‘It’s all over the uni. You can’t keep a secret in that place. No one can.’

Finn’s agitation seemed to be increasing and Adrian could feel a gulf between them. There was no connection. Adrian shifted his gaze to Imogen, who took his cue and leaned forward as Adrian pulled back.

‘Do you know Russ Beacham?’ Imogen asked.

‘I’m not friends with him, he’s weird.’

‘Weird how?’ Adrian pushed. The mere mention of Beacham’s name and Finn’s face had turned white: he was afraid.

‘I don’t know how to explain it, he just sets my teeth on edge.’

‘In what way? What is it that he does that upsets you particularly?’ Adrian said.

‘I just steer clear of him.’ Finn’s eyes darted as the questions continued.

‘So, are you better friends with Caitlin or Russ?’ She slid the photo of Finn talking to Caitlin in front of him. He looked down. His thumb traced across Caitlin’s face. He looked confused for a moment and pushed the photo away.

‘I’ve hardly ever spoken to Caitlin before. She’s way out of my league.’

Adrian watched Finn. His eyes moved from the picture to Imogen to Adrian and back again as though he were trying to assess the situation. He had that look on his face, the kind you get when you just can’t remember something, when it’s on the tip of your tongue. Or maybe it was something else.

‘How about Russ? Can you tell us anything about Russ?’

‘He was aggressive, he drank a lot and he used to do those codeine drink combo things. You know, that “Purple Drank”, that’s what they call it, I think. I’ve never tried it myself, but it’s when you put a load of painkillers and cold medicine crushed up in a caffeine drink. You can chuck all kinds of shit in there. Russ used to put Fruit Polos in his.’

Adrian had heard of this before, new highs with over-the-counter drugs mixed in with high-sugar, high-caffeine energy drinks and anything they could find in the medicine cupboard at home. There was no recipe per se, but that was part of the fun. Some people called it ‘Lean’ and others use the American nickname of ‘Purple Drank’. Cases at the local hospital were on the rise, but there had been no local fatalities yet, just a lot of stomach pumping. He wondered if the high was worth it.

‘So how much time would you say you spent with Russ?’ Imogen said.

‘As little as possible.’

‘Do you know about the game?’

‘What game?’ Finn’s eyes widened momentarily and he looked down to conceal the panic. He knew what she was talking about.

‘When I first met you, you were brought in for drink driving. You don’t seem to have a history of that sort of thing.’ Adrian glanced at Imogen, who had put her elbows on the table, leaning forwards. She had noticed Finn’s reaction, too. It was hard to hide in a tiny room when all eyes were on you.