After taking Jamie to the station and leaving him with Dan to make a statement, Alex and Chloe headed to the University of South Wales. Tom Stoddard’s death had thrown yet another complication into the case, and Leighton Matthews remained the only link they currently had to any of the students.

Anna Stapleton’s office was a shambles. Alex wondered how anyone could achieve anything amid the mess and chaos that littered the room: towering stacks of paperwork so high they looked as though a single misdirected sneeze would topple the lot; books and magazines scattered on the floor; half-eaten food and forgotten cups of coffee that had grown fur coats left on any and every available surface.

She shot Chloe a glance. The younger woman’s face had paled at the sight of a half-eaten ham sandwich that looked as though something might have started living in its dehydrated depths.

‘Ignore the mess,’ Anna said, waving a hand dismissively.

She too looked generally dishevelled, her auburn hair piled high in a messy mass of metal slides and her skirt, too long, twisted at the waist so that the zip had caught at her side, snagging on her loose blouse. Anna Stapleton looked like a woman who’d had a long and busy summer term and should probably be spending the next couple of months in recovery rather than still here at the university doing whatever it was she was doing.

‘We’d like to talk to you about a student called Leah Cross,’ Alex said.

Anna cleared two chairs, which involved a swift swipe of an arm across a pile of clutter. She gestured to Alex and Chloe to take a seat, which Chloe did tentatively.

‘Leah. Yes. She was on my fiction-writing module.’

‘Good student?’

Anna tilted her head. ‘Are any of them good any more?’ she asked, more to herself than to either of the women sitting opposite her. ‘Chasing other people’s deadlines has become part of my job description, apparently. I’ve got a couple of decent workers, but I think most of them are here for a three-year party and that’s about it.’

‘Leah Cross included?’ Chloe asked.

‘I don’t know Leah too well,’ Anna admitted. ‘She doesn’t really engage much during sessions – she tends to keep herself to herself.’

‘What are her grades like?’

‘Well,’ Anna said, crossing one leg over the other and smoothing out the creases in her skirt. ‘Good. Surprisingly good for someone who doesn’t seem to do much work.’

Alex caught Chloe’s eye. They were already on the same page, thinking the same thing. Something about Leighton Matthews and Leah Cross wasn’t adding up, particularly in light of what they’d found out from the garage earlier that morning. Despite Matthews’ claims that the car had been cutting out, it turned out it had not only been cleaned inside and out, but had also had a dent to the front bumper repaired.

Why would Leighton Matthews want to harm Leah Cross? If they could get to the bottom of what was going on between the pair, perhaps it might lead to a link to Keira. And where did Tom come into any of this? Alex was starting to wonder whether their initial assumption had been the right one all along. Had Tom pushed Keira from that roof, and if so, had Leah discharged herself from the hospital in order to take her revenge?

She tried to rein in her theories. Tom had been seen by too many people downstairs at the time Keira had fallen, and besides, none of this explained why Leah had been hit by a car on Wednesday night. She still wasn’t ready to rule out Jamie Bateman, although the thought of his involvement seemed unlikely. They’d have to wait until the post-mortem results on Tom came back, as well as the results on the evidence lifted by the SOCOs.

‘Leighton Matthews,’ Alex said. ‘A couple of years ago he was accused of harassment by a female student who attended the university.’

‘Falsely accused,’ Anna said quickly. ‘He was investigated but there was no evidence found.’

‘Doesn’t necessarily make him innocent,’ Chloe quipped.

‘What happened to innocent until proven guilty?’

In an ideal world, Alex thought. But they were working in a far from ideal world. In the superintendent’s perfect scenario, the death of Keira North would be marked down as an accident and they could all move swiftly on from it. She was sure he had been hoping the post-mortem would find a high level of alcohol in the girl’s system, so he could chalk it up as a drunken mishap. Alex knew she was being cynical, and it wasn’t like her to think so poorly of Harry, but his attitude towards this young woman’s death was something she couldn’t condone. It bordered on indifference.

Anna Stapleton’s face had flushed. She looked offended by the insinuation of Leighton’s impropriety, as though Alex and Chloe had suggested something about her rather than about her colleague. ‘Leighton is a creative mind. He’s an artist, in the true sense of the word.’ She stood and went to one of the bookcases that lined the far wall of her office. She reached for a paperback and passed it to Alex. ‘Have you read it?’

Alex studied the book. It was black, with a single white feather embossed on its front cover. Resurrection, the title read. ‘Can’t say I’ve had the pleasure.’

‘Take it, please,’ Anna said, Alex’s sarcasm lost on her. ‘I have a couple of copies. It really is a beautiful piece of work. Raw. Relevant.’

‘We’re investigating a suspicious death,’ Alex said. Clearly the woman needed some reminding. As thrilling as an afternoon might be spent discussing the literary abilities of a man who was seemingly angry at the world and everyone in it, Alex didn’t have the time to listen to this woman’s sycophantic praise of her colleague. Nor did she have time to listen to Anna Stapleton skirt around information she was clearly loath to provide.

Anna’s expression changed as she sat back down, her defiance collapsing slightly. ‘That poor girl. She was pregnant, wasn’t she?’

Alex ignored the question. It was public knowledge that Keira North had been five months pregnant when she died; now that the details of her death had been broadcast, the girl’s secret was no longer her own.

‘I understand that you may feel a sense of loyalty to your colleague, Ms Stapleton, but the time for withholding information from us isn’t now. You seem to be a woman who champions honesty. The truth. That’s all we’re asking for.’

Anna shifted uncomfortably in her seat. ‘I’ve questioned some of Leah’s grades,’ she confessed. ‘I …’

Alex raised an eyebrow. ‘Go on,’ she prompted.

‘I’ve spoken to Leighton about it already, but the marks have been submitted now.’

‘Spoken to Leighton about what?’ Alex pressed, her growing impatience now obvious.

‘She got a first for one of her essays.’ Anna Stapleton hesitated, avoiding Alex’s eye. Why was the woman so obviously reluctant to speak about her colleague?

‘And?’ Alex pressed.

‘I just don’t think her work merits that.’

‘And Leighton awarded the grade?’ Chloe asked.

‘Well, yes, but—’

‘I’d like a copy of that essay, please, Ms Stapleton,’ Alex interrupted.

Again Anna look flustered. ‘What … now?’

‘Yes, now.’

Anna stood and began rummaging in one of the filing cabinets at the back of the office. With the woman’s back to them, Alex raised the book in her hand and gave Chloe a roll of her eyes. Her colleague smiled.

‘If there was no truth in Siobhan O’Leary’s allegations against Leighton,’ Alex asked, ‘why do you think she made them? Why lie about something like that … if it was a lie?’

Anna turned from the filing cabinet. ‘I have no idea.’

Alex didn’t believe the woman. Anna was on the defensive, and again she wondered why. What was it about Leighton Matthews that seemed to draw women towards him, regardless of how poorly he might treat them? She had met plenty of people during her life who seemed to possess an innate ability to avoid the consequences of their actions, but from recent accounts of his character, Leighton Matthews seemed to have made the habit a life skill.

‘Are you sure?’ she asked. ‘Only it seems to me you might have a pretty good idea.’

Anna’s face flushed again. She moved away from the filing cabinet and sat back down. ‘Look,’ she said, ‘you’ll find out soon enough, I suppose. A few years ago, Leighton had a relationship with a student.’

Alex sighed. Everything was starting to make sense, but the more truths they uncovered, the more she realised she was being lied to by the very people who could help them find out exactly what had happened on that rooftop.

‘You surprise me. Go on.’

‘There was nothing illegal in what he did.’

Chloe gave an involuntary snort. ‘There are plenty of legal things that are morally questionable,’ she said. ‘She was his student. Isn’t that an abuse of his position?’

‘I know,’ Anna said defensively, ‘and I’m not suggesting I condone what he did.’

‘Why do you think this relationship, as you put it, is relevant to Siobhan O’Leary’s allegations of sexual harassment?’

‘It made Leighton an easy target. She probably thought it made her lies more convincing. From what I saw of it, she loved the attention. Some girls can be very calculating. Siobhan saw an opportunity and she exploited it. Leighton was foolish for getting involved with the other girl, but that doesn’t make him a bad man.’

Foolish, Alex thought. That was one word for it.

‘Suspecting him of anything criminal is ridiculous,’ Anna concluded.

Alex stood. ‘We’ll be the judges of that. Now if we could have that essay, please.’