He crossed his arms. ‘You may have heard old Charlie was a bit of a bully with the younger boys . . .’

‘Yes, time and again, Mr Frederiks. Are you telling me it wasn’t true?’

‘No, I’m not. But it was never malicious and I certainly don’t feel Charlie specifically picked on young Rory Millar.’

‘Really? So why was I told Cavendish had locked Rory in the cellar overnight? That sounds pretty specific to me.’

‘Look here, there was no proof that it was Charlie,’ Frederiks answered weakly.

‘But the likelihood is that it was?’

‘It may have been, yes. But Inspector, without proof, what could I do?’

Jazz sighed in frustration. ‘You’ve been a teacher for twenty years, a housemaster for over eight. You must be experienced in dealing with many instances similar to this one. Even his mates knew it was him.’ Jazz turned to Miles. ‘Isn’t that right?’

‘Yes, Ma’am,’ Miles nodded.

Frederiks was sweating profusely. ‘Let me tell you, Inspector, I come down on my boys like a ton of bricks for any kind of bullying. But it’s the same problem time and time again. The victim of the bully is so terrified of the repercussions, he won’t admit he knows the perpetrator of the crime.’

‘So Rory Millar didn’t tell you it was Charlie Cavendish that had locked him in the cellar?’

‘No. And how would he know anyway? He was on the other side of the door. However, I did realise young Rory was terrified. It was me that found him. I assumed it was more to do with this yarn in the house about the ghost of a boy who reputedly died down there. Rory would have naturally heard the story. He looked like a ghost himself when I let him out.’

‘I’m amazed no one heard him before. He must have been shouting to get out. Poor kid,’ Miles added.

‘The boys sleep on the second and third floors and, as you know, I’m in my wing on the side of the house. The point is, whether we should have heard him or not, we didn’t.’

‘You say he was very upset when he came out? Did you contact his parents?’

‘Absolutely. This was the icing on the cake. Rory had been an unhappy young man for a while and was becoming more and more withdrawn. I’d put it down largely to the trauma of his parents’ divorce, but when this happened, I obviously felt I had to speak to them. To wit, rather than worrying Mrs Millar, his mother, who can be overprotective and a little neurotic where her son is concerned, I decided to call Mr Millar instead. I spoke to him about Rory last week.’

‘Under the circumstances, it sounds like Mrs Millar has every right to be neurotic about her son’s welfare.’ Jazz ground her teeth with irritation. ‘So, did David Millar respond?’

‘We had a little chat over the phone. I played it very low-key, no point in getting everyone overexcited. I suggested to Mr Millar it might be a good idea for him to have a chat with his son, see if he could prise out of him what was wrong. I subsequently asked Rory to give his father a call.’