The only sound that could be heard in Charlotte's office was the sound of Janeece's foot tapping anxiously against the leg of her chair. The last thing she had expected when she had walked in for her session with Charlotte was to find Steph there waiting for her.

When Charlotte had explained what was going to happen, she had felt nervous and relieved. Now she was just nervous.

"Never thought I'd be coming to see a counsellor, hard boot like me" Steph chuckled, breaking the silence

Charlotte smiled, turning to Janeece.

"Why don't you start, Janeece? What was it you wanted to say to Steph?"

Janeece turned to Steph hesitantly. Steph smiled at her tearfully. Her mouth opened, but no words came out.

"Come on, cat got your tongue?" Steph encouraged with a soft laugh

Janeece couldn't find the words she wanted to say. Her eyes found their way to the floor.

"In which case, why don't I set the ball rolling?" Steph suggested

Janeece nodded.

"I just... wanted to know if she was angry. If Maxine was still angry with me"

"Why angry?" Charlotte asked

Steph swallowed the lump in her throat as a tear rolled down her cheek.

"We had a fight and- uhm- I was... too busy to listen to her. I just wonder what would have happened if I had. And then we didn't have time to make up, so... she probably hated me"

"No, Miss. It wasn't like that at all" Janeece reassured

"Well, you would say that" Steph sighed sadly

"But it's true! She was cooking. She said what a right mare she'd been to you. She wanted to make it up to you by making tea. She said you always got her something special when she was down"

Steph smiled weakly, choking back a sob.

"She said lots, Miss. She said that she couldn't have asked for a better Mum" Janeece continued

To Steph's surprise, Janeece's words brought comfort and peace to her. Maxine hadn't been angry at her. It didn't stop Steph from being angry at herself for her actions that day, but it brought her some comfort knowing that Maxine had died loving her, not being angry at her.

"The only person Maxine should have been angry with is me" Janeece mumbled tearfully

"Oh, don't be stupid!" Steph dismissed

"Why's that, Janeece?" Charlotte asked gently

"Why do you think? I left her in there with him. Even though she told me to go, I didn't have to"

"You left Maxine and Earl when she wanted you to, Janeece. But you were brave and you went back in knowing something wasn't right" Charlotte corrected

"It was too late! Earl had already lost it! If I hadn't of gone back in..." Janeece sobbed

"If you hadn't, what?" Charlotte questioned

Janeece exhaled shakily.

"Then... maybe he wouldn't have killed her" Janeece blurted, bursting into tears

Steph immediately reached out for Janeece's hand, wrapping it tightly in her own. She was seeing for herself the trauma of what Janeece had experienced from losing Maxine. Her heart broke in two knowing that she was suffering with so much pain. She wished she had been there for her before now.

"Listen, Janeece, we both knew Max, we both loved her. But we also knew that she was her own person. You were no more to blame than anybody else. If anything, you were the one who tried to save her. You put yourself at risk. So it should be me thanking you for being with her. She would have been so scared, but she had you"

As Janeece started to sob more, Steph pulled her into her arms. She was crying too. This was what they had both needed. As she held Janeece in her arms, she vowed that she would be there for Janeece from now on. She wouldn't abandon her like before. They were both suffering and they needed each other.

...

Paul had rolled his eyes and thrown his head back in frustration when Rachel had come to take him out of English. Rachel couldn't have cared less that it was one of his favourite subjects (well, she did, but not at this moment). She needed to get to the bottom of this, and she would.

"I thought we should have another chat, Paul, without any distractions" she explained as they entered the office

"Look, Miss, if this is about Bolton, you're wasting your time. I've already tried" he sighed as he sat down

Rachel closed the door, sliding the glass window across.

" 'I've already tried', what do you mean by that, Paul? Hm?" she questioned

Paul didn't answer.

"Was it about what Bolton had planned for the Kelly's?" she questioned, sitting down in her chair

"What? No!" Paul snapped defensively

"That's what it seems like, Paul. It seems to me like Bolton has seen Earl get locked up and fancies being 'top man' again"

Paul shook his head frantically.

"No, Miss, honest" he insisted, refusing to look her in the eye

"Why else would he attack Marley, if it wasn't to intimidate him? Bolton's back to being a thug- is that right?"

"No, Miss, you've got this completely wrong!" Paul protested, his legs bouncing up and down nervously

"Then put me right" she shrugged

Paul's gaze returned to the floor, causing Rachel to sigh in frustration. She really didn't understand any of this. Bolton was Paul's best friend, he was in trouble and he had the chance to sort it out and he was staying silent. Why?

"Paul, I don't know if you realise, but whatever Bolton has in mind, you are as culpable as he is" she pointed out

"Me?"

"Yes, you! If you know what it is, of course! And if you think you can just sit back and let it all blow up and then pretend that you could do nothing about it, you are kidding yourself!"

Paul found himself resting his head in his hands. Bolton had nothing planned for the Kelly's. If anything, it was the other way around. Earl had intended to hurt or kill them if they grassed him up. And because of that, they had stayed silent. And the situation had blown up in their faces, because Maxine was dead, and Earl had shot her. If he and Bolton were culpable of anything, it was Maxine's death.

As he closed his eyes, he was transported back to the boy's changing rooms, the gun staring him in the face. Earl's laughter echoed in his ears as he pleaded with him to let him go. The fear he felt that day came flooding back to him.

The fear turned to guilt when an image of Maxine, smiling and laughing popped into his head. All of this was his fault. Denzil Kelly was in prison, scared and alone, all because he had stayed silent. Maxine was dead because he and Bolton hadn't spoken up when they should have done. All of this could have been avoided.

Paul's reaction surprised Rachel. She watched as his face sank into his hands as he started to tremble. As she had suspected, there was something going on, and it seemed to be worse than she'd originally thought. Paul had finally cracked. There wasn't just something weighing heavily on Bolton's shoulders, Paul seemed to be carrying his fair share of it too. Now she just had to get him to tell her the truth.

"Paul, please talk to me. This school has been through enough. Do you really think that we need to see Bolton go the same way as Earl?" she pleaded softly

"He's not"

"Then tell me" Rachel requested

Paul sighed heavily. He couldn't keep the secret any longer.

"I tried before, didn't I?" he blurted shakily

Rachel frowned.

"Explain what you mean" she instructed calmly

"The note... on the first day of term. It was me"

Rachel stared at him for a moment, taken aback by his revelation. Of all the people she had suspected to have written that note, Paul hadn't been one of them.

"You wrote that note about there being a gun in the school?" she checked

Paul nodded quietly.

"How did you know that?" she questioned, unsure if she wanted to know the answer

"He showed it us, me and Bolton. He threatened us with it and told us not to say anything" Paul rushed

Rachel couldn't help but scoff. She couldn't quite wrap her head around what Paul was telling her. Being threatened with a gun was scary, yes. But by an eleven year old child, who, in Rachel's view, wouldn't hurt a fly? It made no sense. Why hadn't they just reported him, instead of writing an anonymous note?

She couldn't contain the frustration in her voice as she stood up to lean over her desk.

"Let me get this right... Denzil shows YOU a gun. You must have known the danger in that to everyone! But you just leave a note that could have been dismissed as a hoax?"

Paul put his head in his hands briefly before sitting back up. He had opened a floodgate to the truth and it was spilling out rapidly.

"No, Miss! It wasn't Denzil who had the gun... it was Earl"

Rachel found herself staring at him again in disbelief. Earl had been the one with gun all along, not Denzil. It suddenly all made sense.

She wanted to be frustrated and angry with the two boys for staying silent. Things could have been so different right now if they had just told the truth. But she couldn't find it in her to be angry. If anything, she understood. Bolton and Paul hadn't said anything because they were frightened of Earl and what he would do if they said anything. Maybe she wouldn't have understood it before, but after Maxine's death and Earl's violent behaviour, she did.

Suddenly Bolton's behaviour began to make sense. It explained why, after being kicked in the balls by Earl, he had punched the life out of the one of the school lockers. It explained the fight he had, had with Earl in the corridor, which had landed the two boys in her office. She remembered the way Earl had been taunting him, and the way Bolton had clammed up. She had thought Bolton was being bullied by him, and she'd been right.

It explained why Janeece had said Bolton was taking Maxine's death harder than others. Even before she knew any of this, she knew that he was. But now she knew it wasn't just grief he was experiencing. It was guilt, the same thing that she felt in relation to Maxine's death.

She couldn't help but think of Denzil. Scared, innocent Denzil, locked away in a Young Offender's Institute for a crime that he didn't commit. He had unwillingly taken the blame for his older brother. How could an older sibling take advantage of their younger sibling's vulnerability like that?

"Miss, what happened to Maxine was mine and Bolton's fault. We should have spoken up when we had the chance, and we didn't. That's why Bolton feels guilty. He won't tell you what happened because he's ashamed. I can't really tell you why he lashed out at Marley, other than that it's probably a mixture of anger at himself and Earl, and guilt for Maxine. I will talk to the Police, but you'll have a job trying to persuade Bolton"

Rachel nodded. She knew that would be a big task, but she was willing to try. She had to, for Bolton's sake as well as her own. She couldn't leave this unresolved, not now.

"Paul, you're not in trouble, but I need you to go and sit in the cooler. I'll come and talk to you once I've sorted some things out, ok?"

Paul nodded.

Once he'd gone, Rachel made a to-do list on a scrap piece of paper. She needed a plan of action to stop herself pacing up and down the office. Pacing wouldn't help.

The first thing to do was to talk to Rose and to tell her what she knew. She didn't know how she'd find the words, and she knew Rose would be devastated by what Earl had done. But she had to involve her. These were her children after all.

Next, she had to speak to the LEA legal officer, and potentially Denzil's lawyer to get advice on what Paul and Bolton needed to do. Once the truth was out, Denzil would probably be released. Or she hoped so anyway.

Then, she had to get Bolton and Paul on board to testify against Earl and to make their statements. She knew Paul wouldn't be a problem. Bolton would be harder to crack. She hoped that Paul would go to the cooler and try and persuade him

She stepped out into the antechamber, asking Bridget to fetch Rose for her. Once Bridget was gone, Rachel went back to sit at her desk, rubbing her temples. The headache she'd had for most of the day wasn't easing, and she had a feeling it was only going to get more intense over the next couple of hours.