Adrian walked until he found another door. This time, it was wide open – clearly the way Finn had entered the house. There was obviously no longer any fear of being discovered. The kitchen was huge; the moonlight poured in through the French windows that led onto the lawned back garden. The floor was black-and-white chequered tile, and there was a large wooden island in the centre of the kitchen with a knife block built into it. One of the knives was missing.

Adrian ventured further into the house, his feeling of unease increasing as he realised there was only one way for him to go, only one more open door. He could hear whispering and a soft murmuring. The sound of a match striking followed by a soft light came from the room he was walking towards. As he leaned against the wall to look in without putting his head inside the room, he saw the arm of someone sitting in a chair, his back to him. He couldn’t tell if it was Finn or Russ. He edged forward a little more and tried to get a better look. The man was sitting in a black leather Wassily chair, but the light was too dim to make out who it was.

Carefully, Adrian put his foot on the floorboard in front of him, holding his breath as he pressed down, hoping it wouldn’t make a sound. It didn’t, but it didn’t matter; in that same moment, something hit the back of Adrian’s head and he fell to the ground.

Chapter Forty-Six

After getting the address of the disused sixth-form college building from Gary, Imogen and Matt Walsh headed straight over there. It was midnight and so it had been a complete nightmare getting hold of the estate agent with the keys. Eventually they got in contact with someone and he agreed to meet. When they got there, he hadn’t arrived. So, now they were just sitting in the car outside, waiting.

The building itself was quite small, but it had factory-style windows. A couple of the windows had been smashed and were covered in chipboard to stop any undesirables from getting in. There was a small unruly hedge in the front yard. It had been empty for over a year now, so inevitably some people had found their way inside.

‘I saw the interview with Blackwell,’ Walsh said. ‘He was evasive, but that’s not unusual with younger people, especially stoners, they can be quite paranoid.’

‘I don’t really want to presume too much at this point, but I think the water just got a lot muddier. His fear of Russ Beacham seemed disproportionate; from what we have heard about the boy so far from everyone else, he was quiet and reserved. But then if he was a part of this game then maybe he is good at pretending to be something he is not to his family and friends.’

‘Not to mention those sick videos Gary uncovered. If that is Beacham, then Blackwell’s fear seems entirely reasonable. Don’t forget we haven’t got full access to those psych reports yet,’ Matt reminded her.