Page 131 of Good Girl, Bad Blood

‘I got that bit. Do you . . . come here often?’ she said.

‘Is that a pick-up line?’ Robin asked, shrinking back immediately as Ravi straightened up to full height beside Pip.

‘The crap you’ve left behind answers my question anyway.’ Pip gestured to the collection of wrappers and empty beer bottles. ‘You know you’re leaving traces of yourselves all over a potential crime scene, right?’

‘Andie Bell wasn’t killed in here,’ he said, returning his attention to his joint. His friends were deadly quiet, trying to look anywhere but at them.

‘That’s not what I’m talking about.’ Pip shifted her stance. ‘Jamie Reynolds has been missing for five days. He came here right before he disappeared. You guys know anything about that?’

‘No,’ Robin said, quickly followed by the others.

‘Were you here on Friday night?’

‘No.’ Robin glanced down at the time on his phone. ‘Listen, you’ve really gotta go. Someone’s turning up soon and you really can’t be here when he does.’

‘Who’s that, then?’

‘Obviously not going to tell you that,’ Robin scoffed.

‘What if I refuse to leave until you do?’ Pip said, kicking an empty Pringles can so that it skittered between the trio.

‘You especially don’t want to be here,’ Robin said. ‘He probably hates you more than most people because you basically put Howie Bowers in prison.’

The dots connected in Pip’s head.

‘Ah,’ she said, drawing out the sound. ‘So, this is a drug thing. Are you dealing now, then?’ she said, noticing the large black, overstuffed bag leaning against Robin’s leg.

‘No, I don’t deal.’ He wrinkled his nose.

‘Well that looks like a lot more thanpersonal usein there.’ She pointed at the bag that Robin was now trying to hide from her, tucking it behind his legs.

‘I don’t deal, OK? I just pick it up from some guys from London and bring it here.’

‘So, you’re, like, a mule,’ Ravi offered.

‘They give me weed for free,’ Robin’s voice rose defensively.

‘Wow, you’re quite the businessman,’ Pip said. ‘So, someone’s groomed you into carrying drugs across county lines.’

‘No, fuck off, I’m not groomed.’ He looked down at his phone again, the panic reaching his eyes, swirling in the dark of his pupils. ‘Please, he’ll be here any minute. He’s already pissed off this week ’cause someone skipped out on him; nine hundred pounds he’ll never get back or something. You have to go.’

And as soon as the last word left Robin’s throat, they all heard it: the sound of wheels crackling against the gravel, the low hum of a car pulling in and cutting out, the after-tick of its engine puncturing the night.

‘Someone’s here,’ Connor said needlessly.

‘Ah shit,’ Robin said, stubbing out his joint on the bin beneath him. But Pip was already turning, passing between Connor and Cara, down the hall to the gaping front door. She stood there at the threshold, one foot curled over the ledge and into the night. She squinted, trying to sculpt the darkness into recognizable shapes. A car had pulled up in front of Robin’s, a lighter coloured car but –

And then Pip couldn’t see anything at all, blinded by the fierce white of the car’s full beams.

She covered her eyes with her hands as the engine revved – and then the car sped off down Sycamore Road, disappearing in a cloud of dust and scattering pebbles.

‘Guys!’ Pip called to the others. ‘My car. Now. Run!’

She was already moving, flying across the grass and into the swirling dust of the road. Ravi overtook her on the corner.

‘Keys,’ he shouted, and Pip dug them out of her jacket pocket, throwing them into Ravi’s hand. He unlocked the Beetle and threw himself into the passenger side. When Pip slammed into the driver’s side, climbing in, Ravi already had the keys in the ignition waiting for her. She turned them and flicked on the headlights, lighting up Cara and Connor as they sprinted over.

They flung themselves inside and Pip pulled away, accelerating before Cara had even slammed the door behind her.

---