I could see the fear on her face was genuine, and I was suddenly glad that someone cared so much for these kids. Living in a children’s home must be a difficult way to grow up, especially when it was also your school, so you never had a break from either. For Leon, having been through such a traumatic event with the death of his mum, I imagined it was vitally important for him to know that there were people here who cared deeply about what happened to him. But how well did Sasha really know him?

I wanted to ask her more about her work, but the door opened and DS Singh stuck his head around it.

‘Paige, would you mind coming back, please? We’ve just received some new information.’

Wondering what it could be, I told Sasha what was happening and she nodded. Nice to chat with you.

As I left the room I glanced back, to see Sasha watching me with a thoughtful look on her face.

Chapter 14

‘This is our BSL interpreter, Paige Northwood,’ Singh told the woman sitting in front of us. We hadn’t interviewed Jessica Farriday so far, because she hadn’t been in school until today. I smiled and interpreted Singh’s introduction.

Northwood? she asked. Are you related to Anna Northwood?

She’s my sister, I replied with a nod.

We went to school together. How sad is that? I trained as a teacher then came back to the same school. She gave a half-hearted laugh, then her eyes filled with tears. Her face was already red and puffy, so I assumed these weren’t the first tears of the day. Her black hair was pulled back into a high ponytail, and she wore a dark blue tracksuit with the school’s crest on it.

‘Thank you for coming to speak to us, Miss Farriday,’ Singh said. ‘We’d like to ask you a few questions about Steve Wilkinson, if that’s okay?’

Jessica nodded, picking at a nail that was already bitten down to the fingertip.

‘You seem to be very distressed about his death,’ Forest said, and I winced slightly at her harsh tone of voice. What was the new information they’d received?

The PE teacher smiled sadly. I suppose there’s no point in trying to keep it secret now. Steve and I had been seeing each other for a couple of months.

Ah, I thought. That was what the detectives had found out.