shouting unintelligibly over each other. But her hands somehow knew what to do. A few minutes later, she’d downloaded the trial version of Photoshop to her computer. She saved Max’s photo and opened the file up in the programme. Following an online tutorial by a man with a silky Irish accent, she enlarged the photo and then sharpened it.
Her skin flashed cold to hot. She sat back and gasped.
There was no doubt about it. The little numbers projected on Naomi’s phone read 00:09.
They said Sal left at half ten but there they were, all four of the friends at nine minutes past midnight, encased in the frame, and not one of them could have taken the photo themselves.
Max’s parents were away that night and no one else had been there, that’s what they’d always said. It was just the five of them until Sal left at ten thirty to go and kill his girlfriend.
And here, right in front of Pip’s eyes, was proof that that was a lie. There was a fifth person there after midnight. And who could it have been but Sal?
Pip scrolled up to the topmost strip of the enlarged photo. Behind the sofa on the far wall was a window. And in its very centre pane was the flash of the phone camera. You couldn’t distinguish the figure holding the phone from the darkness of outside. But, just beyond the streaks of bright white, there was a faint halo of reflected blue, only just visible against the surrounding black. The very same blue as the corded shirt Sal was wearing that night, the one Ravi still wore sometimes. Her stomach flipped as she thought his name, as she imagined the look in his eyes when he saw this photo.
She extracted the enlarged image to a document and cropped it to show only Naomi with her phone on one page and the flash in the window on another. Along with the original saved photo, she sent each page over to the wireless printer on her desk. She watched from her bed as the printer sputt-sputtered each page, making that gentle steam train rattle as it did. Pip closed her eyes for just a moment, listening to the soft chugging sound.
‘Pips, can I come in and vacuum?’
Pip’s eyes snapped open. She pulled herself up from her slumped position, the whole right side of her body aching from hip to neck.
‘You’re still in bed?’ her mum said, opening the door. ‘It’s half one, lazy. I thought you were already up.’
‘No . . . I,’ Pip said, her throat dry and scratchy, ‘was just tired, not feeling so well. Could you do Josh’s room first?’
Her mum paused and looked at her, her warm eyes staining with worry.
‘You’re not overworking yourself, are you, Pip?’ she said. ‘We’ve talked about this.’
‘No, I promise.’
Her mum closed the door and Pip climbed out of bed, almost knocking her laptop off. She got ready, pulling her dungarees on over a dark green jumper, fighting to get the brush through her hair. She picked up the three photo printouts, placed them in a plastic folder and slid them inside her rucksack. Then she scrolled to the recent calls list in her phone and dialled.
‘Ravi!’
‘What’s up, Sarge?’
‘Meet me outside your house in ten minutes. I’ll be in the car.’
‘OK. What’s on the menu today, more blackmailing? Side order of breaking and enteri–’
‘It’s serious. Be there in ten.’
Sitting in her passenger seat, his head almost touching the roof of the car, Ravi stared down open-mouthed at the printed photo in his hands.
It was a long while before he said anything. They sat in silence, Pip watching as Ravi traced his finger over the fuzzy blue reflection in the far window.
‘Sal never lied to the police,’ he said eventually.
‘No, he didn’t,’ Pip said. ‘I think he left Max’s at twelve fifteen, just like he originally said. It was his friends who lied. I don’t know why, but on that Tuesday they lied and they took away his alibi.’
‘This means he’s innocent, Pip.’ His big round eyes fixed on hers.
‘That’s what we’re here to test, come on.’
She opened her door and stepped out. She’d picked Ravi up and driven him straight here, parking on the grass verge off Wyvil Road, her hazard lights flashing. Ravi closed the car door and followed as Pip started up the road.
‘How are we testing that?’
‘We need to be sure, Ravi, before we accept it as truth,’ she said, making her steps fall in time