I sat in stunned silence for a moment. Did anyone at Lincoln School for the Deaf know how cruel Steve could be? Could he have done something that terrible again, leading to his death?

We pulled into the school car park, and Singh turned off the engine but didn’t get out for a moment.

‘It wasn’t entirely clear whether Steve left of his own accord, to explore a new role, or if he’d been pushed out eventually by the governors. If he’d been here much longer, I expect he would have ended up behaving in the same way, but the school was in need of a head teacher, so they might not have looked too closely at his history.’

Liz Marcek was waiting for us when we walked in.

I don’t have a lot of time for you this morning, she told Singh. Can it wait?

‘I’m afraid not,’ he replied with a frown.

Fine, fine. She reluctantly led us into her office, where she sat down behind her desk rather than at the low table where we’d previously talked.

‘Miss Marcek, can I ask why you didn’t see fit to tell us the real reason behind Jane Villiers’ retirement?’

For a moment Liz sat motionless, like a deer faced with a poacher’s lamp. She clasped her hands together and looked down at her desk, and when she looked up her face was noticeably paler.

To be honest, I didn’t want it to end up in the newspapers, she replied eventually, looking defeated. When it happened, we managed to keep it quiet, and I thought we’d escaped with the school’s reputation intact. Now suddenly there are reports about a missing student and a murdered teacher, and I’d thought the worst thing that could happen to this school would be some journalist finding out about underage students having sex in a classroom. As it is I’m already trying to calm parents’ fears about their children’s safety. Can you imagine the uproar if that got out as well?

‘While I understand your concerns, there’s a big difference between telling a journalist and telling the police.’

How was I to know it wouldn’t get out? she asked indignantly.

Singh folded his arms, tension showing in the rigidity of his jawline, and I could tell he was working hard to hold himself in check. ‘We have procedures to follow in any investigation regarding which information is released to the public. Unless we felt it was in the public interest to know we wouldn’t have shared it. It wasn’t your place to decide whether or not we needed this information. There could be a connection to Leon’s disappearance and the video that was made of Bradley and Courtney, and we’ve wasted valuable time because you were more concerned about the school’s reputation than you were with us finding a missing, vulnerable child.’