saw that that was where her dealer lived. I thought if I left the car there, the police would make the connection and he’d be the main suspect.’
‘What must you have thought when suddenly Sal was the guilty one and it was all over?’
Becca shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I thought maybe it was some kind of sign, that I’d been forgiven. Though I’ve never forgiven myself.’
‘And then,’ Pip said, ‘five years later, I start digging. You got my number from Stanley’s phone, from when I interviewed him.’
‘He told me some kid was doing a project, thinking Sal was innocent. I panicked. I thought that if you proved his innocence, I’d need to find another suspect. I’d kept Andie’s burner phone and I knew she was having a secret relationship; there were some texts to a contact named E about meeting up at this hotel, the Ivy House. So I went there to see if I could find out who this man was. I didn’t get anywhere, the old woman who owned it was very confused. Then weeks later I saw you hanging round the station car park and I knew that’s where Andie’s dealer worked. I watched you, and as you followed him I followed you. I saw you go to his house with Sal’s brother. I just wanted to make you stop.’
‘That’s when you first texted me,’ Pip said. ‘But I didn’t stop. And when I came to talk to you at your office, you must have thought I was so close to figuring out it was you, talking about the burner phone and Max Hastings. So you killed my dog and made me destroy all my research.’
‘I’m sorry.’ She looked down. ‘I didn’t mean for your dog to die. I let him go, I really did. But it was dark; he must have got confused and fallen in the river.’
Pip’s breath stuttered. But accident or not, it wouldn’t bring Barney back.
‘I loved him so much,’ Pip said, feeling dizzy, unjoining from herself. ‘But I choose to forgive you. That’s why I came here, Becca. If I’ve worked all this out, the police won’t be far behind me, not now they’ve reopened the case. And Mr Ward’s story starts to poke holes in yours.’ She spoke fast, slurring, her tongue tripping up over the words. ‘It’s not right what you did, Becca, letting her die. I know you know that. But it’s also not fair what happened to you. You didn’t ask for any of this. And the law lacks compassion. I came to warn you. You need to leave, get out of the country and find a life for yourself somewhere. Because they will be coming for you soon.’
Pip looked at her. Becca must have been talking, but suddenly all the sound in the world disappeared, there was just the buzz of a beetle’s wings trapped inside her head. The table was mutating and fizzing between them and some ghost-drawn weight started to drag down Pip’s eyelids.
‘I-I . . .’ she stuttered. The world dimmed, the only bright thing was the empty mug in front of her, wavering, its colours dripping up into the air. ‘You put somethi– My drink?’
‘There were a few of Max’s pills left in Andie’s hiding place. I kept them.’
Becca’s voice came to Pip loud and garish, a shrieking clown-laugh echo, switching from ear to ear.
Pip pushed up from her chair but her left leg was too weak. It gave out under her and she crashed into the kitchen island. Something smashed and the pieces were flying around like jagged clouds and up and up as the world spun around her.
The room lurched and Pip stumbled over to the sink, leaned into it and rammed her fingers down her throat. She vomited, and it was dark brown and stinging and she vomited again. A voice came to her from somewhere near and somewhere far.
‘I’ll work something out, I have to. There’s no evidence. There’s just you and what you know. I’m sorry. I don’t want to do this. Why couldn’t you just leave it alone?’
Pip staggered back and wiped her mouth. The room reeled again and Becca was in front of her, her shaking hands outstretched.
‘No,’ Pip tried to scream but her voice got lost somewhere inside. She hurtled back and side-stepped around the island. Her fingers bit into one of the stools to keep her on her feet. She grabbed it and launched it behind her. There was a head-split echo of clattering