‘Freddie,’ Nina began gently, taking his hand in hers. ‘If Amias or anyone else is being silly to you, you must tell us, okay? Then we can get them to stop. Did anyone else see you get pushed over?’

Hannah and Leonie reeled off a list of names and after Nina took Freddie inside to get him a wet paper towel for the back of his head, Bella went about investigating. The results, unfortunately, were inconclusive. As many children saw Amias push Freddie over as saw it as an accident. Sometimes these things weren’t clear, and you had to take the child’s emotions into account too. Oliver, for example, always thought people were doing things on purpose because he felt so unsettled. Was Freddie maybe a little unsettled too? It wouldn’t be surprising given this would be his first Christmas without his mum.

With nothing concrete to go on, Bella spoke to Amias but made sure not to accuse him of something she couldn’t prove. His parents were known for going off the deep end if ever their child was accused of misbehaving. When they came in from break, she settled the class reading their scripts and getting ready for the next scene while she spoke to him near the reading table.

‘Amias, I understand there was an accident with Freddie today. Can you tell me what happened?’

‘Nothing, Miss. He wasn’t looking where he was going and ran into me.’

‘Really?’ He nodded a little too vehemently and crossed his arms over his chest. That was a guilty response if ever she saw one. ‘I’ve heard it was the other way around. Some of the children saw you wait for Freddie to be on his own and then run up and push him over. Did you do that?’

‘No!’

‘Are you sure?’ He nodded. Bella tried to keep eye contact with him though he kept his gaze away from hers. Another sign that he was being less than honest with her. ‘Because deliberately pushing him over would be a very mean thing to do. It caused him to bash his head. You wouldn’t want that to happen to you, would you? It would be horrible to think someone had pushed you over on purpose, wouldn’t it?’ Amias agreed but Bella wasn’t convinced he really cared all that much. ‘Try and be more careful in the playground, okay? Make sure you look where you’re going.’

‘My dad said accidents happen, miss.’

‘That’s true. They do. But that doesn’t mean we stop paying attention, does it? Now, come on, let’s get back to class.’