‘Is someone there?’ I said, then felt embarrassed at my own idiocy. I turned around again and was about to ring the bell for the residence when I noticed a set of footprints leading around the side of the building. I followed them, and discovered they stopped outside one of the students’ bedroom windows. Someone had been standing here not very long ago. As I turned to go inside, something else caught my eye – something glinting in the snow, reflecting light from one of the windows. I bent down to pick it up and saw that it was a charm bracelet.

My heart hammering, I slid back round to the front door and waited for someone to let me in.

‘What’s wrong?’ Singh asked as soon as he saw my face.

I held up my hand to show him the bracelet but didn’t speak, trying to work out which room the footprints stopped outside. Going through the communal area, I walked down the girls’ corridor and stopped outside a door. Motioning to Singh to join me, I knocked on the door.

‘What?’ Courtney asked as she poked her head around her door.

‘Courtney, did someone come to your window a little while ago?’ I asked.

‘My window?’

‘Yes.’

Courtney shook her head, her eyes wide and innocent. ‘No. I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘Can we come in?’

The girl looked reluctant, but held her door open for us to squeeze past her. I pulled her curtains aside and checked outside; I was right. Beneath the window were the footprints I’d seen, with mine behind them.

‘Someone was standing here,’ I muttered to Singh, hoping Courtney couldn’t hear me. ‘I saw the footprints.’

‘Did you see anyone outside?’

I shook my head, and Singh continued looking out of the window for a few moments. I still had the bracelet in my hand, and I showed it to Courtney.

‘I’ve been looking for that,’ she said, and moved to take it from me, but I pulled my hand away.

‘Was that charm yours? The one with the C on it?’ I asked.

She blushed scarlet, and nodded. ‘Bradley and I went out that night, to the pavilion. We don’t get time alone together normally. I didn’t want to get into trouble.’

Singh took the bracelet from me. ‘Why was it outside your window?’

Courtney shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I haven’t been able to find it since we came back from the trip. I thought I’d lost it there.’

‘When were you in the pavilion?’ Singh asked her, his expression stern.

‘Just after midnight. Bradley and I waited until the others were asleep, then we snuck out.’

Singh nodded, and thought for a moment. ‘What about Leon? Was he still in bed when Bradley left?’

Courtney nodded. ‘Bradley told me he and Kian were asleep, so he must have still been there.’