‘So, who’s up first?’ Kim asked, stepping into the squad room.

‘I’ll start, boss,’ Stacey said. ‘Went through the witness statements as you asked.’ She shook her head. ‘Cor find anyone who actually saw her on the roof.’

Kim frowned. How the hell was that even possible?

‘Did you track all the statements?’ she asked.

‘Yes, boss,’ Stacey said standing up and moving over to the spare desk.

The statements had been laid out in vertical lines overlapping each other, like playing cards in the game of patience.

‘First and longest line are the people who state who actually told them either by phone or in person. The second line are the ones that heard about it from shouting in the hallway, and the third line are people who cor remember how they found out.’

‘Damn it,’ Kim said, unable to comprehend that they could not track it to the original source. She was sure that had been the work of the murderer.

‘Anything else?’ she asked.

‘Just started getting some background on the adults. Sadie’s parents are obviously well-heeled.’

‘Two girls at a private school for thirty-five grand a year. I’d have thought so,’ Dawson observed.

The detective constable slid back into her seat and tapped a few keys.

‘Laurence Winters was born into the illustrious Winters family that specialise in manufacturing medical equipment. There’s been a Winters child at Heathcrest since Laurence’s great-grandfather was sent there during the War.

‘And Hannah Winters?’

‘A bit more colourful. Hannah Winters descends from the Sheldon line, a blue blood family who can be traced back to the 1400s. Lots of titles but not a pot to piss in. Made their money from horse breeding and racing, until Hannah’s grandfather lost a coveted race and in a fit of madness shot every horse and then himself.

‘Left with crippling debts, Hannah’s father sold off every property they owned and managed to keep enough back for Hannah to go to Heathcrest with the single directive of—’

‘Finding a rich husband,’ Kim finished.

And she’d certainly done that, she thought.

‘Anything else?’ Kim asked.

‘Not yet,’ Stacey said with a look of glee. ‘But give me chance. There’s some real saucy stuff goes on behind these rich and powerful doors.’

Kim raised one eyebrow at her colleague.

She wondered idly if Stacey felt she’d been backtracked slightly. On their last major case, she’d been paired up with Dawson and both had done an outstanding job of uncovering a network of slave labour. Kim been allowed additional manpower and had seconded Austin Penn, from Travis’s team; but she knew that Woody wouldn’t sanction that again, and anyway, Kim needed someone with Stacey’s data skills on this one.

From the look on her face, Kim was reassured that Stacey wasn’t taking it too badly at all.

‘Kev, anything from Sadie’s friends?’

‘Not a lot. The girl doesn’t seem to have had many friends, to be honest. She certainly was a loner.’

‘What did you turn up from her room?’ Kim asked.

He shook his head. ‘A big fat nothing, boss. No writings, no doodles, no backpack; in fact, nothing personal at all. The drawers were pretty much emptied.’

‘Someone got there first?’ she asked.

‘I’d say so. Something there that someone didn’t want us to find.’

‘Hmm…’ Kim said thoughtfully, wondering who would want to hide Sadie’s personal effects from them.

‘Any boyfriend?’ she asked.

‘Nothing so far. Seems like a decent enough kid but not what you’d call outgoing.’

‘Okay, Kev. Doesn’t seem like we’re going to find out much more there, so if you move over to—’

‘Boss, do you mind if I keep at it for a bit? There’re just a couple of things I want to tie up. I heard something about secret societies at Heathcrest yesterday. Packs of cards or something. Not sure exactly what that means but it might be connected.’

It was on the tip of Kim’s tongue to refuse his request and put him on data mining and background checking with Stacey, but if she trusted anything about Dawson it was his instinct.

‘Okay, one more day and if you get nothing…’

‘Got it, boss,’ he said.

‘Okay, so we found out pretty much the same as Kev about Sadie’s social interaction or lack of it. We also discovered from Keats that Sadie had a history of self-harming, and that her older sister Saffie knew nothing about it.’

‘Sister didn’t seem to know anything about anything to do with her younger sister,’ Bryant offered.

‘Not really unusual though, is it?’ Dawson asked. ‘Looks like they were complete opposites, and who wants their awkward younger sister around them when they’re sixteen years old?’

Kim agreed that he had a point, but it had seemed as though they were speaking to Saffie about a complete stranger.

‘Any reason why she hasn’t gone home?’ Stacey asked.

‘Practising for a gala at the end of the week. Star of the show with a piano solo.’

‘Stiff upper lip and all that,’ Stacey said.

Something like that, Kim thought as she glanced around the room and chose her first victim. She had twenty minutes until Woody’s press conference.

‘Okay, Dawson, you’re up. Step into my office,’ she said, nodding towards the bowl.

He looked at his two colleagues for a clue.

‘Who did I piss off this time?’ he asked.

‘Me, if you don’t get moving,’ she said, standing in the doorway.

He stepped in and she closed the door behind him.