Singh turned back to the room and began to pace up and down. I ignored him and continued to look out of the window towards the clearing, almost as if the longer I looked, the closer I got to figuring it out. Why was I so desperate to come up with an answer? I realised it was because of Singh. Even though I wasn’t a police officer, he trusted me with information about the case, and I wanted him to carry on putting that trust in me. On top of that, there was part of me that wanted to impress him. I felt my face flush slightly as I acknowledged that to myself, a slight churning feeling in the pit of my stomach, and I was glad I was still facing away from him.

I cleared my throat to bring myself back to the moment and shake these thoughts out of my head. Max was the one who had asked me out, the one I’d been enjoying dating for the past eight or nine months, and the last thing I wanted was part of my brain playing the ‘grass is greener’ game. Turning away from the window, I offered a suggestion.

‘Could he have come here after Steve’s murder?’ I asked. ‘He saw what happened, then ran and hid in here?’

Singh’s eyes lit up. ‘Of course, that’s definitely an option. We’d assumed he was here before Steve died, but there’s nothing to say he didn’t arrive after. Though that still leaves the question of where he went next.’

I turned back to the window, but stopped myself mid-movement. Something had caught my attention, a slight glint in the corner of my eye. Bending down, I tried to locate whatever it was I’d just seen. Behind me, Singh watched.

‘Here,’ I said triumphantly, pointing at the tiny object I’d found. Singh pulled a pair of latex gloves out of his pocket and carefully picked it up, holding it up to the light from the window to see it more clearly.

‘What is it?’ he asked.

‘It’s a charm, I think. From a bracelet.’

‘It’s a letter C.’

We were both silent for a moment.

‘C for Courtney, or C for Cassie?’ I asked quietly as he continued to look at the charm.

‘I don’t know,’ Singh replied, ‘but I think at least one of these kids has been lying to us.’

Chapter 10

The sky was looking heavier when I arrived at the school later that afternoon, and I kicked myself for not putting some essentials in my car like water and blankets. If it snowed again there was the possibility I could get stuck on the way home and I didn’t want to freeze to death.