Page 67 of Good Girl, Bad Blood

Ravi agreed. ‘Sofa and a bay window.’

‘OK,’ Pip said. ‘And Jamie’s standing just to the right of that window.’ She pointed to the bay window symbol in the floorplan. ‘But if you look at his eyes, he’s looking away, to the left.’

‘Can solve murders, but can’t tell her left from right,’ Ravi smiled.

‘That’s left,’ she insisted, glowering up at him. ‘Our left, his right.’

‘OK, please don’t hurt me.’ He held his hands up in surrender, his crooked smile stretching across his cheeks. Why did he enjoy winding her up so much? And why did she like it when he did? It was maddening.

Pip turned back, placing her finger on the floorplan where Jamie had been standing, and drew her finger out, following Jamie’s approximate eyeline. It brought her to a boxy black figure against the next wall. ‘What does that symbol mean?’ she asked.

‘That’s a fireplace,’ said Ravi. ‘So Jamie was watching someone who’s standing near that fireplace at 9:38 p.m. Likely the same someone he followed from the memorial.’

Pip nodded, marking these new points and times on the annotated floorplan.

‘So, if I stop looking for Jamie,’ she said, ‘and instead look for photos taken near the fireplace around 9:38, I might be able to narrow down who that someone is.’

‘Good plan, Sarge.’

‘You get back to your job,’ she said, pushing Ravi away with her foot, back around the island. He went, but not before stealing her sock.

Pip heard just one click of his mousepad before he said, quietly, ‘Shit.’

‘Ravi, can you stop messing around –’

‘I’m not,’ he said, and there was no trace of a smile on his face any more. ‘Shit.’ He said it louder that time, dropping Pip’s sock.

‘What?’ Pip slid off her stool and followed him to his side. ‘You found Jamie?’

‘No.’

‘The someone?’

‘No, but it’s definitelyasomeone,’ Ravi said darkly as Pip finally saw what was on his screen.

The photograph was filled with a hundred faces, all looking up at the sky, watching the lanterns. The nearest people were lit with a ghostly silver glow, points of red eyes as the camera flash set them ablaze. And standing near the very back, where the crowd thinned out, was Max Hastings.

‘No,’ Pip said, and the word carried on silently, breathing out until her chest felt ragged and bare.

Max was standing there, alone, in a black jacket that blended into the night, a hood hiding most of his hair. But it was unmistakably him, eyes bright red, face blank and unreadable.

Ravi slammed his fist down on the marble top, making the laptop and Max’s eyes shudder. ‘Why the fuck was he there?’ He sniffed. ‘He knew he wasn’t welcome. By anyone.’

Pip put a hand on his shoulder and felt the rage like a tremor beneath Ravi’s skin. ‘Because he’s the sort of person who does whatever he wants, no matter who he hurts,’ she said.

‘I didn’t want him there,’ Ravi said, staring Max down. ‘He shouldn’t have been there.’

‘I’m sorry, Ravi.’ She trailed her hand down his arm, tucking it into his palm.

‘And I have to look at him all day tomorrow. Listen to more of his lies.’

‘You don’t have to go to the trial,’ she said.

‘Yes, I do. I’m not just doing it for you. I mean, I am doing it for you, I’d do anything for you.’ He dropped his gaze. ‘But I’m doing it for me too. If Sal had ever known what a monster Max really was, he would have been devastated. Devastated. He thought they were friends. Howdarehe come.’ He slammed his laptop closed, shutting Max’s face away.

‘In just a few days, he won’t be able to go anywhere for a long while,’ Pip said, squeezing Ravi’s hand. ‘Just a few days.’

He gave her a weak smile, running his thumb over her knuckles. ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘Yeah, I know.’

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