Chloe:

(Laughs) No.

Pip:

But were they quite serious about each other?

Chloe:

I don’t know, I guess so. Define serious?

Pip:

Well, excuse the question, but were they sleeping together?

[Yes, I do cringe hearing this back. But I need to know everything.]

Chloe:

Wow, school projects have changed since I left. Why on earth would you need to know that?

Pip:

Did she not tell you?

Chloe:

Of course she told me. And no, they weren’t, actually.

Pip:

Oh. Was Andie a virgin?

Chloe:

No, she wasn’t.

Pip:

So who was she sleeping with?

Chloe:

(Small pause) I don’t know.

Pip:

You didn’t know?

Chloe:

Andie liked her secrets, OK? They made her powerful. She got a thrill out of me and Emma not knowing certain things. But she’d dangle them in front of us because she liked us to ask. Like where she got all that money from; she would just laugh and wink when we asked.

Pip:

Money?

Chloe:

Yeah. That girl was always shopping, always had a load of cash on her. And, in our final year, she told me she was saving up to get lip fillers and a nose job. She never told Emma that, just me. But she was generous with it too; she’d buy us make-up and stuff, and always let us borrow her clothes. But then she’d pick her moment at the party to say something like: “Oh, Chlo, looks like you’ve stretched that. I’ll have to give it to Becca now.” Sweet girl.

Pip:

Where did her money come from? Did she have a part-time job?

Chloe:

No. I told you, I didn’t know. I just presumed her dad was giving it to her.

Pip:

Like an allowance?

Chloe:

Yeah, maybe.

Pip:

So when Andie first went missing, was there any part of you that thought she had run away to punish someone? Maybe her father?

Chloe:

Andie had things too good to want to run away.

Pip:

But was there tension in Andie’s relationship with her dad?

[As soon as I say the word ‘dad’ Chloe’s tone flips.]

Chloe:

I don’t see how that can be relevant to your project. Look, I know I’ve been flippant about her and, yeah, she had her flaws, but she was still my best friend who got murdered. I don’t think it’s right to be talking about her personal relationships and her family, however many years later.

Pip:

No, you’re right, sorry. I just thought if I knew what Andie was like and what was happening in her life, I could better understand the case.

Chloe:

Yeah OK, but none of that is relevant. Sal Singh killed her. And you’re not going to get to know Andie from a few interviews. It was impossible to know her, even when you were her best friend.

[I inelegantly try to apologize and bring us back on topic, but it is clear Chloe is done. I thank her for her help before she hangs up.]

Grrr, so frustrating. I thought I was actually getting somewhere, but, no, I blundered into a giant minefield of raw emotion with both of Andie’s friends and ruined it. I guess even though they think they’ve moved on, they still haven’t quite broken free of Andie’s hold. Maybe they are even still keeping some of her secrets. I certainly struck a nerve when I brought up Andie’s dad; is there a story there?

I just read the transcript another few times and . . . maybe there’s something else hidden here. When I asked Chloe who Andie was sleeping with, what I’d meant to ask was who Andie had slept with before Sal, any past relationships. But I accidentally phrased it in the past continuous: ‘who was she sleeping with?’ This, in context, means that what I accidentally asked was: who else was Andie sleeping with at the same time as her relationship with Sal? But Chloe didn’t correct me. She just said she didn’t know.

I’m grasping at straws, I know. Of course, Chloe could have been answering the question I’d meant to ask. This could be nothing. I know I can’t solve this case by being particular about grammar, that’s not how the real world works unfortunately.

But now I’ve got the scent of it, I can’t let it go. Was Andie secretly seeing someone else? Did Sal find out and that’s why they were arguing? Does this explain Sal’s last text to Andie before she disappeared: im not talking to you till youve stopped ?

I’m not a police officer, this is still just a school project, so I can’t make them tell me anything. And these are the kinds of secrets you only share with your best friends, not some random girl doing her EPQ.

Oh My God. I’ve just had a horrible but maybe brilliant idea. Horrible and certainly immoral and probably stupid. And definitely, definitely wrong. And even so, I think I should do it. I can’t come out of this thing entirely squeaky clean if I actually want to find out what happened to Andie and Sal.