Page 125 of Good Girl, Bad Blood

that man one day, and meeting someone like you

makes me want to try. I’m sorry Layla and I

understand if you’re angry with me. But, if it’s OK,

I’d really like to keep talking to you. You make

everything better.

Which is veeeeerrrrryyyy interesting. So, Jamie sort of catfished the catfish first. Lying on his Tinder profile about his age, his job, his living arrangements. He explained it best himself: it was insecurity. I wonder if these insecurities are related to what happened with Nat da Silva, feeling like he lost someone so important to him to an older guy like Luke Eaton. In fact, I wonder whether Lukeistwenty-nine and that’s why Jamie picked that age, as a sort of confidence boost, or a rationalisation in his head of why Nat chose Luke and not him.

After that long message, Layla stops replying to Jamie for three days. During that time, Jamie keeps trying, until he finds something that works:

Layla, please talk to me.

Let me explain

I am very truly sorry

I would never want to upset you ever

I understand if you never talk to

me again.

But you haven’t blocked me, so

maybe there’ s a chance?

Layla, please talk to me

I care about you a lot.

I would do anything for you

Anything?

Oh my god hi Yes. Anything. I’d do

anything for you. I swear. I promise

ok

hey what’s your number? Let’s

move this over to WhatsApp

I’m so happy you’re speaking to me

again. I’m 07700900472

I don’t know, there’s something about this exchange that gives me chills. She ignores him for three days and then she just comes back with that ‘Anything?’ It feels creepy, but maybe those are just my residual feelings from my one small exchange with Layla. WhoisLayla? Nothing here gives me any real identifying marks. She’s very careful, good at being the right amount of vague. If only she’d given Jamie her phone number instead of asking for his, I’d be in a different position now: able to call Layla directly, or look up the number. But here I am, still hanging on those two questions. Who really is Layla? And how is she involved in Jamie’s disappearance?

Other notes

I looked up heart rate information, I just needed some context about what I was seeing in these graphs. But now I wish I hadn’t. Jamie’s heart rate spikes up to 126 in that initial stationary period at 12:02 a.m., and then it races up to 158 just before the data cuts out. But that range of beats per minute – the experts say – is what they might consider the heart rate of someone who is experiencing a fight-or-flight response.

WEDNESDAY