Page 214 of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder

‘Listen.’ He turned to her, the torch lighting them from below. ‘It’s too dark now. We will find him in the morning. He’s wandered off somewhere and he’ll be OK for one night.’

Pip went straight up to bed after their late and silent dinner. Her parents both came up to her room and sat on her bedspread. Her mum stroked her hair as she tried not to cry.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I’m so sorry.’

‘It’s not your fault, sweetie,’ Leanne said. ‘Don’t worry. He’ll find his way home. Now try to get some sleep.’

She didn’t. Not much at least. One thought crept into her head and burrowed there: what if this really was her fault? What if this was because she’d ignored her final warning? What if Barney wasn’t just lost, what if he’d been taken? Why had she not been paying attention?

They sat in the kitchen, eating an early breakfast none of them were hungry for. Victor, who looked like he hadn’t slept much either, had already called in to work to take the day off. He listed their plan of action between cereal bites: he and Pip would go back to the woods. Then they would widen the search and start knocking on doors, asking after Barney. Mum and Josh would stay back and make some missing posters. They would go and put them up in the high street and pass them out. When they were done, they would all meet up and search the other woodland areas near town.

They heard barking in the woods and Pip’s heart picked up, but it was just a family walking with two beagles and a labradoodle. They said they hadn’t seen a golden retriever lone and wandering but they would look out for one now.

Pip’s voice was hoarse by the time they’d circled the woods for the second time. They knocked on their neighbours’ houses up Martinsend Way; no one had seen a lost dog.

Early afternoon, and Pip’s train whistle text tone blared in the quiet forest.

‘Is that Mum?’ her dad said.

‘No,’ Pip said, reading the message. It was from Ravi.Hey,it said,I’ve just seen missing posters for Barney up in town. Are you OK? Do you need help?

Her fingers were too numb from the cold to type a response.

They stopped briefly for sandwiches and then carried on, her mum and Josh joining them now, traipsing through trees and across private farmland, choral shouts of ‘Barney’ carrying on the wind.

But the world turned on them and darkness fell again.

Back home, drained and quiet, Pip picked through the Thai takeaway Victor had collected from town. Her mum had put a Disney film on in the background to lighten the mood, but Pip was just staring down at the noodles, wrapped like tightening worms round her fork.

She dropped the fork when a train whistle sounded, vibrating in her pocket.

She placed her plate on the coffee table and pulled out her phone. The screen glared up at her.

Pip tried her hardest to blink the terror from her eyes, to force her jaw closed. She fought a blank look on to her face and put the phone face down on the sofa.

‘Who’s that?’ her mum asked.

‘Just Cara.’

It wasn’t. It was Unknown:Want to see your dog again?

Thirty-Five

The next text didn’t come until eleven in the morning.

Victor was working from home. He came into Pip’s bedroom at around eight and told her that they were going off on another search and would be back at lunchtime.

‘You should stay here and get on with your revision,’ he said. ‘This exam is very important. Leave Barney to us.’

Pip nodded. She was relieved in a way. She didn’t think she could walk alongside her family, calling out his name, knowing that he wasn’t there to be found. Because he wasn’t lost, he was taken. By Andie Bell’s killer.

But there was no time to waste hating herself, asking why she hadn’t listened to the threats. Why she’d been stupid enough to think herself invincible. She just had to get Barney back. That was all that mattered.

Her family had been gone for a couple of hours when her phone screeched, making her flinch and slosh coffee over her duvet. She grabbed the phone and read the text over several times.

Take your computer and any USBs or hard drives that your project is saved on. Bring them to the tennis club car park with you and walk 100 paces into the trees on the right side. Do not tell anyone and come alone. If you follow these instructions, you will get your dog back.

Pip jumped up, spattering more coffee on her bed. She moved fast, before the fear could congeal and paralyse her. She stepped out of her pyjamas and into a jumper and jeans. She grabbed her rucksack, undid the zips and upturned it, spilling her schoolbooks and academic planner on to the floor. She unplugged her laptop and piled both it and the charger into the bag. The two memory sticks she’d saved her project on were in the middle drawer of her desk. She scooped them out and shoved them in on top of the computer.