‘What’s so funny?’

‘Oh, nothing,’ he said innocently.

Winkler wondered if Danny had broken any laws recently and if he could find an excuse to arrest him and give him a proper scare.

Hazel pressed on. ‘We need to talk to you about a very serious matter. We have learned that an . . . explicit video may have been made by some students here.’

Danny grinned. ‘The St John’s porno? Yeah, everyone’s seen it. It’s a bit vanilla for my tastes but still pretty cool.’

Vanilla? Winkler wondered if this kid had read his mind.

Hazel had gone white. ‘Everyone’s seen it?’

‘Yeah. Well, I guess there are a few totally lame kids who’ve missed it but everyone I know has watched it. Curtis was showing it to everyone on his phone at lunchtime.’

‘Today?’ Winkler asked.

‘Nah, a few days ago. It’s old news now.’

‘Do you know who the kids in the video are?’

Danny’s eyes widened. ‘No! It’s a total mystery. Nobody knows. I mean, there have been a lot of guesses and accusations going around. James Peach reckons the girl is India Ripley, said he recognized the mole on her bum. But I’m sure he’s bull – I mean lying.’

‘And do you know who made the video?’

He squirmed. ‘I don’t want to grass no-one up.’

‘It’s alright, Danny,’ Winkler said. ‘We know who made it. How did you hear about it?’

‘It just kind of went round school. Viral, you know? There was a Facebook group that you had to ask to join, and once you were approved you could get the link. But everyone had the link anyway.’

‘And can you remember when you found out about it?’

He scratched his chin. ‘Yeah, it must have been last weekend. It went live on Sunday night. I remember because I was round Jack’s and we watched it together. Not in a gay way, you understand.’

‘Yes, Danny,’ Hazel sighed.

Winkler smiled at him. So it appeared that the video had been uploaded and sent out on the same night – the night Frankie had disappeared.

This was great. Because if Alice and Larry had been busy messing around with online videos and sharing them with their mates at the time Frankie had vanished, there was no way they would have had time to do anything else. And it also explained why they had been so reluctant to confess to Larry’s presence at Alice’s house and why they had done a runner now. It was because they didn’t want any adults to know about the flesh flick.

‘One last question,’ Winkler said. ‘Do you know anyone who calls herself Hattie Styles?’

Danny laughed. ‘Yeah – she’s this mental Year Ten girl, completely obsessed with 1D. Her real name is Emily Foggett-Hayes.’

‘And do you know any reason why she might have it in for Alice Philips?’

‘Alice? Why do you ask that?’