The atmosphere in the room felt suddenly heavy as Anna and I took in her words. Stunned by this potential angle, I realised something that made my blood run cold – if Leon had seen Steve’s killer, the police weren’t the only ones desperately looking for him.

Chapter 18

As I drove home, my mind was whirring. Anna was almost quivering, and I could tell she desperately wanted to sit down and start going through theories and suspects, but I was dreading it. The last time that had happened, my sister had crossed paths with a murderer and was lucky to still be alive.

I was glad of the icy weather, because it gave me an excuse to drive slowly, and it took us nearly an hour to get home. As soon as we were inside, Anna pulled off her coat and went to get a notebook. I was reminded of the wall of sticky notes she’d gathered after Lexi was killed, the piles of information she’d got from me or other people in the Deaf community.

No, I told her. We can’t do this again.

She rolled her eyes at me. I’m not going to go haring off without you, not this time. I learnt my lesson, okay?

I didn’t believe her, but I knew this wasn’t an argument I was going to win.

Do you think the video of Bradley and Courtney could be connected to Leon disappearing? she asked.

That depends, I replied. If Leon was the one who filmed them, then we have to consider the possibility that Bradley and Courtney found out and were bent on getting revenge. I thought about what I’d seen of the two students so far: they were practically inseparable, and if Bradley was highly protective of his brother it made sense that he’d behave the same way for his girlfriend. He wasn’t fully in control of the aggression that bubbled away under the surface; I’d witnessed that for myself this week.

They couldn’t have kidnapped him, though, Anna pointed out. Where would they put him? If he was still somewhere in the park he would have been found by now, even with the snow.

Unless they were working with someone else? I suggested, but I knew it was far-fetched even as I said it.

How are a couple of teenagers in a residential school going to find someone to help them kidnap another teenager and not leave a trace? Anna asked, rightly sceptical.

Okay, we’ll rule that out, I conceded.

Could one of the teachers have accused Leon of making the video, so he ran away? she suggested.

I let out a long breath, knowing I couldn’t give her too many details about the investigation. It’s possible. That’s something Forest and Singh will be looking into, I’m sure.