‘At all costs,’ Pip said, echoing Andie’s words, and she felt that uncanny closeness to her again. Five years apart and they’d never met, yet here she was, carrying Andie around in her chest. Two dead girls walking, more alike than Pip could ever have realized. ‘She was desperate. I never really understood why, but I never would have guessed this. Poor Andie.’
Such an inadequate thing to say, but what else was there?
‘She was brave,’ Ravi said in a small voice. ‘Reminds me of you a little bit.’ A small smile to match the small voice. ‘The Singh brothers clearly have a type.’
But Pip’s mind had left her, spinning back to last year. To Elliot Ward standing across from her, the police on their way. ‘Elliot said something to me last year, and I never really understood it until now.’ She paused, replaying the scene in her head. ‘He told me that when Andie went round to his house – before he pushed her off and she hit her head – she told him that she had to get away from home, from Little Kilton, because it was killing her. The signs were there… I-I didn’t see them.’
‘And it did,’ Ravi said, his eyes back on the screen, on the final trace of Andie Bell, her last mystery laid bare. ‘It did kill her.’
‘Before he did,’ she said.
‘Who is he?’ Ravi said, running an unclicked pen down the laptop screen. ‘There’s no name, but there’s a lot of information, Pip. There must be a smoking gun here. So, it’s someone the whole Bell family knew, including Andie and Becca. Which makes sense with the connection to Jason’s company, Green Scene, right?’
‘Someone who used to go over to their house, even have dinner with them,’ Pip said, underscoring the line with her finger. She clicked her tongue, as another old thought stirred, came back to life.
‘What?’ Ravi asked.
‘Last year, I went to speak to Becca at the Kilton Mail office. This was back when Max and Daniel da Silva were my main suspects for Andie. We talked about Dan, because I found out he was one of the officers who did the initial search of their house when Andie went missing. And Becca told me Daniel was close with her dad. Jason got him a job at Green Scene, then promoted him to the office, and also was the one who suggested Dan apply to be a police officer.’ Pip was untethered again, floating through time, from then to now, the start to the end. ‘She said that Daniel was often coming round theirs after work, sometimes stayed for dinner.’
‘Oh, right,’ Ravi said gravely.
‘Daniel da Silva,’ Pip said his name again, testing it out on her tongue, trying to somehow fit all the syllables inside DT.
‘And there’s this bit.’ Ravi scrolled back up the email draft. ‘When she talks about going to the police, but she’s scared they won’t believe her and that he might find out. There’s this part that trips me up.’ He pointed it out. ‘Of course he’d find out. He’s practically one of them. One of what?’
Pip ran the sentences through her head, tilting them to see them from a different angle. ‘A police officer, it sounds like. Not sure what the practically means.’
‘Maybe she meant a newly trained police officer, like Daniel da Silva was,’ Ravi completed her thought.
‘Daniel da Silva,’ Pip said again, testing it out, watching her breath dissipate around the room, taking his name with it. And what about Nat? asked the other side of her brain. She and Dan weren’t the closest of siblings, but he was still her big brother. Could Pip really think that of him? She’d certainly considered him before, for Andie’s murder, and in Jamie’s disappearance. What was different now? Her and Nat were close, bonded, tied together: that’s what was different now. And he had a wife. A baby.
‘I thought you were speaking to that retired detective today too?’ Ravi said, a tug at her jumper to bring her attention back to him.
‘Yeah, he cancelled on me last minute,’ Pip said with a sniff. ‘Rescheduled for tomorrow afternoon.’
‘OK, that’s good.’ Ravi nodded his head absently, eyes returning to Andie’s never-sent email.
‘I just need my phone to ring,’ Pip said, staring down at it, lying inconspicuously on her desk. ‘DT just has to call me one more time. Then CallTrapper will give me his number and then I can probably find out who he is, if it is Daniel or…’ She broke off, narrowing her eyes at her phone, begging it to ring, wishing so hard she could almost hear the echoes of her ringtone.