I looked around at the unmade bed and the clothes on the floor, and thought it could have been much worse.

‘Does he have a tablet or a laptop?’ Forest asked

No, Sasha replied, shaking her head. The school has electronics they can use for homework, but they try to limit their screen time. All of them have phones, but I assume Leon had his with him.

‘We thought the same. Liz Marcek gave us his number yesterday, and we’re set up to track the signal, but it’s been turned off,’ Singh told her.

If there’s nothing else, I think I should get the other students together before Liz gets here to talk to them, Sasha signed. I have no idea how they’re going to take this news.

She left us, and Singh started to look through drawers and shelves while Forest checked the wardrobe. I went out onto the landing, feeling awkward but not wanting to get in the way. While I waited, I had a look up the corridor. There were several rooms along here, and some more on the opposite corridor, and one was marked ‘STAFF’. I wondered if that was Mike’s room, then moved away quickly in case he came back and caught me prowling about out there.

The detectives didn’t need me, so I went back down the stairs, and looked through the glass panel in the door. To my surprise, Liz and Mike were in there with Sasha and the four students; they must have come in while we were upstairs. I would have thought the deputy head would want to wait for the detectives before she told the students about the death of their head teacher.

As the deputy signed, the four of them seemed to bunch together on the sofa. One of the girls started crying, but the older boy signed something I couldn’t see and she blinked a few times, managing to stop herself. Liz and Mike shared a brief glance, and I found myself wondering what he’d needed to talk to her about so urgently.

Is there anything any of you want to ask me, or talk about? Liz signed to the students.

The four of them looked at each other, and something passed between them silently, because they shook their heads in unison. They all seemed shocked, but I still found myself wondering if they were hiding something.

Singh and Forest came back downstairs in silence, and I was curious whether they’d found anything useful in Leon’s room. Together, we walked into the communal area, which had several sofas, a large television and a couple of games consoles. The four students stayed where they were, sitting in a line on one large sofa as if they’d been placed there. Sasha was standing behind the sofa, leaning against the wall, opposite Mike and Liz. When we entered, they all turned to look at the three of us.