As I approached, I realised it was Mike, and the student was Cassie. They were signing frantically to one another, and I could see by the expression on her face that she was giving him some attitude.

‘Is everything okay?’ I asked when I got close enough for Mike to hear me.

He whirled around. ‘Paige. What do you want?’

‘I saw you talking and I wondered why Cassie was out of class.’ I could see something flaring in his eyes as I spoke – was it fear or anger? Behind him, Cassie took a step back and leant against the wall. Her eyes were wide, but I thought it was with interest in our argument rather than fear.

‘That’s between me and my student.’

I didn’t speak for a minute, wondering what to do. I had absolutely no authority in this place, and yet something felt wrong, wrong enough for me to want to do something about it.

‘You can go now, thank you,’ Mike said to me, his voice a low warning rumble, but I ignored it and reached past him to Cassie. As I did, my arm brushed his and I felt a burning sensation in my scar.

Cassie, come with me, I signed. Miss Marcek wants to speak to you.

The girl’s eyes lit up. She slipped past Mike and walked towards me, waving goodbye to him as she went. I walked back across the car park with Cassie, not knowing what I was going to say when we reached the deputy head’s office. Had I done the right thing? Or had I just interfered where it wasn’t my place, and made my ex angry unnecessarily?

Chapter 23

I took Cassie inside and looked around for someone to escort her back to class. Liz Marcek was standing in the lobby having a discussion with one of the teachers.

Cassie, why are you out of class? she asked the girl, ignoring me.

Sorry, Miss Marcek, I’m going now.

The deputy head signed something to the teacher, then turned back to Cassie. Come on, I’ll walk with you.

They both walked away from me without her asking for any explanation as to why I had been with Cassie or where we’d been. I was glad I didn’t have to explain, but I was concerned that the deputy head hadn’t even asked.

As I walked back to the meeting room, I wondered if I’d done the right thing. I told myself I should tell Singh what I’d seen, but I hadn’t witnessed anything illegal or untoward. Mike wasn’t the one who had been messaging students, that was Steve, and he was dead.