put the client’s initials down next to their number to remind you who they are?’

‘You’d think, but these girls aren’t stupid. If their clients are important people they’re going to be careful not to write their names down anywhere,’ explained Burton. ‘For their sakes as much as their clients’.’