Page 158 of Good Girl, Bad Blood

Pip stepped up over the threshold, feeling Ravi right behind her as Luke closed the door, shutting them all in inside this too-narrow corridor. Luke passed them, his arm brushing against Pip’s as he did, and she couldn’t tell whether it had been intentional or not.

‘In here,’ he barked over his shoulder, leading them into the kitchen.

There were four chairs, but no one sat down. Luke leaned against the counter, knees cocked and careless, tattooed arms out wide anchoring him there. Pip and Ravi stood together, at the entrance, toes in the kitchen, their heels left behind in the corridor.

Luke opened his mouth to speak, but Pip couldn’t let him take charge, so she rushed out her question first.

‘Why does Jamie owe you nine hundred pounds?’

Luke dropped his head and smiled, licking the front of his teeth.

‘Was it something to do with drugs, did he buy from –’

‘No,’ Luke said. ‘Jamie owed me nine hundred pounds because I lent him nine hundred pounds. He came to me a little while ago, desperate to borrow money. Guess Nat mentioned to him I did that sometimes. So, I helped him out – with a high interest rate, of course,’ he added with a dark laugh. ‘Told him I’d beat the shit out of him if he was late paying me back, and then the fucker goes missing, doesn’t he?’

‘Did Jamie say what he needed the money for?’ Ravi asked.

Luke turned his attention to Ravi. ‘I don’t ask people’s business because I don’t care.’

But Pip’s mind had jumped instead to when, not why. Was Luke’s threat a little stronger than he was letting on, something Jamie might have considered life or death? Had he asked his dad to borrow money, and then tried to steal from Pip’s mum’s office because he was scared of what Luke would do to him if he couldn’t pay him back on time?

‘When did Jamie borrow money from you?’ said Pip.

‘Dunno.’ Luke shrugged, his tongue between his teeth again.

Pip worked out the timeline in her head. ‘Was it Monday the 9th? Tuesday the 10th? Before then?’

‘No, after,’ Luke said. ‘Pretty sure it was a Friday, so must have been three weeks ago today. He’s officially late repaying me now.’

The pieces rearranged in Pip’s head: no, Jamie borrowed the moneyafterasking his dad and trying to steal the credit card. So, going to Luke must have been a last resort, and something else had been life or death. She glanced at Ravi, and from the quick movement of his eyes, back and forth, she knew he was thinking the same.

‘OK,’ Pip said. ‘Now I need to ask you about Layla Mead.’

‘Of course you do,’ he laughed. What was so funny?

‘You went to meet Layla, last Friday, around midnight.’

‘Yes, I did,’ he said, only looking off-guard for a moment, then drumming his fingers on the counter, the sound offsetting Pip’s heartbeat.

‘And you know who she really is.’

‘Yes, I do.’

‘Who is she?’ Pip said, her voice desperate, giving her away.

Luke smiled, showing too many of his teeth.

‘Layla MeadisJamie.’

Thirty-Six

‘What?’ Pip and Ravi said together, eyes swivelling to find each other.

Pip shook her head. ‘That’s not possible,’ she said.

‘Well, it is.’ Luke smirked, clearly enjoying their shock. ‘I was messaging Layla that night, agreed to meet her at Lodge Wood car park, and who was there waiting for me? Jamie Reynolds.’

‘B-but, but . . .’ Pip’s brain stalled. ‘You saw Jamie? You met him, just after midnight?’ The exact time, she was thinking, that Jamie’s heart rate had first spiked.