‘Miss Moore, will you speak to Richard’s parents at pick-up time, please? And Miss Radcliffe, as Freddie’s teacher, sees if he’s happy to continue in school. If he’s very upset, he can come and work with me in my office, but he may prefer to be with his friends. If he wants to go home, that’s fine too. He’s had quite a shock, but as it’s already half past two, there may not be time for his dad to get here.’

‘I’ll speak to Freddie and ring Mr Cowley straight away if he wants to go home.’

‘Thank you.’

‘Is Amias staying in your office?’ Bella asked.

‘No. I’m afraid I’ve asked his parents to collect him immediately. I think it would be prudent for him to be excluded from school for one day so we can deal with things.’

‘Right.’ Bella shot a glance at Nina. She’d never known a child to be excluded for the day and it went to show the seriousness of Amias’s actions. Bella had worried she was overreacting, but this proved she wasn’t.

Nick would be absolutely devastated to know this had happened to the son he so clearly adored, and as hard as it would be, she wished she rather than Nina could be the one to call him, though her heart stung at the thought of bringing him even more pain.

Chapter 15

Nick only realised he had a voicemail when he stepped out of his truck and checked the time on his phone. The signal between Witchbury and Meadowbank could be a little patchy when you hit one of the valleys, but most of the time it didn’t matter. He always called clients back if they left a message and he wasn’t a fan of hands-free.

It wasn’t until he saw the name Meadowbank Primary that his stomach lurched unpleasantly. He’d been worrying every day there’d be another incident, but hopefully Freddie had simply forgotten something: his PE kit or some baking ingredients.