Page 71 of Play Our Song

Max stopped by the door. “This is the second time you’ve been in the station this month,” he said. “Let’s not make a habit of it.” He opened up and Sophie walked out into the main station.

Jules was standing by the counter. “You free to go?”

“She’s free to go,” Max said. “Keep her out of trouble.”

He and Jules shared a look that Sophie caught but didn’t make immediate sense out of. Then she realized that they must be talking about her and Tilly and she felt a deep spike of pain in her insides. Tilly. She looked around but saw no sign of her.

“Come on then,” Jules said. “Want to stop for a pint on the way home?”

Sophie shook her head.

“Alright then, let’s get you back to yours, shall we?”

Jules looped her arm through Sophie’s and escorted her out into the crisp freshness of the evening. Sophie shivered and Jules held her closer.

“You alright?”

“Yeah.”

“Want to talk about it?” Jules asked.

“Not really.”

“Your dad and Gio gonna be alright?”

Sophie nodded. “Yeah, I think so.”

They started to walk down the road, the fresh air on their faces. “And what about Tilly?” Jules asked, finally.

They kept walking, feet crunching on the pavement, the burning smell of autumn in their noses. “Tilly,” Sophie said eventually, even the name seeming hard to say and strange in her mouth.

“She was just doing her job,” said Jules.

“Yeah.” Sophie breathed the air in. It hurt to breathe. Was it supposed to hurt to breathe? She couldn’t remember. “I know she was.”

“So?”

“So nothing,” said Sophie. “It’s over.”

“But—”

“I really don’t want to talk about this.”

Jules sighed. “Yeah, alright. Sorry.” She pulled Sophie a bit closer so that their shoulders bumped as they walked. “Fancy a sausage sandwich when we get back?”

Sophie sighed. She wasn’t hungry, but Jules was trying to be nice. “Yeah, alright then.”

IT WAS STRANGE being in the house alone. It was quiet, too quiet, and Sophie almost wished that she’d asked Jules to stay. She couldn’t bring herself to go to bed alone, so she was lying on the couch, the TV playing silently as she lay there in the dark.

Everything was a mess in her head. She was angry at her dad for making stupid decisions. Angry at him for not telling her and Gio what he was up to. She was angry at herself for not being more aware of things, for not checking where the money was coming from.

Most of all, she was angry at Tilly.

She knew Tilly was doing her job; she knew that they had an agreement. But it didn’t seem to make any difference. Tilly had seen her be arrested. Tilly had stood there and watched it happen. She might not have wanted to, but she had.

It was just her job, a little voice in the back of Sophie’s head kept saying. But the problem was, the job would always be there. The job would always come first. Sophie didn’t know if she could deal with that.

And her family definitely couldn’t deal with it. She’d lied to them enough. It was over now. She’d taken her eye off them for all of a second and look what had happened. Her dad and Gio were both spending the night at the police station.

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