We didn’t talk much on the journey back to the school. Singh was lost in his thoughts, and whenever I tried to engage him in conversation his replies were limp and distracted, so eventually I gave up. Shortly before we got there, an ambulance raced past us, lights flashing and siren wailing.

As we pulled up at the gates, we saw the ambulance parked outside the residence and my heart dropped into my stomach. Had something happened to one of the students?

‘What’s going on?’ Singh asked the first person we could find, Jess Farriday. She had tears in her eyes as she turned to me and signed.

It’s Mike. He’s been attacked.

‘Mike Lowther?’ Singh checked. ‘Attacked how?’

Someone stabbed him, she replied, sniffing as a tear rolled down her face. I came to find him in the residence, and he was just lying there on the floor in the library.

‘But he’s alive?’ Singh asked.

She nodded. I got Karen in the office to call 999.

Singh went over to the ambulance to see what was going on, and a moment later two paramedics emerged from the residence with Mike on a trolley. They rushed him into the ambulance, one of them then getting into the driving seat while the other talked to Singh, before shutting the doors and leaving.

I stood next to Jess and watched the scene unfold, the irony not lost on me; both of us were Mike’s ex-girlfriends, but I couldn’t conjure the tears that Jess was still shedding. A treacherous thought in the back of my mind said maybe Mike had brought it on himself somehow, that he’d been attacked because he’d pissed off the wrong person. I felt a bit guilty for suspecting him of murdering Steve and Saul, but this attack surely meant he was innocent.

Singh came back to us and looked at Jess. ‘Do you mind answering a couple of questions?’

She shook her head. Was this the same person who killed Steve and Saul?

‘I don’t know at the moment. Mr Lowther was conscious but confused, so I don’t know if he’ll be able to tell us who did this.’

A strange look flashed across Jess’s face but I couldn’t decipher it.

Why would someone attack Mike? she asked.

‘That’s something I wanted to ask you. Do you know of anyone who would want to?’

She shook her head, but she didn’t look at Singh as she did. Instead she stared at me.

Mike went out with you, too. Didn’t he? Her stare was accusing. He told me about it the other night, how he still loves you but you won’t even talk to him.

Not this again. ‘What has that got to do with anything?’ I asked, speaking and signing at the same time.