Pip hesitated, one foot suspended above the vacuum-tracked carpet. Should she really be alone with him?

Max jerked his head impatiently.

His mum was just downstairs; she should be safe. She planted the foot and strode into his room.

‘Thank you for that,’ he said, closing the door. ‘My mum didn’t need to know I’ve been talking about Andie and Sal again. The woman is a bloodhound, never lets anything go.’

‘Pit bull,’ Pip said. ‘It’s pit bulls that don’t let things go.’

Max sat back on his maroon bedspread. ‘Whatever. What do you want?’

‘I said. I want to know how well you really knew Andie.’

‘I already told you,’ he said, leaning back on his elbows and shooting a glance up past Pip’s shoulder. ‘I didn’t know her that well.’

‘Mmm.’ Pip leaned back against his door. ‘Just acquaintances, right? That’s what you said?’

‘Yeah, I did.’ He scratched his nose. ‘I’ll be honest, I’m starting to find your tone a tad annoying ’

‘Good,’ she said, following Max’s eyes as they looked over again to a noticeboard on the far wall, littered with posters and pinned-up notes and photographs. ‘And I’m starting to find your lies a tad intriguing.’

‘What lies?’ he said. ‘I didn’t know her well.’

‘Interesting,’ Pip said. ‘I’ve spoken to a witness who went to a calamity party that you and Andie attended in March 2012. Interesting because she said she saw you two alone several times that night, looking pretty comfortable with each other.’

‘Who said that?’ Another micro-glance over to the noticeboard.

‘I can’t reveal my sources.’

‘Oh my god.’ He laughed a deep throaty laugh. ‘You’re deluded. You know you’re not actually a police officer, right?’

‘You’re avoiding the question,’ she said. ‘Were you and Andie secretly seeing each other behind Sal’s back?’

Max laughed again. ‘He was my best friend.’

‘That’s not an answer.’ Pip folded her arms.

‘No. No, I wasn’t seeing Andie Bell. Like I said, I didn’t know her that well.’

‘So why did this source see you together? In a manner that made her think you were actually Andie’s boyfriend?’

While Max rolled his eyes at the question, Pip stole her own glance at the noticeboard. The scribbled notes and bits of paper were several layers deep in places, with hidden corners and curled edges. Glossy photos of Max skiing and surfing were pinned on top. A Reservoir Dogs poster took up most of the board.

‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘Whoever it was, they were mistaken. Probably drunk. An unreliable source, you might say.’

‘OK.’ Pip shuffled away from the door. She took a few steps to the right, then paced back a couple, so Max wouldn’t realize as she moved herself incrementally towards the noticeboard. ‘So let’s get this straight.’ She paced again, positioning herself nearer and nearer. ‘You’re saying you never spoke one-on-one with Andie at a calamity party?’

‘I don’t know if never,’ Max said, ‘but it’s not like you’re implying.’

‘OK, OK.’ Pip looked up from the floor, just a couple of feet from the board now. ‘And why do you keep looking over here?’ She twisted on her heels and started flipping through the papers pinned to the board.

‘Hey, stop.’

She heard the bed groan as Max got to his feet.

Pip’s eyes and fingers scanned over to-do lists, scribbled names of companies and grad schemes, leaflets and old photos of a young Max in a hospital bed.

Heavy bare-footed steps behind her.

‘That’s my private stuff!’

And then she saw a small white corner of paper, tucked underneath Reservoir Dogs . She pulled and ripped the paper out just as Max grabbed her arm. Pip spun towards him, his fingers digging into her wrist. And they both looked down at the piece of paper in her hand.

Pip’s mouth fell open.

‘Oh for fuck’s sake.’ Max let her arm go and ran his fingers through his untamed hair.

‘Just acquaintances?’ she said shakily.

‘Who do you think you are?’ Max said. ‘Going through my stuff.’

‘Just acquaintances?’ Pip said again, holding the printed photo up to Max’s face.

It was Andie.

A photo she’d taken of herself in a mirror. Standing on a red and white tiled floor, her right hand raised and clutched round the phone. Her mouth was pushed out in a pout and her eyes looked straight out of the page; she was wearing nothing but a pair of black pants.

‘Care to explain?’ Pip said.

‘No.’

‘Oh, so you want to explain it to the police first? I get it.’ Pip glared at him and feigned walking towards the door.

‘Don’t be dramatic,’ Max said, returning her glare with his glassy blue eyes. ‘It has nothing to do with what happened to her.’

‘I’ll let them decide that.’

‘No, Pippa.’ He blocked her way to the door. ‘Look, this is really not how it looks. Andie didn’t give me that picture. I found it.’