Page 169 of Good Girl, Bad Blood

‘Did they break a window?’

The answer was written on Pip’s silent face.

Stanley’s head dropped from his shoulders and he breathed out all his air in one go. ‘Then it’s already over. The windows are fitted with a silent alarm that alerts the local police station. They’ll be there in fifteen minutes.’ He drew one hand up, holding his face before it fell any further. ‘It’s over. Stanley Forbes is finished. Gone.’

Pip’s words staled in her mouth. ‘I’m so sorry,’ she said. ‘I didn’t know, I was just trying to find Jamie.’

He looked up at her, attempted a weak smile. ‘It’s OK,’ he said quietly. ‘I never really deserved this life anyway. This town was always too good for me.’

‘I don—’ But the word never made it out of her mouth, crashing instead against her gritted teeth. She’d heard a noise, nearby. The sound of shuffling footsteps.

Stanley must have heard it too. He turned, walking backwards towards Pip.

‘Hello?’ a voice called down the hall.

Pip swallowed, forcing it down her throat. ‘Hello,’ she replied as whoever it was approached. They were just a shadow among shadows until they walked into the circle of light given off by the upward torch.

It was Charlie Green in a zipped-up jacket, a light smile on his face as his gaze landed on Pip.

‘Ah, I thought it must be you,’ he said. ‘I saw your car parked on the road and then I saw the light on in here and thought I should check. Are you alright?’ he said, eyes dropping to Stanley for just a moment before flicking back.

‘Oh, yes,’ Pip smiled. ‘Yes, we’re all fine here. Just talking.’

‘OK, good,’ Charlie said with an outward breath. ‘Actually, Pip, could I just borrow your phone quickly? Mine’s dead and I need to message Flora something.’

‘Oh, yeah,’ she said. ‘Yeah, sure.’ She pulled her phone out of her jacket pocket, unlocked it and walked the few steps over to Charlie, offering it to him on her outstretched hand.

He picked it up, his fingers scratching lightly against her palm.

‘Thank you,’ he said, looking down at the screen as Pip walked back to where she’d been, beside Stanley. Charlie’s grip tightened around the phone. He lowered it, slipped it into his front pocket and pushed it down.

Pip watched him do it and she didn’t understand, she didn’t understand at all, and she couldn’t hear her thoughts because her heart was too loud.

‘Yours too,’ Charlie said, turning to Stanley now.

‘What?’ Stanley said.

‘Your phone,’ Charlie said calmly. ‘Slide it over to me, now.’

‘I d-don’t –’ Stanley stuttered.

Charlie’s jacket rustled as he swung one hand behind him, tensing his mouth into one sharp line, his lips disappearing. And when he brought the hand back out, there was something in it.

Something dark and pointed. Something he held up in his trembling grip and pointed at Stanley.

It was a gun.

‘Slide your phone over to me, now.’

Forty-One

The phone scraped against the old floorboards as it skittered past the wrappers and beer bottles, spinning as it came to rest near Charlie’s feet.

The gun was still in his right hand, pointed shakily at Stanley.

He took a step forward, and Pip thought he was going to pick the phone up, but he didn’t. He raised his foot and brought the heel of his boot down hard, shattering the screen. The light inside it blinked out and died as Pip flinched from the sudden sound, her eyes fixed on the gun.

‘Charlie . . . what are you doing?’ she said, her voice shaking like his hand.