‘I had a message from Sasha Thomas saying one of the students made a disclosure last night that she knew we needed to hear. I also need to talk to Saul Achembe; he emailed me to say there was some more information he’d found but would rather show me in person so he can talk me through the data.’

‘Sounds serious,’ I replied.

Singh nodded, and the two of us went inside. We waited for ten minutes for Liz Marcek to be free, and when she came out to greet us she looked grave.

I’ve prepared the conference room for you, she told us. Sasha is already there, with Kian and the others.

The surprise I felt was mirrored on Singh’s face. Others?

The other looked-after students, to be precise, Liz Marcek continued. Kian persuaded them to speak to you today. She looked at Singh, concern etching deep lines on her forehead. I’m very worried about how deep this is going to go. How many children did this man target?

Singh held up his hands. ‘Right now, I don’t know what’s happened or what any of these students wish to tell me. Hopefully everything will become clear soon, and we can get these children the support they need.’

We made our way to the conference room, where Sasha was sitting at one end of a table, the four students around it. Kian looked up when we came in, his face radiating worry. Bradley sat next to him and he put a reassuring arm around his brother. Courtney was playing with her phone, the one in the sparkly case, and Cassie was staring out of the window.

‘Good morning,’ Singh said to all of them. ‘We understand you want to speak to us.’

Sasha looked relieved that we had arrived, and threw a look at me that was almost apologetic. When Kian spoke to me yesterday, I knew it was something you needed to know about. Then this morning, the other three said they needed to come too.

The three of us sat down and Singh looked across the table at Kian.

‘Kian, please can you tell us exactly what you told Sasha yesterday? Try to remember as much as you can.’

The boy nodded and fidgeted for a moment before he began. I’ve been messaging Joe too. We all have.

My heart dropped into my stomach. Steve had been targeting all of them?

Singh looked around at all four of the students. ‘All of you have been in touch with Joe? The same Joe that Leon was talking to?’

One by one, they all nodded, but then they looked back to Kian. Bradley nodded at him, as if giving his brother permission to continue.