A cheer went up from behind them, and Fleet guessed one of the players on the hockey pitch had scored a goal. He turned just long enough to see that not all of the pupils on the sidelines were watching the game. Several were facing Fleet’s way, and he felt their eyes on his back as he followed Harris towards the trees.

The woods were even thicker than Fleet had expected. From the moment he stepped beneath the canopy, he might almost have been in the forest on the outskirts of his home town. He shared a glance with Nicky, and he could tell she was experiencing the same sense of déjà vu he was. At least it isn’t raining, he told himself.

They walked another hundred metres or so before Fleet spotted the tents that had been set up by the forensic teams.They’d been pitched in a clearing, on the southern side of the chapel. Where the trees thinned, they were replaced by stone markers jutting drunkenly from the earth.

‘Is this a graveyard?’ said Nicky, at Fleet’s shoulder.

‘A long-neglected one, I’m afraid,’ the headmaster acknowledged. ‘It was overgrown and ignored even before the old chapel was demolished and the new one built further up the hill.’

Fleet raised his head, and realised the trees between the abandoned graveyard and the existing chapel were much younger than those they’d walked through. ‘Why was the old chapel knocked down?’ he asked.

‘After the fire, there wasn’t much left of it,’ Harris said.

Fleet looked at him blankly.

‘The fire?’ Harris repeated, in a tone he might have used on a pupil who’d evidently forgotten a lesson that had been covered in class the previous week. ‘In 1921. It completely decimated the entire school. We have some literature available on the subject if you are interested?’

‘Thank you, Mr Harris,’ Fleet said, ignoring the offer. ‘We’ll find our way from here.’

The headmaster had obviously expected to escort Fleet right into the middle of the crime scene – perhaps even to stand beside him while Fleet’s colleagues outlined what they’d found. Harris appeared to wrestle for a moment with his displeasure at someone else exerting their authority on territory he clearly considered to be his own.

‘Certainly,’ he replied stiffly. ‘You will of course let me know if there is anything more I can do. As I mentioned, your discretion in this matter is appreciated. We have to be mindful of safeguarding our children. And, naturally, the reputation of the school.’

Fleet caught Nicky’s eye. They turned away, leaving Harris standing watching them from the edge of the graveyard.