Page 78 of Dying Truth

‘It’s not something we talk about, officer. Agreements were signed.’

‘Agreements?’

‘Non-disclosure agreements. Between Tristan’s parents and the school.’

Dawson balked. ‘This happened to Tristan at Heathcrest?’

She nodded. ‘My son accepted a financial settlement to help compensate for the inconvenience of the accident.’

‘“Accident”?’ he asked, aware that he was repeating her words.

Louisa Rock pursed her lips and nodded.

‘Mrs Rock, what is the nature of your son’s condition?’

She sighed heavily.

‘It’s called Hyponatremia. Otherwise known as water intoxication. Excessive water intake creates a sodium imbalance causing cells to swell. He drank himself into unconsciousness.’

‘How do you know?’

‘He filmed himself doing it, officer. He used his phone to capture the whole event as he drank pint after pint of water and, in effect, eventually drowned himself. The phone caught his eventual collapse and the entrance of his room-mate an hour later, by which time it was too late.’

Dawson pictured the phone positioned, filming as his condition worsened, an eye on him that could not communicate to anyone.

‘The doctors did all they could, but he was already brain dead.’

Dawson felt the rage building within him that the school had so easily been able to avoid yet another scandal by handing over a fistful of money.

‘But why did he do it in the first place?’ Dawson asked.

‘It was his initiation task. It was a dare from the King of Spades.’

Fifty-Five

Kim watched the ambulance race away with its blue lights flashing before turning to the surprisingly athletic man beside her.

‘Thank you,’ she said.

He nodded as the colour began to return to his face.

Bodies had converged on them from every direction in response to Bryant’s call for help. She had held the boy tight, watching his breathing, ready to perform CPR if his chest failed to rise.

The second she’d thought she heard sirens Graham Steele had gently taken Christian from her arms as though he were no heavier than a feather and charged through the crowds to get him to the front of the building as quickly as possible. No one had stood in his way.

While holding him Kim had wondered how he was still alive and her mind recalled the placement of the sheet around his neck. The knot had rested beneath his chin and not pressing on his windpipe.

‘He was a friend of Shaun’s,’ Graham said, as though that explained everything. It did not. ‘He was actually on his way for a welfare check. If only I’d seen him.’

‘It’s not attempted suicide,’ she said, as the ambulance disappeared from view. Bryant was in the building somewhere right now talking to Woody and explaining that fact.

‘What do you—’

‘The chair,’ she said. ‘I stood on it and could barely reach the beam, so Christian wouldn’t have had a chance. The chair was staged to look like he’d kicked it away, but he couldn’t have. Someone tried to kill this kid,’ she said, meeting his doubtful gaze. ‘The third in a week,’ she observed.

‘But they’re just children,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘What possible motive could anyone…’

‘You speak to many of the students here, Graham,’ she observed. ‘Is there anyone you think is capable of committing—’