Page 26 of Dying Truth

‘In what way?’

‘She wasn’t stuck-up or mean. She didn’t care all that much about girls’ stuff like hair or make-up or jewellery. She was on her own a lot. She didn’t need to be in a group, pointing and making fun.’

Dawson could hear his disdain for the female species. He had felt the same way when he was twelve and had thought he’d always feel the same way. Boy, did this kid have a shock coming.

‘Do some of the girls make fun of you, Geoffrey?’ he asked.

Geoffrey hesitated before nodding. ‘But not as much when Sadie was around,’ he admitted.

‘Did Sadie stick up for you?’

He nodded and dabbed at his forehead once more.

‘Were the other girls scared of her?’ Dawson asked. That wasn’t the impression he’d got from Tilly.

He shook his head. ‘Not scared of her but she defended me one time when some girls kept pushing me to the end of the dinner line, telling me to miss a meal.’

‘What did she do?’ Dawson asked, fighting off his own similar memories.

‘She grabbed my hand and took me back to my place in the line and stood there, glowering at them, until I had my food. And once I’d been served she just disappeared.’

Dawson suspected he would have liked this girl.

‘Did you see much of her around the school?’

‘Sometimes I’d see her just sitting in some strange place, on the floor, up against the wall, reading or scribbling in a book.’

Another mention of the scribbling in a book he’d been unable to find.

‘I’d sometimes try and catch her eye, but it was like she was always somewhere else.’

‘Was she being bullied?’ he asked, as he’d asked Tilly.

Geoffrey shook his head, immediately. ‘No, no one would bully Sadie.’

Dawson was confused. By all accounts Sadie Winters was different to the other girls. She didn’t mix, and she didn’t conform. A definite recipe for being targeted. But this was the exact same response he’d received from the girl with whom she’d shared a room.

‘Why not?’ he asked, as Mr Havers appeared in the corridor.

‘May I have my student back, officer?’

Geoffrey stood but Dawson put a steadying hand on his arm.

‘Just one more minute,’ he said to the teacher, who disappeared back into the hall wearing a look of irritation.

‘I really must go,’ Geoffrey said, glancing at the teacher’s disappearing back.

‘Okay, Geoffrey, but can you just explain why the other girls left Sadie alone?’

He was already edging away.

‘They left her alone because of her connections to The Card Suits.’

‘Connections? Suits?’ Dawson queried.

He nodded as he turned to leave.

‘Yes, her sister is the Queen of Hearts.’