‘Going back to Richardson. Last time we spoke about him, you weren’t completely honest with us. You told us you’d been worried about Ben being sucked into, quote, Callum Richardson’s secretive little clique. You said you’d seen the consequences before, and that you’d witnessed other people getting hurt, but you were reluctant to explain what you meant.’ Fleet had been consulting his notes, and now he looked up. ‘Tell me about Richard Hewitt, Father Steiner. The teacher who lost his job after being accused of sexually assaulting a pupil. I presume that was who you were referring to?’

The chaplain blinked. ‘Well … yes,’ he said. ‘I suppose I was. But as I believe I also said to you at the time—’

‘I remember what you said,’ Fleet interrupted, not even bothering to look at his notebook this time. ‘You said you had no proof. By which I presume you meant proof of Callum Richardson’s involvement in the allegations that were levelled against your colleague. And yet you knew precisely how close Richardson was to Melissa and Lance. So when Melissa Haynes came forward to claim she’d been assaulted, you immediately suspected that she was lying – and that Richardson had for some reason put her up to it.’

‘I didn’t just suspect her of lying, Detective Inspector,’ said the chaplain defensively. ‘I knew she was. Richard Hewitt was a thoroughly decent man. He put his soul into teaching. So for Melissa Haynes to fabricate some story, just for the sake of stirring up trouble …’

‘Is that what you believed she was doing? Stirring up trouble?’

‘To be honest I have no idea what would have motivated her to make up such lies. But I knew Callum Richardson was vindictive and malicious. And I knew Melissa had a difficult upbringing. Perhaps not in a conventional sense, and obviously I’m no psychoanalyst, but you only had to look at the nature of her relationship with Callum.’

‘What do you mean?’

The chaplain pursed his lips. The impression he gave was of a man wrestling with himself over whether it would be ethical for him to continue. It was the same act he’d performed last time, and Fleet, frankly, was getting tired of it.

‘What I mean, Detective Inspector, is that Melissa was suffering, as so many children at boarding school do, from intense feelings of abandonment. She craved the love of her parents. Probably of her father in particular, given the way she latched on to Callum. And he … he treated her poorly. Bullied her, you might say. Psychologically, certainly. Possibly physically, as well.’

‘Did you have evidence of this?’ Fleet asked.

‘No, I didn’t. If I had, I would have done my utmost to put a stop to it.’