Page 156 of Good Girl, Bad Blood

‘Around midnight. Then I went back home.’

‘So, you don’t know where Luke was?’ Pip leaned forward, elbows on the table.

‘I do now.’ Nat withdrew one of her hands to pull her phone out, laying it on the table. ‘Last night, I was thinking about what you said yesterday, that maybe Luke had something to do with Jamie’s disappearance. So I, uh, looked through his phone while he was asleep. Went through his WhatsApps. He’s been talking to a girl.’ She laughed again, small and hollow. ‘She’s called Layla Mead.’

Pip felt the name creeping along her skin, climbing up her spine, jumping rung to rung.

‘You said Jamie’s been talking to her too,’ Nat said. ‘I stayed up till four, listening to your two episodes. You don’t know who Layla is, but Luke does.’ She ran her fingers through her hair. ‘That’s where he was, the night of Jamie’s disappearance. Meeting Layla.’

‘Really?’

‘That’s what his messages say. They’ve been talking for several weeks, I scrolled back and read every message. Looks like they met on Tinder, so that’s great for me. And the messages are, you know, explicit. Also great for me. But they hadn’t met yet, not until last Friday night. Here.’ She unlocked her phone, thumbing on to her photos app. ‘I took two screenshots and sent them to my phone. I was already thinking of showing you, because, you know . . . you came back, so I didn’t have to be alone. And when I heard about Max’s house, that’s when I decided to message you. Here.’ She passed the phone into Pip’s waiting hands.

Pip’s eyes trailed down the first screenshot: Luke’s messages on the right in green boxes, Layla’s left and white.

I’ ve been thinking about you . . .

Yeah? Been thinking bout you too

Nothing good I hope : )

You know me

I’ d like to.

I don’ t wanna wait any more. Wanna meet tonight?

Alright where?

Car park in Lodge Wood

Pip’s breath stuttered at Layla’s last message. The car park at Lodge Wood; her search party team had walked through that car park on Wednesday. It fell inside their zone.

She glanced up quickly at Nat before swiping to the second screenshot.

A car park?

I won’ t be wearing much . . .

When?

Come now.

Then ten minutes later, at 11:58 p.m.:

Are you coming?

Almost there.

And then much later, at 12:41 a.m. from Luke:

What the fuck, I’ m gonna kill you

Pip’s eyes shot up to Nat’s.

‘I know,’ she said, nodding. ‘No more messages from either of them after that. But he knows who Layla is, and you think she had something to do with Jamie?’

‘Yeah, I do,’ Pip said, sliding Nat’s phone back across the table. ‘I think she had everything to do with Jamie.’

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