Page 55 of Good Girl, Bad Blood

Jamie’s recent late-night phone calls and constant texting haven’t been with Nat da Silva, unless she just didn’t want to say so in front of Luke (he is quite intimidating).

That expression on Nat’s face when Luke said he hadn’t left the house at all on Friday. Might be nothing. Might be a ‘couple’ thing between them that I don’t understand. But her reaction seemed significant to me. Most likely nothing to do with Jamie, but I should note down everything. (Not to mention in podcast – Nat hates me enough already.)

Eleven

The bell above the café door jangled, clattering around in her head long after it should. An unwelcome echo that cut through all other thoughts, but she couldn’t go work at home, so the café had to do. Her parents must have seen the posters up around town by now. If Pip went home, she’d have to haveThe Conversationand there wasn’t time for that now. Or she just wasn’t ready.

More emails had come in with attached photos from the memorial, and the notifications on her announcements had reached into the many thousands now. Pip had just muted them, now that the trolls had found them.I killed Jamie Reynolds, said one of the grey blank profile pictures. Another:Who will look for you when you’re the one who disappears?

The bell sounded again, but this time it was accompanied by Cara’s voice.

‘Hey,’ she said, pulling out the chair opposite Pip. ‘Ravi said you were in here. Just saw him as I finished up Chalk Road.’

‘You out of posters?’ asked Pip.

‘Yeah. But that’s not why I need to talk to you.’ Cara’s voice lowered conspiratorially.

‘What’s up?’ Pip whispered, following suit.

‘So, as I was putting up the posters, looking at Jamie’s face, reading what he was wearing, I . . . I dunno.’ Cara leaned forward. ‘I know I was really drunk and don’t remember much of the night, but I keep getting this feeling that . . . well, I think I saw Jamie there that night.’

‘What are you talking about?’ Pip hissed. ‘At the calamity party?’

Cara nodded, leaning so far forward that she could no longer be actually sitting. ‘I mean, I don’t have a clear memory of it. It’s more like a déjà vu thing. But picturing him in that outfit, I swear he walked by me at the party. I was drunk, so maybe I didn’t think anything of it at the time, or maybe I didn’t realize but – hey, don’t look at me like that! I’m sure that maybe I maybe saw him there.’

‘Sure that maybe you maybe you saw him there?’ Pip repeated.

‘OK, I’m obviously not sure.’ She frowned. ‘But I think he was.’ She finally sat back, widening her eyes at Pip, inviting her to speak.

Pip closed the lid of her laptop. ‘Well, OK, let’s say youdidsee Jamie there. What the hell would Jamie be doing at a party full of eighteen-year olds? He’s twenty-four and probably the only people he knows our age are us, Connor’s friends.’

‘Dunno.’

‘Was he speaking to anyone?’ Pip asked.

‘I don’tknow,’ Cara said, fingers going to her temples. ‘I think I only remember him walking past me at some point.’

‘But if he was there . . .’ Pip began, trailing off as her thoughts lost their shape.

‘It’s really strange,’ Cara finished for her.

‘Really strange.’

Cara paused to take a sip of Pip’s coffee. ‘So, what do we do about it?’

‘Well, fortunately there are lots of other witnesses from the party who might be able to corroborate what you think you saw. And if it’s true, then I guess we know where Jamie went after the memorial.’

Pip texted Ant and Lauren first, asking if they’d seen Jamie at the party. Ant’s reply came in after two minutes. They were clearly together as he answered for both of them:

Nah we didn’t, weren’t there for long though. Why would Jamie have been there?X

‘Ant and Lauren not noticing something other than each other, how unlike them,’ Cara said sarcastically.

Pip texted back:You have Stephen Thompson’s number, right? Can I have it please. Urgent. No kiss.

The party had been at Stephen’s house, and even though Pip still very much disliked him – from when she’d gone undercover at a calamity party last year to find information on the drug dealer Howie Bowers, and Stephen had forcibly tried to kiss her – she had to set that dislike aside for now.

When Ant finally sent Stephen’s number through, Pip downed the rest of her coffee and called him, throwing a quickshushsign Cara’s way. Cara pulled her fingers across her lips, zipping them shut but sliding closer to listen in.