Bollocks. How else would you know about … He broke off as the door swung open again. Mike stood there, his eyebrows raised when he realised all five of them were in the room.

Come on you lot, you know the rules. Girls in one room, boys in another. If you want to spend time together you do it in the communal room, not your bedrooms.

But what if one of us is gay? Cassie asked. The other four all glared at her, but she looked back with wide, innocent eyes. What? It doesn’t make sense if someone’s gay.

Mike sighed and held the door open, ushering all five of them out. Before leaving the room, Bradley grabbed Leon’s arm and held him back for a moment.

Look, I know we haven’t exactly been best mates, but I don’t want anything to happen to you. You need to be careful.

Whatever, Leon replied, shrugging Bradley off. He didn’t need advice from someone like him, especially after the things Bradley had got up to at school.

Chapter 12

Tuesday 27th November

There’s something I need to tell you.

Sasha Thomas looked a little drawn, and I wondered if she’d been sleeping poorly since Leon disappeared. It had been over seventy-two hours, and the longer he was missing, the worse his chances of being found safe.

I didn’t think it was relevant, which is why I didn’t tell you yesterday, she began. But last night I realised that I don’t know what’s relevant, and just because I don’t see any significance in it doesn’t mean it won’t be important.

‘That’s true,’ Singh replied, encouraging her to continue.

She sighed. Leon and Bradley fell out, a couple of weeks ago. It was pretty stressful for all of the residential kids in the days following.

‘Can you tell us what happened?’

I don’t know exactly what happened. They were never best friends, but they always used to get on fine, until suddenly they couldn’t stand the sight of each other. Bradley would scowl and leave the room whenever Leon walked in. It culminated in a fight.

One evening, a couple of weeks ago, Bradley just launched into Leon. He likes to come across as a tough kid, Bradley I mean, but it’s all an act. Something like that was totally out of character. Leon’s the one who’s been known to get violent, but Bradley definitely started it.

Forest leant forward slightly, frowning. ‘Other than defending himself against his father, this is the first we’ve heard about Leon being violent.’