‘Not surprised. I can’t even imagine finding out I have siblings. Although it wouldn’t surprise me; my father put it about a bit.’

‘Talking of putting it about … look who it is!’ Imogen said.

Adrian looked up and saw Denise Ferguson standing with Caitlin Watts.

‘I can’t believe you just said that about a teenage witness.’ Adrian shook his head in fake disapproval.

‘I was talking about you,’ Imogen said.

‘Jealous?’ He winked at her.

Denise walked Caitlin over to the desk. Adrian sat on the edge of the table and directed her to his seat. Imogen noted the girl’s submissive vibe with Adrian, head tilted back, looking up at him with her animated eyes. Denise raised her eyebrows at the scene; Imogen was glad that she wasn’t the only one who noticed.

‘We only saw you a few hours ago. What is it?’ Adrian said.

‘You asked me if I knew anything about Doctor Norris.’

‘Oh, you do?’

‘I remembered after you left. A while back he was going out with one of his students. A girl. I don’t know who though.’

Caitlin was painting herself as some kind of damsel; Imogen would have to remind Adrian how they met her. She hadn’t been the victim of a crime. Imogen had met girls like her before, girls who flirted in a bizarrely subservient way, to play to the man’s sense of machismo. The whole idea of it disgusted Imogen.

‘How long ago was this relationship?’ Adrian asked.

‘A couple of months. Everyone suspected everyone at the time.’

‘Did anyone suspect you?’ Imogen asked, but Caitlin didn’t look at her. She wanted to laugh – it was so obvious what the girl was doing.

‘Although I do like older men, he wasn’t really my type.’ She licked her lips coyly, biting gently on the bottom one, and looked up slowly at Adrian again.

‘Jesus!’ Imogen said under her breath.

Adrian shot her a look and she realised she’d spoken aloud.

‘What else can you tell me about him?’ asked Adrian.

‘A few months ago, one of his students killed themselves.’

Now this was a fact they could check; the rest just felt like an excuse to get closer to Adrian – a mystery relationship, a rumour that couldn’t be proven or disproven.

‘Could it have been the one he was having an affair with?’

‘No, it was a boy. His name was Owen Sager; there’s a weird little memorial bench to him in town.’

‘Weird how?’

‘Well, you just associate memorial benches with old people, don’t you?’ Caitlin glanced at Imogen briefly, a tone in her voice that was slightly derisive.

‘How did he die?’ Adrian asked.

‘Hung himself in his parents’ garage.’

‘You seem to know a lot about him, were you close?’

‘No, they wrote about him in the college paper, a big bit on depression and how we should seek help if we’re feeling suicidal. He’s become the poster boy for exam stress. Which is stupid because he started in September. He was barely here three months before he hung himself – sorry, I mean hanged himself. I always get that mixed up. I brought the article for you.’ She pulled out a printed sheet of paper and handed it to Adrian.