She spreads gossip about everyone, whether it’s true or not. He looked up at Sasha. I’m sorry, but it’s true. I can’t imagine her keeping something like that to herself. She’s … He paused for a moment and pulled a face, as if trying to find the best way to word something. Cassie isn’t very popular, which means she doesn’t have much influence. If she was spreading something trying to get people to pile onto Leon, they’d probably be pretty sympathetic instead. This is a small school, and we kind of have to stick together.

‘If Leon was struggling with something, who do you think he would have gone to for support?’ Singh asked, changing tack slightly.

Maybe Mr Wilkinson, Bradley replied. I know he helped him with some of his science work when he was getting really stuck with it. He tutored Leon after school for a couple of weeks, maybe three, until he was really sure of the topics we were on at the time. But then Leon decided he didn’t need the help any more and stopped the sessions. I think he gets on well with Miss Farriday too, so maybe he would have talked to her?

I remembered Liz Marcek telling the detectives about Steve helping Leon with his homework, and I wondered if there was more to it. Why had Leon stopped his sessions? Was it just because he didn’t need them any more, or had something else happened?

‘Thanks Bradley,’ Singh was saying. ‘Is there anything else you’ve thought of that Leon said or did on Friday that might help us?’

The boy shook his head, and the detectives dismissed him.

‘So, we still have no idea what might have happened to make Leon leave the cabin that night,’ Singh said.

‘Being gay makes him more of a target for bullying,’ Forest pointed out. ‘There could have been something more going on between Bradley and Leon. We only have his word for it that they’d put the animosity behind them.’

‘He seemed pretty credible to me,’ Singh replied, ‘but you’re right, it’s still a possibility that Bradley or someone else made Leon feel so uncomfortable that he ran away. Though in such a close-knit group of students you would have thought that the staff would have noticed something that serious.’

I had been signing all of this for Sasha, as she was still in the room.

Teenagers can be very secretive, she told them, interrupting. But Leon has been through a lot in his life and he’s a resilient young man. For it to get bad enough for him to run away, I think that level of bullying would have been picked up.

Forest nodded. ‘We won’t rule anything out just yet, but we need to be considering other motives as well. Right, we need to find Mike Lowther and speak to him. Paige, you can take a break.’