Dawson sat outside the address of Carrie Phifer and wondered if he’d made some kind of mistake.

Heathcrest Academy charged more than thirty thousand a year. Not a fee that seemed accessible for the three-bed semi with a box porch in Hasbury. He checked the details he’d logged into his phone. Yep, he was in the right place.

He walked around a Skoda Fabia before knocking on the door.

A tidy woman dressed in jeans and a shirt opened the inner door. A casual smile on her lips turned to a frown. She did not open the porch door before asking who he was.

Finally, a woman with the sense to keep a closed door between her and a stranger.

He held up his identification while saying his name.

Her expression turned to alarm as she reached for the key and opened the door.

‘Is anything… has something…’

‘There’s nothing wrong,’ he assured her quickly. ‘Mrs Phifer?’ he added, as a question.

She nodded and although some of the anxiety had left her face it was still etched with concern.

‘May I come in?’ he asked, although he was beginning to suspect he knew the answer to his question.

‘Is your daughter home, Mrs Phifer?’

She shook her head, as she guided him into a tastefully furnished lounge.

‘No officer, she’s at school,’ she answered. ‘Has something happened?’

‘Your daughter is fine, I’m sure,’ he reassured.

‘So what…’

‘Carrie attended Heathcrest Academy until a couple of years ago,’ he said.

The tension that filled her jaw was immediate.

‘Yes, that’s right,’ she said, warily, as she took a seat and motioned for him to do the same.

‘She left mid-year?’ he asked.

Mrs Phifer simply nodded.

‘May I ask why?’ he urged, although the answer was pretty obvious. If the family had been able to afford the fees once they certainly couldn’t now.

‘I removed her from the school,’ she said.

‘Would you mind telling me why?’ he asked. He didn’t wish to humiliate the woman by pressing her to discuss finances, but he just had to be sure.

‘Of course, if you’ll tell me why you want to know.’

He smiled. ‘I’m sorry but I can’t really—’

‘You’re here for a reason, officer. What is it?’ she asked.

‘I can’t help but wonder why your daughter was removed part way through the year,’ he admitted. He looked around and then stood. ‘I think I understand,’ he said. ‘And it must have been very difficult for you.’

He had no wish to force this woman into an uncomfortable position of admitting she had been unable to continue her daughter’s education at Heathcrest because she couldn’t afford it.

‘Oh, you’re wrong, officer,’ she said. ‘Removing Carrie from Heathcrest was the easy part. Losing my beautiful home and lifestyle, along with my marriage not so much, but I don’t regret it for a minute.’

Dawson faltered. He’d read the situation and he’d read it wrong. He sat back down.

‘My husband tried to insist that Carrie return to Heathcrest, but I wouldn’t budge and that was the end of my marriage.’

‘Your marriage broke up because of your daughter’s education?’ he asked, incredulously. Surely there could have been a compromise?

‘No, our marriage failed because only one of us cared about the safety of our daughter.’

Dawson sat forward. ‘Please go on, Mrs Phifer.’

‘Carrie did not wish to return to the school, but Douglas was insistent. It was his old school and he believed heartily in their ability to educate. I hated boarding schools but went along with it as long as Carrie was happy, but she didn’t want to return. She was terrified, and Douglas was unused to not getting his way. His lawyer was much better than mine,’ she said, looking around the room. ‘What broke our marriage was his insistence she go back even though she became hysterical at the very mention of it.’

‘Mrs Phifer, what happened at Heathcrest to make your daughter so frightened?’

‘She received a card. The ace of diamonds. They have exclusive clubs there that—’

‘I know about the clubs,’ he said.

‘Then you’ll know that most kids will do anything to join these groups?’

He nodded, remembering his conversation with Stacey.

‘She was tasked to perform an initiation rite of doing continual star jumps until she was told to stop.’ Mrs Phifer closed her eyes. ‘Nine minutes she managed. When she slowed down her calves were hit with a garden cane. She tried to explain, she tried to tell them, but they wouldn’t listen. They wouldn’t let her stop.’

‘Tell them what, Mrs Phifer?’ he asked.

‘That she was asthmatic, officer. Eventually she collapsed and almost died. She was on a ventilator for two and a half weeks.’

Damn it, Dawson thought. This was exactly what he’d been afraid of.

‘And the school’s response?’ he asked, fearing the worst.

A look of total disgust shaped her attractive features.

‘As far as they were concerned the incident never happened.’