‘Okay, folks,’ Kim said, glancing around at her team. ‘Following the performance of Tracy Frost at the press conference yesterday, and the death of Shaun Coffee-Todd, an official statement has been issued from Lloyds House declaring that Sadie Winters was murdered. Her parents were notified last night and understandably are in shock at the news. I suspect we’ll be seeing them later at Heathcrest.’

‘By whom?’ Bryant asked.

‘Sorry?’ Kim asked.

‘Who informed her parents? It wasn’t us.’

‘I suspect it was the same person who was trying to insist it was suicide but that’s not our concern right now.’

Woody’s phone call last night had been terse and cool.

‘So, what are you thinking about Shaun Coffee-Todd?’ Dawson asked.

Kim held up her hand. ‘Slow down, Kev. One kid at a time,’ she said. ‘Sadie first.’ She looked to the detective constable. ‘Stace?’

‘Okay, Principal Thorpe left Heathcrest in 1993 and attended Oxford, where he studied social sciences and economics.’

‘Bloody hell,’ Dawson said. ‘He was a busy boy, wasn’t he?’

‘And did well in all subjects,’ she said. ‘So, he left the education system in 1997, spent five years teaching at a private boys’ school in Kent before returning to Heathcrest in ’02 as a maths teacher, before being promoted to deputy principal in ’09, and principal three years ago when Principal Richmond retired. He has a long-term girlfriend named Catherine.’

‘Christ, Stace, where did you get all that from?’ Bryant asked, impressed.

‘Tinder,’ she joked.

‘Okay,’ Kim said, mentally filing the information away. ‘Next.’

‘Graham Steele left Heathcrest a year after Thorpe and attended Cambridge. He trained as a doctor and then chose to specialise in psychiatry. Volunteers as a counsellor at the QE hospital for child bereavement couples and came back to Heathcrest seven years ago. No wife, kids, boyfriend or girlfriend.’

‘Don’t tell me, Facebook?’ Dawson quipped.

‘Instagram and Twitter,’ Stacey offered with a wink.

Dawson turned to Kim. ‘Boss, I’d like a job where I get to spend all day on social media too,’ he said.

‘Then you should have worked harder at school,’ she replied. ‘Anything else, Stace?’

‘Looking at more of the parents next, so I’ll keep you updated.’

Kim nodded her thanks. ‘Kev?’

‘We got an awful lot of cloak and dagger stuff at this place,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘Exclusive clubs, calling cards, selection process…’

‘And?’ Kim asked, impatiently. Was this really what he’d been investigating?

‘Oh yeah, and our victim’s sister is right at the top of the pile.’

Kim hesitated. ‘Go on,’ she said. There was something about Saffie Winters that caused the hair on the back of her neck to stand up.

‘There are four groups, all named after card suits. The red ones are girls and the boys black. Eleven members in each suit, the head of the group being either the King or the Queen.’

He paused and, receiving no comments, he continued.

‘Cards are chosen based upon the power and influence they may have in later life. Of course it doesn’t hurt if your parents are powerful too. A new card is chosen by the rest of the suit, and an ace is left on the bed of the new card.’

‘Why an ace?’ Bryant asked.

‘Each new card has to start at the bottom and work their way up. They accept the card and then have to do some kind of task, and their place in that suit is secure. For life.’

Stacey mock yawned. ‘Really, Kev? We’re investigating the murder of a young girl and you’re spending your time on playing cards?’

Dawson shook his head. ‘You’re not getting it, Stace. Once you’re in these clubs, you don’t leave. It’s like a bond for life. You’re tied to these people for good.’

‘And Saffie Winters?’ Kim asked.

‘Is the Queen of Hearts,’ Dawson replied. ‘The highest she can be. Probably due to her future as a pianist as well as her family connections.’

‘And Sadie?’ Kim asked.

Dawson shrugged. ‘No evidence she was in a suit, but she may have been invited and refused. Apparently, you don’t refuse,’ he said.

‘Jesus, Kev,’ Stacey said, rolling her eyes.

‘But why would she have been invited in the first place?’ Kim queried. ‘By all accounts Sadie wasn’t gifted or special in any way, so why would they have wanted her?’

‘Nepotism,’ Dawson offered. ‘Maybe her sister wanted her in the group.’

‘Or maybe she didn’t,’ Kim said, changing her earlier opinion of his wasted time. ‘Stay on it, Kev. I want to know a bit more about what goes on in these groups, and while you’re at it I want you to do your best in tracking Sadie’s last movements.’

‘Will do, boss,’ he said.

Right now she had no clues, leads, suspicions or facts that would aid her in finding Sadie’s killer but what she did know was that in this environment the kids outnumbered the adults by fifteen to one. In a murder investigation they were not odds that she was comfortable with.

‘Okay, guys, we’re two whole days clear of Sadie’s death and we have absolutely nothing. We need to be considering every option right now. We have to look more closely at the kids.’

‘Guv, seriously…’

‘Whether we like it or not, kids kill kids, Bryant, and it’s a line of enquiry we have to explore.’

They all nodded and began their prescribed tasks.

She turned to Bryant.

‘Carry on to Shaun’s post-mortem. There’s somewhere I need to go.’