Page 181 of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder

‘She askedwhichdrugs Andie sold,’ said Ravi. ‘List them.’

‘Yeah, OK.’ Howie looked irked, sitting up taller and picking at a textured brown stain on his T-shirt. ‘She sold weed, sometimes MDMA, mephedrone, ketamine. She had a couple of regular buyers of Rohypnol.’

‘Rohypnol?’ Pip repeated, unable to hide her shock. ‘You mean roofies? Andie was dealing roofies at school parties?’

‘Yeah. They’re for, like, chilling out, though, too, not just what most people think.’

‘Did you know who was buying Rohypnol from Andie?’ she said.

‘Um, there was this posh kid, I think she said. Dunno.’ Howie shook his head.

‘A posh kid?’ Pip’s mind immediately drew a picture of him: his angular face and sneering smile, his floppy yellow hair. ‘Was this posh kid a blonde guy?’

Howie looked blankly at her and shrugged.

‘Answer or we go to the police,’ Ravi said.

‘Yeah, it could have been that blonde guy.’

Pip cleared her throat to give herself some thinking time.

‘OK,’ she said. ‘How often would you and Andie meet?’

‘We met whenever we needed to, whenever she had orders to collect or cash to give me. I’d say it was probably about once a week, sometimes more, sometimes less.’

‘Where did you meet?’ Ravi said.

‘Either at the station, or she sometimes came over here.’

‘Were you . . .’ Pip paused. ‘Were you and Andie involved romantically?’

Howie snorted. He sat up suddenly, swatting something near his ear. ‘Fuck no, we weren’t,’ he said, his laughter not wholly covering the annoyance creeping up his neck in red patches.

‘Are you sure about that?’

‘Yes, I’m sure.’ The cover of amusement was cast aside now.

‘Why are you getting defensive then?’ Pip said.

‘Course I’m defensive, there’s two kids in my house berating me about stuff that happened years ago and threatening cops.’ He kicked out at the crumpled beer can on the floor and it sailed across the room, clattering into the blinds just behind Pip’s head.

Ravi jumped up from the sofa, stepping in front of her.

‘What are you going to do about it?’ Howie leered at him, staggering to his feet. ‘You’re a fucking joke, man.’

‘All right, everyone, calm down,’ Pip said, standing up too. ‘We’re almost finished here; you just have to answer honestly. Did you have a sexual relationship with –’

‘No, I already said no, didn’t I?’ The flush reached his face, peeking out above the line of his beard.

‘Did you want to have a sexual relationship with her?’

‘No.’ He was shouting now. ‘She was just business to me and me to her, OK? It wasn’t more complicated than that.’

‘Where were you the night she was killed?’ Ravi demanded.

‘I was passed out drunk onthatsofa.’

‘Do you know who killed her?’ said Pip.