Page 155 of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder

‘Yes,’ he said in hissed victory, taking it and scrolling straight to the page where the games were, bumping into the door on his way out.

Pip’s heart kicked up in an agitated protest. She could feel it like a turbulent clock in the base of her throat, the ticking fast-forward in huddling pairs.

‘Hi. Becca, isn’t it?’ she said, walking over and placing her hands on the back of the empty chair.

‘Yeah. Do I know you?’ Becca’s eyebrows dropped in scrutiny.

‘No, you don’t.’ She tried to don her warmest smile but it felt stretchy and tight. ‘I’m Pippa, I live in town. Just in my last year at Kilton Grammar.’

‘Oh, wait,’ Becca said, shuffling in her seat, ‘don’t tell me. You’re the girl doing a project about my sister, aren’t you?’

‘Wh-wh– ’ Pip stammered. ‘How did you know?’

‘I’m, err.’ She paused. ‘I’m kind of seeing Stanley Forbes. Kind of not.’ She shrugged.

Pip tried to hide her shock with a fake cough. ‘Oh. Nice guy.’

‘Yeah.’ Becca looked down at her coffee. ‘I just graduated and I’m doing an internship over at theKilton Mail.’

‘Oh, cool,’ Pip said. ‘I actually want to be a journalist too. An investigative journalist.’

‘Is that why you’re doing a project about Andie?’ She went back to tracing her finger round the rim of the cup.

‘Yes,’ Pip nodded. ‘And I’m sorry for intruding and you can absolutely tell me to go away if you want. I just wondered whether you could answer some questions I have about your sister.’

Becca sat forward in her chair, her hair swinging about her neck. She coughed. ‘Um, what kind of questions?’

Far too many; they all rushed in at the same time and Pip spluttered.

‘Oh,’ she said. ‘Like, did you and Andie get an allowance from your parents as teenagers?’

Becca’s face scrunched in a wrinkled, bemused look. ‘Um, that’s not what I was expecting you to ask. But no, not really. They kind of just bought us stuff as and when we needed it. Why?’

‘Just . . . filling in some gaps,’ Pip said. ‘And was there ever tension between your sister and your dad?’

Becca’s eyes dropped to the floor.

‘Erm.’ Her voice cracked. She wrapped her hands round the cup and stood, the chair screaming as it scraped against the tiled floor. ‘Actually, I don’t think this is a good idea,’ she said, rubbing her nose. ‘Sorry. It’s just . . .’

‘No, I’m sorry,’ Pip said, stepping back, ‘I shouldn’t have come over.’

‘No, it’s OK,’ Becca said. ‘It’s just that things are finally settled again. Me and my mum, we’ve found our new normal and things are getting better. I don’t think dwelling on the past . . . on Andie stuff, is healthy for either of us. Especially not my mum. So, yeah.’ She shrugged. ‘You do your project if that’s what you want to do, but I’d prefer it if you left us out of it.’

‘Absolutely,’ Pip said. ‘I’m so sorry.’

‘No worries.’ Becca’s head dipped in a hesitant nod as she walked briskly past Pip and out of the cafe door.

Pip waited several moments and then followed her out, suddenly enormously glad she had changed out of the grey T-shirt she’d been wearing earlier, otherwise she’d now certainly be modelling giant dark grey pit-rings.

‘All right,’ she said, unhooking Barney’s lead from the table, ‘let’s get home.’

‘Don’t think that lady liked you,’ Josh said, his eyes still down on the cartoon figures dancing across her phone screen. ‘Were you being unfriendly, hippo pippo?’

Pippa Fitz-Amobi

EPQ 24/09/2017

Production Log – Entry 19