Kim took a deep breath before she started speaking.

‘Okay, so you all know that Joanna Wade was killed in a hit-and-run accident last night.’

The room silently acknowledged her words with solemn nods.

‘But what you don’t know is that she was probably waiting outside for someone to arrive. And that someone was me.’

She felt the surprise as they all looked at each other.

‘Joanna had sent me a text message earlier saying she had something to tell me, but I got there too late.’ She neglected to say where she’d been when she’d received the message. Knowing the effect the woman had on Kim, the rest of her team would not have been thrilled to know she’d visited Alex.

‘Was she still alive when you got there, guv?’ Bryant asked.

‘Briefly,’ she said, pushing the picture from her mind. She could still feel the sensation of Joanna’s warm skin on her palm.

‘Did she manage to…’

‘No,’ Kim said. ‘Traffic are still investigating, and it’s been categorised as a hit-and-run random attack.’

‘Surely they have to see it’s linked to our investigation?’ Dawson asked.

‘They’ll see nothing until they’ve completed their investigation,’ she replied. ‘In the meantime, Stace, I want you checking CCTV in the area, just in case Traffic don’t end up seeing it our way.’

Stacey made a note.

Kim pushed the image of Joanna’s face out of her mind. The only way she could help her now was to find the bastard who had done it. Her guilt at being the reason Joanna was outside would be dealt with another day.

‘Okay, updates from yesterday. We found out that Shaun Coffee-Todd’s death was not accidental, although we have uncovered no motive as yet. We have forensics on site but nothing from them so far.

‘Called the hospital first thing to check on Christian Fellows, who is conscious and stable but remembers nothing and didn’t see who attacked him. He doesn’t want to speak to us, and his parents are not going to force him to right now.’

‘He saw nothing?’ Bryant asked, disbelievingly. ‘Or recognise a voice?’

Kim shook her head. ‘Apparently not and it’s too early to push. I’m guessing the kid is terrified. We’ll see how we go and may consider trying to talk to him later.

‘Also found out that Sadie was being fed her mother’s antidepressants, and that Saffie removed them from Sadie’s room.’

‘The mother’s own tablets?’ Stacey asked.

Kim nodded. Bad enough that a thirteen-year-old girl was being medicated, but not even by a doctor.

‘We’ll be asking them about it later today,’ she said, turning to the detective sergeant.

‘Kev?’

‘Found a lot of shit connected with the school yesterday. Just not sure any of it’s connected to Sadie’s death,’ he said, honestly.

‘Share, anyway,’ Kim said. It was only just after 7 a.m. and still a bit early to be knocking on doors. ‘We know that Shaun was a member of the Spades, so I’d like to know what you found.’

‘There’ve been a lot of incidents there over the last few years that the school has worked hard to keep quiet and most of them seem to have some kind of link to these bloody secret clubs,’ he said, glancing across the desk expecting a smart remark from Stacey. None came.

‘So, I got the names of three kids that had quietly left mid-year. No fanfare, no drama, no scandal, just disappeared from view. First kid I went to was removed by her mother after an initiation landed her in hospital fighting for her life. The girl was forced to do star jumps until she collapsed in a heap from an asthma attack.’

Kim frowned. ‘To be honest, Kev—’

‘I know, I know,’ he said cutting her off. ‘Could have been nothing more than a prank gone wrong.’

Yes, that was exactly what she’d been thinking.

‘I was on that thought train myself until I visited the second kid; a sixteen-year-old lad who lives with his grandmother. Except living isn’t really a word I’d use for Tristan Rock.

‘He was dared by the top card to drink four gallons of water in one hour. Kid videoed the whole thing on his phone and pretty much drank himself to death.’

‘He’s dead?’ Stacey asked.

‘Might as well be,’ he said. ‘Apparently drinking too much water in a short period of time means the kidneys can’t flush it out fast enough and the blood becomes waterlogged. Cells expand and well… it’s not pleasant. Tristan is completely brain dead. Only being kept alive by machines while his grandmother prays for a miracle.’

‘Jesus,’ Bryant said. ‘His parents?’

‘Accepted an undisclosed settlement and a gag order. No one was punished.’

‘Go on, Kev,’ Kim said.

‘There seems to be a culture at Heathcrest; a complete lack of accountability. No one even got a detention for the things I’ve mentioned never mind any kind of charges. That school is more terrified of scandal than anything else at all. And I don’t even know about the third family.’

‘Why not?’ Stacey asked.

‘They’ve moved in the few months since the kid left school. No forwarding address and contact with the neighbours through a third party only. The man next door with a scary dog spoke of an incident but wouldn’t elaborate.’

Kim frowned. That sounded to her like the actions of a family in fear.

‘Stay on it, Kev,’ she instructed. ‘Stace?’ she asked.

‘Okay, spent a lot of time in people’s financial affairs yesterday, and one thing I can say is that not all parents pay the exact same fee for the education of their kids at Heathcrest.’

‘I thought it was a fixed price per year,’ Kim said.

‘You’d think, wouldn’t you?’ she said. ‘There are some families paying as little as twenty-six grand a year and some as much as thirty-nine, with the majority around thirty-four per year.’

Kim’s only hope was that such vast amounts of money were producing doctors, physicians, physicists, economists and peacemakers. Nobel prize winners. People who would have the opportunity to do some good. Although Dawson’s findings were taking a good swift kick at that ideology.

‘Hang on,’ she said, as her phone began to ring.

‘Keats,’ she answered, seeing his name on the screen.

‘Am I to expect your presence at the post-mortem of Joanna Wade this morning?’ he asked.

‘Not my case,’ she answered, ignoring the fact that she had no wish to see Joanne’s body being violated regardless of Keats’s sensitivity. ‘Traffic are holding it as a hit-and-run.’

Force Traffic were based at Chelmsley Wood and Wednesbury and were responsible for all roads except motorways. Supported by the Collision Investigation Team they took the lead on accidents involving fatalities or life-changing injuries.

‘Oh, so, she’s not a teacher at the school where you’re investigating the deaths of two children?’ he asked, sarcastically.

She rolled her eyes. ‘You know she is but it’s not my case and I’m under strict, very strict instructions, to behave myself on—’

‘Then I suggest you happen along for coffee,’ he snapped, ending the call.

Keats inviting her along for a social call.

What the hell was going on?