Jenny opened her lips to speak, but nothing came out.

‘Did you know Julian when he was a pupil here?’ he asked.

She nodded numbly.

‘Apparently, he was the live-in boyfriend of Angelina Millar, Rory Millar’s mum.’

Jenny heard the telephone ringing next door. Somehow, she managed to find her voice. ‘Excuse me, Mr Jones, I’d better go and answer that.’

‘Of course. And not a word to anyone. DI Hunter is coming to give a press conference later. We’ll all know more then.’

Jenny’s breath felt tight as she walked back into her reception area to answer the call. Having dealt with it, she put the receiver down and stared into space.

A few minutes later, she stood up and went back into Mr Jones’s office.

‘Sorry, Mr Jones. I . . . did you say no one knew about Julian being dead up to now?’

‘No one, apart from myself, the police, Sebastian Frederiks, and Bob, who found him, poor chap.’

‘You’re sure about that, are you?’

‘Completely. We were all told by the police in no uncertain terms to say nothing. Why?’

Jenny shook her head. ‘Oh, it doesn’t matter.’ She forced a smile and walked back to her desk.

Thoughts crowded in on her . . . thoughts she couldn’t stop her brain processing, even though they were . . .

Stop it! she told herself. It’s your imagination carrying you away.

But there was one thing she couldn’t work out. However hard she tried.

‘Hello, Jenny, how are you?’

Jenny looked up and saw Inspector Hunter standing in front of her desk.

‘Oh, I’m . . . all right.’

‘Good . . . good.’ Inspector Hunter seemed as distracted as she was. She indicated Mr Jones’s office. ‘Is he in?’

‘Yes.’

‘Thanks, Jenny.’ The inspector smiled and moved away towards the head’s office.

‘Inspector Hunter?’

She stopped and turned. ‘Yes?’

‘I . . . Well, the thing is . . .’

‘What is it, Jenny?’

The words wouldn’t come out. She didn’t know how to say them. After all, she might be wrong and then, where would that leave her?

‘It’s nothing.’ Jenny shook her head. ‘Nothing.’

The inspector stared at her. ‘Are you sure?’

Jenny nodded. ‘Yes. I just . . .’ She bit her lip. The inspector was so pretty and so kind, Jenny wanted to confide in her. ‘I don’t want to get anyone into trouble.’

‘Why don’t we have a chat when I’ve seen Mr Jones?’

‘I’m going for my lunch break to see my friend in twenty minutes.’

‘Well, I shouldn’t be too long in there.’ Jazz indicated the head’s office. ‘So we should have time. And Jenny, anything you say to me will go no further, you know that. And if there’s something you—’

‘Inspector Hunter! At last!’ Robert Jones appeared at his door. ‘The place is swarming with media. I’ve not a clue what to say to them and—’

She turned to Mr Jones. ‘Let’s go and talk about it, shall we? See you in a bit, Jenny.’ The inspector smiled as she calmly marshalled Robert Jones back into his office and shut the door.