The Secret Place

‘Now? Just looked pissed off, said I had to sort out some shite and it’d only take me a minute, don’t go anywhere. I’d say he thinks you’re bitching about having to wait around.’ She glanced back at the door, a dark crack open. We started moving, into the shadow and round the boarders’ wing, out of sight.

I asked, ‘Getting anywhere with Holly?’

Conway shook her head. ‘I threw around possible motives for a while, but nothing looked like it clicked. Went back to how she wasn’t there for Selena, what she would’ve done to make up for it; the kid got stroppy, but she didn’t give me anything new. I didn’t want to push too hard: if she started going to bits, Mackey would’ve walked, and I wanted to give you time. What’ve you got?’

I said, ‘Rebecca was going through the shovels and spades in the groundskeepers’ shed. The day before the murder.’

Conway went still. Stopped breathing.

After a moment: ‘Who said?’

‘Gemma. She was looking to buy diet pills, walked in on Rebecca. Rebecca jumped a mile, did a legger.’

‘Gemma. Joanne’s lapdog Gemma.’

‘I don’t think she was bullshitting me. They weren’t covering for themselves, anyway. They didn’t cop that there was anything dodgy about Rebecca being at the tools. They thought the suss bit was her being in there at all – thought she was buying drugs off the groundskeeper to give to Chris, because she was into him, and then he turned her down and she lost it. I said Rebecca was too small to do the job; they said if Chris was sitting down, she could’ve hit him with a rock. If they knew the weapon was a hoe, no way could they have stopped themselves bringing it up. They don’t have that kind of self-control. They don’t know.’

Conway still hadn’t moved: feet braced, shoulders braced, hands dug in her pockets. Things going fast behind her eyes. She said, ‘I don’t see it. The drugs thing, maybe that could play; Rebecca could’ve been bribing Chris to stay away from Selena. But remember the condom? Chris went out there expecting a ride. You think Rebecca’d been shagging him? Seriously?’

I said, ‘I don’t think the earlier meetings were Rebecca. Remember what Holly said? When she realised something was up with Selena, she tried to talk to Julia about it. Julia didn’t want to know: told her to forget it, Selena’d get over it sooner or later. Does that sound like Julia to you? She’s a scrapper. One of her mates is in trouble, she’s just going to stick her fingers in her ears, hope it goes away?’

Conway moved then. Her head went back, moonlight on the whites of her eyes. ‘Julia was already on it.’

‘Yeah. She didn’t want Holly getting involved, making things more complicated. So she told her to leave it.’

‘Fuck,’ Conway said. ‘Remember what Joanne told us? She put her bitches on night duty, make sure Selena had stopped sneaking out to see Chris. No sign of Selena, but they saw Julia, all right. They thought she was meeting Finn Carroll. And we went along with that. Pair of fucking fools.’

I said, ‘No way to keep a secret for long, in a room that size. Somewhere in there, Rebecca found out – either about Chris and Selena, or about Chris and Julia.’

‘Yeah. And Holly said even the thought of anything being wrong with any of them made Rebecca go mental.’

‘The thought of the four of them not being enough to make everything OK. She couldn’t handle that.’ I saw the poster, the calligraphy that had taken hours, weeks, a fresh start for every finger-slip. If crouds of dangers should appeare, Yet friendship can be unconcern’d.

Conway said, ‘This doesn’t mean Holly’s out.’

She didn’t say it the way she would have an hour or two before, a sideways eye checking me for a flinch or a flicker. Just said it. Eyes narrowed up at the school building, like it was daring her.

I said, ‘Right. Doesn’t rule out Julia, either, or the whole three of them: for all we know it was one to find the weapon, one to lure Chris to the grove, one to do the job when he had his mind on other things. All we know for sure is Rebecca’s in.’

‘Get anything else?’

After a moment I said, ‘That’s it.’

Conway’s face came round to me. ‘But what?’

‘But.’ I wanted to twist away from it, but she needed to know. ‘Joanne and them, they weren’t pleased when I said I had to head. They were trying to do something, I don’t even know what. Flirt with me, get me to stay. Something like that.’

‘Any touching?’

‘Yeah. Joanne put her finger on my leg. I talked them down, she took the hand away, I got the fuck out of Dodge.’

Conway watched me. ‘Is this you saying I shouldn’t have thrown you into the shark tank all on your ownio?’

‘No. I’m a big boy. If I hadn’t’ve wanted to talk to them, I wouldn’t have.’

‘’Cause I would’ve done it myself, if I could. But I’d have got nothing. It had to be you.’

Me, the perfect bait, whatever whoever wanted. ‘I know. I’m only telling you. I figure you should know.’