All the Rage (DI Adam Fawley #4) - Cara Hunter Page 0,41

became four when they went to secondary school, where the class clever clogs started calling them the LIPS girls: Leah, Isabel, Patsie, Sasha. The others loved it – they even started using it for their WhatsApp group – but Sasha knows irony when she sees it. Especially given how much time the others spend pouting into their make-up mirrors. Either way, the name stuck. And they’re tight, the four of them; all the other girls want to be in with their group, but as Pats once joked, the LIPS are sealed. But even now, Sasha and Patsie have something special that Leah and Iz don’t share. Though Sasha’s realized, these last few weeks, that there are some things she’d rather not talk about to anyone, not even Patsie. Like Liam. Especially Liam –

There’s a sudden burst of laughter from the group of lads in the front of the bus, and a man near the back looks up and frowns. He got on just after Sasha and the others, but unlike the boys, he isn’t even on their radar. He’s not the sort of man people notice, least of all teenage girls. He mutters something about the noise and turns to look out of the window. The boys, meanwhile, are now swivelling glances in the direction of the girls, but Iz has already declared them ‘like, totally skanky’ so talking to them is clearly out of the question.

‘What did you tell your mum?’ asks Leah. ‘About tonight?’

Sasha shrugs. ‘Just that we were going for a pizza and I might stay over with Pats. She’s chill about it.’

But her cheeks flush a little at the memory. Of her mum smiling and telling her to have a good time. Of the hug she got as she was leaving and the ‘I love you’ that still lays heavy on her heart. She hates lying to her mum; she always has, even when she was little, and she wishes she didn’t have to now. But she knows her mum wouldn’t understand. She’d be hurt and angry and it’s so much easier and kinder right now to let her think she’s crashing with Pats. Some day – soon – she’ll explain everything. She’s promised herself she’ll do that and she’ll hold to it. Just not quite yet.

‘Wish mine was more like yours,’ says Isabel, making a face. ‘She just will not get off my case. I mean, I could actually get married in four months.’

Sasha’s turn to grimace. ‘God, imagine getting shackled at sixteen. I have so much I want to do before I get lumbered with all that crap.’

Iz grins. ‘Yeah, yeah, we all know what you’re going to be doing this summer. That’s when you’re not walking the Inca Trail and bungee jumping off the Grand Canyon and swimming with dolphins in the Galapagos –’

‘It was Australia – I don’t think they even have dolphins in the Galapa–’

She stops and laughs, seeing their faces. ‘OK, OK. Perhaps I do go on a bit.’

Their mouths drop open, mock-aghast. ‘No, seriously?’

‘Anyway,’ says Patsie, popping a Haribo into her mouth and chewing loudly. ‘At least it’d be better than no one wanting to marry you at all. Like that creep Scott.’

Isabel bursts out laughing. ‘No one’d shag him – imagine that pizza face rubbing all over your tits!’

They’re squealing with laughter now, rolling in the seats and clutching their stomachs. The boys are looking round, wondering what’s going on and clearly worried the joke is on them, which just sets the girls off all over again.

* * *

Adam Fawley

3 April 2018

19.25

‘I’m sorry, I should have said something before. But I didn’t want to worry you.’

Alex turns back to the chopping board and reaches for another tomato. She’s trying to pretend everything is OK but she’s gripping the knife so tightly her knuckles are white.

‘Osbourne doesn’t think there’s anything to be concerned about. But there could be something in the press –’

‘There’s bound to be, isn’t there?’ Her voice trembles a little and I can see her willing herself to keep control. ‘It was all over the papers back then, you know it was. It was like – like – the Yorkshire Ripper.’

They called Parrie the Roadside Rapist long before they knew his real name. He dragged his victims off the pavement and assaulted them in undergrowth and darkened alleyways and deserted car parks reeking of piss. But that was just the start; we never thought we would end up thinking the first women were the lucky ones.