‘What happened to you?’ she whispered.
Standing in the middle of the room, she had a sense that Lauren was a loved and happy teenager. She bet she had the odd row with her parents about pushing boundary lines, but there seemed no obvious signs of neglect. Lauren had a lot of the latest fashion in clothes and accessories; she didn’t seem to want for anything. Grace had a feeling she’d be missed dearly.
Spotting photos around the dressing table mirror, Grace leaned forwards to see. They were mostly of Lauren. A few with her in a group of girls, all of them with long blonde hair. And there was one of Lauren with twins. Grace frowned as she looked closer.
‘She was a popular girl,’ a voice said behind her. ‘I’ve known her since she was six.’
Grace turned to see Alan Gillespie.
‘They were always making a lot of noise.’ He pointed to the photo. ‘They used to come here often. I think Emma let her have a bit more freedom than was necessary.’
‘Indoors?’
‘Yes.’
‘I think that’s much better than giving her freedom outdoors,’ Grace acknowledged. ‘It means she was at least safe, even if you did have to tell her to pipe down every now and then. Do you know the names of these girls?’
He took the photo from her. ‘The twins are Courtney and Caitlin Piggott, although I never know which one is which.’ He pointed to another girl. ‘Sophie – Sophie Bishop. The one at the end is Teagan Cole.’
Grace had already recognised Teagan and knew she was going to be upset. Come to think of it, she might have met Lauren herself, albeit briefly, when she’d given her and Teagan a lift back to Teagan’s house with her father, Simon. Losing a friend at such a young age would leave a gap.
She spotted another photo of Lauren with a boy. She pulled it towards her and the sticky tape on the back of it gave way. Looking closer, she saw he was about the same age as Lauren and wondered if he went to Dunwood Academy, too.
She turned to ask Alan, but he was no longer there. When she could find nothing else, she took the laptop and the photos downstairs.
‘Who’s this with Lauren?’ She held it up so that both parents could see it.
‘Dylan Corden,’ Emma told them. ‘He was a boy she met on holiday in Greece last year. He lives in Leeds.’
‘Was Lauren in contact with him?’
‘Only online. We haven’t seen him or his family since. As far as I know, it was a holiday romance.’
‘Did she still talk about him?’
Alan shook his head. ‘Not since she started dating Tom.’
‘Tom?’
‘Thomas Riley. I haven’t heard her mention Dylan in a long time.’
‘Does Thomas attend Dunwood Academy, too?’
Alan nodded. ‘He’s been here a few times as well. Seemed okay to me – even though you worry about them at that age.’
Grace made a note of his name to check with Perry.
‘May we take these photos?’ she asked. ‘I promise you they will be returned as soon as we’re able.’
‘Take anything you need,’ Emma replied.
‘Do you have a recent one of Lauren, too?’
Grace could see Alan was holding back tears as Emma rummaged around in the sideboard. When she turned back and handed them a photo, her shoulders shook as she cried again.
‘I don’t know who would want to hurt her.’ Emma looked at them both in turn. ‘You have to find out who it was – and why!’
‘We will do everything we can,’ Nick promised.
Once outside the family home and on the way back to the school, Grace turned to Nick.
‘I need to tell you something. There’s a photo of five girls on Lauren’s mirror. One of them is Simon’s daughter, Teagan. I’m letting you know because in no way do I want this brought up later. This won’t be another conflict of interest.’
‘Hey, lighten up,’ Nick replied. ‘It would only become that if she was in a group that had either attacked Lauren or had been injured.’
‘Well, I just wanted to—’
‘Grace, sometimes I’m rather impulsive and I pushed you too far on Operation Wedgwood last year. I did it for my own purposes, as I really wanted to break up the Steele family. I was wrong to put it all on you.’
Grace was shocked. It had taken him six months to say that, and their working relationship had soured because of it. Her predecessor, Allie Shenton, had said Nick was one of the good guys, but until now he had yet to prove it to her. He had pushed her too far, even though they’d caught and charged the killer.
‘I get that you’re worried,’ Nick continued, ‘but I’d say what was more important is that if Lauren is part of a group, then perhaps we need to warn them all to be vigilant. This might be an isolated incident but until we gather more evidence everyone is a suspect, even those twin girls for now. You’re staying on the case, understood?’
‘Understood.’ Grace nodded, glad that was cleared up. She’d wanted to come clean, but there was no way she was going to be under the threat of being removed again.
In an empty classroom, Perry was sitting across from sixteen-year-old Thomas Riley. Thomas was in the same year as their victim but in a different set of classes.
Nathan Stiller sat next to him. At Perry’s suggestion, he’d placed three chairs in a triangle without a table between them. Although everything he said would be written down, Perry didn’t want Thomas to think he was being interviewed. Thomas could be placed in a chemistry lesson with his fellow pupils and teacher at the time the murder took place, so the less stress Perry caused the better.
‘Do you know what’s happened, Thomas?’ Perry started, knowing that rumours were bound to be going around the school.
‘It’s Tom,’ the boy replied. ‘Is it true that Lauren’s dead?’
‘We believe so,’ Perry replied.
‘You believe so?’ Tom looked confused. ‘Don’t you know?’
‘There has to be an official identification of the body, but we think it’s her.’
Tom’s face became stern as he bit his bottom lip. Perry could see he was wrestling with his emotions, trying to keep his grief hidden.
‘I can’t go into detail, but I do need to ask you a few questions, Tom.’ Perry rested his elbows on his knees, clasping his hands together as he leaned forwards. ‘You’re not in any trouble. Can you tell me when you last saw Lauren?’
‘This morning, a few minutes before classes started.’
‘Did you meet at school or before?’
‘At school. She lives in the opposite direction to me and gets a lift in. Her mum drops her off.’
Perry noted he was still speaking of Lauren in the present tense. ‘And was she okay?’
‘She seemed fine.’ Tom nodded fervently. ‘She came rushing over like her usual self. She was always late, so we never got a lot of time together in the mornings. It was just to say hello, you know?’
Perry smiled: he could recall a few times he’d had illicit kisses before the bell went off for lessons to start.
‘Do