Page 79 of Good Girl, Bad Blood

Mum:

Mum: That’s what he said, yes.

Pip:

Whose life or death did he mean?

Fifteen

Pip was certain she could see the very moment Joanna’s heart began to break. It wasn’t when she told her and Connor about the calamity party, about Jamie following someone there. It wasn’t when she said he’d left the party at half ten and was witnessed on the phone, mentioning the police. It wasn’t even when she told them Jamie had been lying to them for two weeks about still having his job, and how he’d lost it. No, it was precisely when she said those exact words: life or death.

Something instantly changed in Joanna: the way she held her head, the outline of her eyes, the way her skin slackened and paled like some of the life in her had slipped away, drifting out into the cold air of the kitchen. And Pip knew she’d just given voice to Joanna’s very worst fears. Even worse than that, those words had come from Jamie himself.

‘But we don’t know what Jamie meant by that. It’s possible he was exaggerating in order to minimize the trouble he was in, or to get my mum to sympathize with him,’ Pip said, looking from Connor to Joanna’s broken eyes. Arthur Reynolds was not in. Apparently, he’d been out most of the day and neither of them knew where he was.Blowing off steamwas Joanna’s best guess. ‘Do you have any idea what Jamie might have needed the money for?’

‘Wednesday two weeks ago?’ Connor said. ‘It’s not like there were any birthdays or occasions coming up which he’d need money for.’

‘I doubt Jamie intended to steal money to buy birthday presents,’ Pip replied as gently as she could. ‘Do you know if he had any debts he might have needed to pay off? Phone bill? We know he was very attached to his phone in recent weeks.’

‘I don’t think so.’ Joanna finally spoke. ‘He was on a good salary at the estate agents, I’m sure that more than covered his phone bill. It’s not like he’s been spending more than usual. Jamie hardly ever buys anything for himself, not clothes or anything. I think his main expense would just be, well, lunch.’

‘OK, I’ll look into it.’

‘Where has Jamie been going?’ asked Connor. ‘When he told us he was going to work?’

‘I’ll also look into that,’ Pip said. ‘Maybe he was just getting out of the house, so he wouldn’t have to tell any of you what happened. Maybe he was working on getting a new job, before he told you he’d lost the last one? I know it was a point of contention between Jamie and his dad, maybe he was trying to avoid another argument about jobs.’

‘Yes,’ Joanna said, scratching her chin. ‘Arthur would have been angry about him losing another job. And Jamie hates confrontation.’

‘Skipping back to the calamity party,’ Pip said, steering the conversation, ‘do you have any idea who Jamie could have been on the phone to? Someone who might have asked him to do something?’

‘No. It was none of us,’ she said.

‘Zoe?’ asked Pip.

‘No, she had no contact with Jamie that day. The only person I know Jamie calls regularly is Nat da Silva. Or it used to be.’

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