‘These good people don’t believe you’re a fit and proper person to be near children. It’s a disgrace,’ – his voice lifted angrily –, ‘a total disgrace that you’re allowed to remain at school!’

‘Shame on you!’ shouted a parent.

He grabbed a man and woman from the crowd and pushed them forward. Karin was shocked to recognize Lucas’s parents.

‘Here’s a mum and dad who trusted you with the safety of their son.’

The man and woman glared at Karin. Tears bulged in the mother’s eyes, her voice cracked. ‘Please tell us where he is.’

‘I don’t know.’ Karin’s voice was faint. ‘I swear.’

‘What have you done with him?’ said the father, and his despair sent angry murmurs through the mob.

Jim spoke directly to the camera. ‘I’ve always said there was something not right about the way my sister died, but nobody listened, and now look what’s happened.’ The parents jeered. ‘Because this woman, whom my sister loved and trusted, has never told the world what happened between her and Swann. She’s not a fit and proper person to be around children!’

The crowd surged. Karin was jostled, someone shouted in her face. She stumbled and was about to fall when a hand grabbed her arm and pulled her through the angry mob. The headmaster pushed everyone out of the way, clearing a path for her towards the school gates. The parents followed, hissing, snarling, shoving, until the gates opened with a buzz and Karin was pushed inside. They clanged shut behind her and the headmaster led her across the playground – pupils stared out of the windows at what was happening – and into the building.

She sat shaking on the sofa in his office while he went to fetch her a glass of water. Karin felt for her phone in her back pocket and saw that another message had arrived:

i miss u

♥

BeXxx

She tapped a response with shaking hands:

Please, who are you??

Xx

Karin waited for the circles to pulsate at the bottom of the screen.

‘You know what I’m going to say.’ The headmaster returned to the room with a glass of water, and she quickly put her phone away. ‘It’s unwise for you to continue in your job for the time being. Your presence is causing considerable disruption.’

‘You can’t believe that I had anything to do with Lucas’s disappearance?’

‘Of course not. Karin, you’re the same excellent teacher you always were, but right now you’re a flashpoint. We can’t have that kind of behaviour outside the gates every day. I want to invite the media when we say a prayer for Lucas in tomorrow morning’s assembly, but—’

‘I want to be there,’ she insisted.

‘The cameras will all be trained on you.’