‘And did he tell you where he was between ten thirty and twelve fifty?’
‘Um. I can’t remember. No, maybe he didn’t.’
‘Didn’t you ask? Didn’t you want to know?’
‘I can’t really remember, Pip. Sorry,’ she sniffed.
‘That’s OK.’ Pip realized she’d leaned right forward with her last question; she shuffled her notes and sat back again. ‘So the police called you on the Sunday, didn’t they? And you told them that Sal left Max’s at twelve fifteen?’
‘Yeah.’
‘So why did you four change your mind and decide to tell the police on Tuesday about Sal’s false alibi?’
‘I . . . I think it’s because we’d had some time to think about it, and we knew we could get in trouble for lying. None of us thought Sal was involved in what happened to Andie, so we didn’t see the problem in telling police the truth.’
‘Had you discussed with the other three that that’s what you were going to do?’
‘Yeah, we called each other that Monday night and agreed.’
‘But you didn’t tell Sal that you were going to talk to the police?’
‘Um,’ she said, her hands racing through her hair again. ‘No, we didn’t want him to be upset with us.’
‘OK, last question.’ Pip watched as Naomi’s face ironed out with evident relief. ‘Do you think Sal killed Andie that night?’
‘Not the Sal I knew,’ she said. ‘He was the best, the nicest person. Always cheeky and making people laugh. And he was so nice to Andie too, even though she maybe didn’t deserve it. So I don’t know what happened or if he did it, but I don’t want to believe he did.’
‘OK, done,’ Pip smiled, pressing the stop button on her phone. ‘Thanks so much for doing that, Naomi. I know it’s not easy.’
‘That’s OK.’ She nodded and stood up from the chair, the leather squeaking against her legs.
‘Wait, one more thing,’ Pip said. ‘Are Max, Jake and Millie around to be interviewed?’
‘Oh, Millie’s off the grid travelling around Australia and Jake’s living with his girlfriend down in Devon – they just had a baby. Max is in Kilton, though; he just finished his master’s and is back applying for jobs, like me.’
‘Do you think he’d mind giving me a short interview?’ Pip said.
‘I’ll give you his number and you can ask him.’ Naomi held the study door open for her.
In the kitchen they found Cara trying to fit two pieces of toast in her mouth simultaneously and a just-returned Elliot in an eyesore pastel yellow shirt, wiping down the kitchen surfaces. He turned when he heard them come in, the ceiling lights picking up small wisps of grey in his brown hair and flashing across his thick-rimmed glasses.
‘You done, girls?’ He smiled kindly. ‘Excellent timing, I’ve just popped the kettle on.’
Pippa Fitz-Amobi
EPQ 12/08/2017
Just got back from Max Hastings’ house. It felt strange being there, like walking through some kind of crime-scene reconstruction; it looks just the same as it does in those Facebook photos Naomi and co. took of that fateful night five years ago. The night that forever changed this town. Max still looks the same too: tall, blonde floppy hair, mouth slightly too wide for his angular face, somewhat pretentious. He said he remembered me, though, which was nice.
After speaking to him . . . I don’t know, I can’t help but think something’s going on here. Either one of Sal’s friends is misremembering about that night, or one of them is lying. But why?
Transcript of interview with Max Hastings
| Pip: | All right, recording. So, Max you’re twenty-three, right? | |
| Max: | Wrong actually. I’m twenty-five in about a month. | |
| Pip: | Oh. | |
| Max: | Yeah, when I was seven I had leukaemia and missed lots of school, so I got held back a year. I know, I’m a miracle boy. | |
| Pip: | I had no idea. | |
| Max: | You can have my autograph later. | |
| Pip: | OK, so, jumping straight in, can you describe what Sal and Andie’s relationship was like? | |
| Max: | It was fine. It wasn’t like the romance of the century or anything. But they both thought the other was good-looking, so I guess it worked. | |
| Pip: | There wasn’t more depth to it? | |
| Max: | Don’t know, I never really paid attention to high-school romances. | |
| Pip: | So how did their relationship start? | |
| Max: | They just got drunk and hooked up at a party at Christmas. It carried on from there. | |
| Pip: | Was that a – what are they called – oh, a calamity party? | |
| Max: | Holy shit, I forgot we used to call our house parties ‘calamities’. You know about those? | |
| Pip: | Yeah. People at school still throw them, tradition apparently. Legend is that you were their originator. | |
| Max: | What, kids are still throwing messy house parties and calling them calamities? That’s so cool. I feel like a god. Do they still do the next host triathlon bit? | |
| Pip: | I’ve never been. Anyway, did you know Andie before she started a relationship with Sal? | |
| Max: | Yeah, a bit, from school and calamities. We sometimes spoke, yeah. But we weren’t ever, like, friend friends, I didn’t really know her. Like an acquaintance. | |
| Pip: |
OK, so on Friday the
|