‘Yeah. Security over there was even shittier than in this place – they didn’t have to worry about any of their little princes coming back pregnant after a night on the tiles. The fire door in the boarders’ wing was alarmed, supposedly, but one kid was an electronics whiz, worked out how to disable the alarm. Took some doing to get it out of him, but we got there in the end.’ Grim smile in Conway’s voice, remembering. ‘He got expelled.’

‘When’d he disable it?’

‘A couple of months before the murder. And the kid, Finn Carroll, he was good mates with Chris. He said Chris knew all about the door, had snuck out plenty of times, but he wouldn’t name any other names. Not a chance him and Chris were the only two, though. Julia and Rebecca could be on to something: gang of Colm’s boys on the prowl, they’re going to think of this place.’ Conway rubbed her apple to a shine on her trouser thigh. ‘If Chris is out for a bit of vandalism with the lads, though, what’s he doing with a condom?’

I said, ‘Last year. Did you ask the girls were they sexually active?’

‘Course we asked. They all said no. Headmistress sitting right there, staring them out of it, what else are they gonna say?’

‘You think they were lying?’

‘What, you figure I can tell just by looking?’

But there was a grin at the corner of her mouth. I said, ‘Better than I can, anyway.’

‘Like being back in school. “D’you think she’s Done It yet?” All we talked about, when I was that age.’

‘Same here,’ I said. ‘Believe me.’

The grin hardened over. ‘I believe you, all right. And for yous, if a girl did the business, she was a slut; if she didn’t, she was frigid. Either way, yous had a perfect reason to treat her like dirt.’

It was a bit true; not a lot, not for me. I said, ‘No. Either way, she got even more exciting. If she did the do, then there was a chance you might get to have sex, and when you’re a young fella that’s the biggest thing in the world. If she didn’t, there was a chance she might think you were special enough to do it with. That’s pretty big too, believe it or not. Having a girl think you’re something special.’

‘Smooth talker, you. Bet that got you into a lot of bras.’

‘I’m only telling you. You asked.’

Conway thought that over, chewing apple. Decided she believed me; enough, anyway.

‘If I was guessing,’ she said, ‘back then, I’d’ve said Julia and Gemma had had sex, Rebecca’d never even had a snog, and the rest were somewhere in between.’

‘Julia? Not Selena?’

‘Why? Because Selena’s got bigger tits, she’s the slapper?’