I didn’t know what to make of this group of kids. They were all in care, which suggested they all had difficult backgrounds, and who knows what sort of memories this situation might be bringing up for some of them. Still, there was something strange about the way they’d been behaving, as if they were only giving the detectives the answers they thought they wanted. Bradley and Courtney were clearly close, maybe not just friends, and Sasha had told us how protective he was of Kian, so where did that leave Cassie?

My thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. A tall black man stood there, his head ducked slightly as if he were trying to make himself look smaller.

Hi Saul, Sasha signed with a smile.

He nodded at her, then looked awkwardly at the two detectives, but didn’t say anything.

This is Saul Achembe, the school’s IT teacher, Sasha explained.

‘I’m on speed dial for the residential kids in case the wifi goes down,’ he joked, then suppressed his smile. ‘I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be making jokes under the circumstances. Liz said you needed some things from me, access to Leon and Steve’s accounts.’

‘Yes please,’ Singh replied. ‘We’re looking at Leon’s social media, but we’d like to see his internet history as well, see if there’s anything he’s been accessing through the school networks that could help our investigation.’

‘I’ll help in any way I can. Do you need me to access Leon’s account for you?’

Forest stood up. ‘I’ll go and see if the tech guy has arrived. You can give him access and he can download what we need for now.’ She turned to Singh. ‘I’ll meet you at the car.’

Saul nodded and stood back to let Forest leave the room first.

When we left the residence, Sasha said her goodbyes and crossed back over to the main building, along with Forest and Saul, whilst Singh and I went to the car park. A fresh dusting of snow had fallen while we’d been inside, and I could clearly see a trail of footprints leading up to my car, despite the scuff marks that showed some effort to conceal them. Had someone been trying to see inside? I looked around, my heart in my throat, but whoever it had been was long gone.

Fifteen hours before the murder