Her parents were already in bed by the time Pip got home, waiting up for her. Well, one half of them was.
‘I said don’t be too late,’ her mum hissed, squinting through the weak light given off by her bedside lamp. ‘We’re up at eight for Legoland.’
‘It’s only just gone midnight,’ Pip shrugged from their doorway. ‘Apparently late nights are a lot later than that at university. I’m in training.’
Her dad grunted from his half-sleep, book open and cradled on his chest.
‘Oh, and, just so you know, I lost my phone earlier,’ Pip whispered.
‘What, when?’ her mum said, trying and failing to keep her voice down.
Another grunt of agreement from her dad, no idea what it was he was agreeing with.
‘On my run, I think,’ Pip said. ‘Must have bounced out of my pocket and I didn’t realize. I’ll replace it next week, don’t worry.’
‘You need to be more careful with your things,’ her mum sighed.
Well, Pip was going to lose or break a lot more than just her phone tonight.
‘Yeah, I know. Adulting,’ she said, ‘training for that too. Anyway, I’m going to bed now. Night.’
‘Goodnight, sweetie,’ her mum said, an accompanying grunt from her dad.
Pip closed their door gently, and as she walked across the landing, she could hear her mum telling her dad to put the book down if he was already asleep, for goodness sake.
Pip stepped inside her bedroom, shutting the door behind her. Loudly – not loud enough to wake up an already grumpy Josh – but loud enough that her mum could hear her settling in for the night.
It smelled like bleach in here, and Pip checked inside her wardrobe, bending down to look into the bucket. Floating lumps of clothing and duct tape. She prodded her trainers back down, further into the liquid. The blue markings on their sides had begun to bleach to white, disappearing against the material. As had the bloodstains on the toes.
Good. Everything was going to plan. Except, not quite. She was already late for meeting Ravi. She hoped he wasn’t sitting there, panicking, although she knew him better than hope. Pip just had to wait a few minutes more. For her mum to fall asleep.
She double-checked her rucksack again, repacking everything in the order she thought she’d need them. She looped another hair tie around her ponytail, tying it into a loose bun, and then pulled one of the beanie hats over her head to secure it all, tucking in any flyaway bits of hair. Then she pulled on the rucksack straps and waited by her bedroom door. Cracking it open, moving it a half inch at a time so it made no noise, Pip peeked her head out and stared down the landing. Watching the weak yellow light in the gap beneath her parents’ door, cast from her mum’s bedside lamp. She could already hear the soft rumbling of her dad’s snores, using the in-and-out to measure the time slipping away from her.
The light cut out, leaving only darkness behind, and Pip gave it a few minutes more. Then she closed her bedroom door and walked across the hall, steps careful and quiet. Down the stairs, remembering this time to step over the one that creaked, third up from the bottom.
Out the front door into the cold again, leaning into the door slowly, so the only sound it made was the click of the lock sliding into the mechanism. Her mum was a heavy sleeper anyway, had to be, considering the grunting, snoring man she slept next to.
Pip walked down her drive, past her parked car, and on to Martinsend Way, turning right. Even though it was late, and dark, and she was walking alone, she didn’t feel afraid. Or if she did, it was a dull kind of afraid, an ordinary kind of fear, near-unremarkable when placed beside that terror she’d felt just hours ago, its mark still all over her.
Pip spotted the car first; a black Audi, waiting on the corner, the intersection where Pip’s road met Max’s road.
Ravi must have seen her, the headlights in Max’s car blinking on, carving two white funnels through the black of midnight. Gone-midnight. Quite-a-lot-past-midnight. Ravi would have been panicking about the time, she was sure, but she was here now.
Pip used her sleeve to open the door and dropped into the passenger seat.
‘It’s eighteen minutes past.’ Ravi turned to her, eyes wide with dread just as she thought they’d be. ‘I’ve been waiting. I thought something bad had happened to you.’
‘Sorry,’ she said, using her sleeve to close the door again. ‘Nothing bad. Just running a bit late.’
‘A “bit late” is like six minutes,’ he said, eyes refusing to back down. ‘That’s how late I was, took longer to walk through the woods to Max’s house than I thought. Eighteen minutes is a lot late.’
‘How did everything go with you?’ Pip asked, leaning forward to press her forehead against his, in the way he always did to her. To take on half her headaches, or half her nerves, he said. And here, Pip took on half his fear, because it was the ordinary kind, and she could handle it.
It worked, Ravi’s face relaxing a little as she pulled away.
‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘Yeah, everything good my end. Went to the ATM, and the petrol station. Paid for everything on my card. Yeah, good. Rahul commented that I seemed distracted, but he just thought I’d had an argument with you or something. All fine. Mum and Dad think I’m asleep. What about your end? How did everything go?’
She nodded. ‘I don’t know how, but everything went OK, somehow. Got everything I needed from Max’s. Did you pick up the car OK?’
‘Clearly,’ he said, indicating around the dark car with his eyes. ‘Course he has a fucking nice car too. It seemed quiet inside the house still. Dark. Did it take him long to pass out?’
‘Fifteen, twenty minutes,’ she replied. ‘Nat had to hit him to buy me more time, but I think that will work better with the narrative.’
Ravi thought about that for a moment. ‘Yes, and maybe Max will think that’s why he has a stonking headache in the morning. And his phone?’
‘Connor and Jamie planted it just before 9:40-ish. I made the call to Epps right after.’
‘And your alibi?’ he asked.
‘I’m covered. From 9:41 to just after midnight, lots of cameras. Mum heard me go to bed.’
Ravi nodded to himself, staring through the windscreen, at the air floating through the piercing headlights. ‘Let’s hope we’ve managed to push the time of death by three hours at least, then.’
‘Speaking of,’ Pip said, reaching into her rucksack, ‘we need to get back quickly and turn him again. He’s already been on one side a while.’ She pulled out a handful of latex gloves, passing a pair over to Ravi, as well as her other beanie hat.
‘Thanks,’ he said, pulling the hat on, Pip helping him to tuck in any stray hairs. Then he removed the purple mittens he’d already been wearing, stretching his hands inside the clear gloves. ‘These were all I could find at home, my mum’s.’ He passed the purple mittens to Pip, who shoved them in her rucksack. ‘Guess I know what I’m getting her for her birthday.’ He started the car, the engine humming quietly, vibrating under Pip’s legs. ‘Back roads?’ he said.
‘Back roads,’ Pip replied. ‘Let’s go.’
