Page 227 of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder

‘No,’ she said as an idea dragged itself to the fore. ‘I have a better idea. Give me your phone.’

Wordlessly Ravi rummaged in his pocket and pulled out his phone. He slid it across the table to her.

‘Passcode?’ she said.

‘One one two two. What are you doing?’

‘I’m going to enable Find My Friends between our phones.’ She clicked on to the app and sent an invitation to her own phone. She swiped it open and accepted. ‘Now we are sharing our locations indefinitely. And just like that,’ she said, shaking her phone in the air, ‘we have a tracking device.’

‘You scare me a little bit,’ he said.

‘Tomorrow, at the end of school, I need to find a way to leave my phone in his car.’

‘How?’

‘I’ll think of something.’

‘Don’t go anywhere alone with him, Pip.’ He leaned forward, eyes unwavering. ‘I mean it.’

Just then there was a knock on the front door.

Pip jumped up and Ravi followed her down the hall. She picked up the bowl of sweets and opened the door.

‘Trick or treat?!’ a chorus of small voices screeched.

‘Oh, wow,’ Pip said, recognizing two vampires as the Yardley children from three doors down. ‘Don’t you all look scary?’

She lowered the bowl and the six kids swarmed towards her, grabby hands first.

Pip smiled up at the group of adults behind as their kids argued and cherry-picked the sweets. And then she noticed their eyes, dark and glaring, fixed on a point past Pip’s shoulder, where Ravi stood.

Two of the women drew together, staring at him as they muttered small, unheard things behind their hands.

Forty-Two

‘What have you done?’ Cara said.

‘I don’t know. I tripped coming down the stairs from politics. I think I’ve sprained it.’

Pip fake-limped over to her.

‘I walked to school this morning; I don’t have my car,’ she said. ‘Oh crap, and Mum has a late viewing.’

‘You can get a lift with me and Dad,’ Cara said, slipping her arm under Pip’s to help her to her locker. She took the textbook from Pip’s hand and placed it on the pile inside. ‘Don’t know why you’d willingly choose to walk when you have your own car. I never get to use mine now Naomi’s home.’

‘I just fancied a walk,’ Pip said. ‘I don’t have Barney as an excuse any more.’

Cara gave her a pitying look and closed the locker door. ‘Come on then,’ she said, ‘let’s hobble out to the car park. Lucky for you I’m Muscles McGee; I did nine whole press-ups yesterday.’

‘Nine whole ones?’ Pip smiled.

‘I know. Play your cards right and you might win a ticket to the gun show.’ She flexed and growled.

Pip’s heart broke for her then. She hoped, thinkingplease please pleaseover and again, that Cara wouldn’t lose her happy, silly self after whatever was to come.

Propped up against her, they staggered up the corridor and out of the side door.

The cold wind bit at her nose and she narrowed her eyes against it. They made their way, slowly, round the back and towards the teachers’ car park, Cara filling the journey with details from her Halloween film night. Pip tensed every time she mentioned her dad.

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