‘You found it? Where?’

‘It was just lying around at school. I found it and I kept it. Andie never knew about it.’ There was a hint of pleading in his voice.

‘You found a nude picture of Andie just lying around at school?’ She didn’t even try to hide her disbelief.

‘Yes. It was just hidden in the back of a classroom. I swear.’

‘And you didn’t tell Andie or anyone that you’d found it?’ said Pip.

‘No, I just kept it.’

‘Why?’

‘I don’t know,’ his voice scrambled higher. ‘Because she’s hot and I wanted to. And then it seemed wrong to throw it away after . . . What? Don’t judge me. She took the photo; she clearly wanted it to be seen.’

‘You expect me to believe that you just found this naked picture of Andie, a girl you were seen getting close to at parties –’

Max cut her off. ‘Those are completely unrelated. I wasn’t talking to Andie because we were together and neither do I have that picture because we were together. We weren’t together. We never had been.’

‘So you were alone talking to Andie at that calamity party?’ Pip said triumphantly.

Max held his face in his hands for a moment, his fingertips pressing into his eyes.

‘Fine,’ he said quietly, ‘if I tell you, will you please just leave me alone? And no police.’

‘That depends.’

‘OK, fine. I knew Andie better than I said I did. A lot better. Since before she started with Sal. But I wasn’t seeing her. I was buying from her.’

Pip looked at him in confusion, her mind ticking back over his last words.

‘Buying . . . drugs?’ she asked softly.

Max nodded. ‘Nothing super hard, though. Just weed and a few pills.’

‘H-holy pepperoni. Hold on.’ Pip held up her finger to push the world back, give her brain space to think. ‘Andie Bell was dealing drugs?’

‘Well, yeah, but only at calamities and when we went out to clubs and stuff. Just to a few people. A handful at most. She wasn’t like a proper dealer.’ Max paused. ‘She was working with an actual dealer in town, got him an inside into the school crowd. It worked out for both of them.’

‘That’s why she always had so much cash,’ Pip said, the puzzle piece slotting in with an almost audible click in her head. ‘Did she use?’

‘Not really. Think she only did it for the money. Money and the power it gave her. I could tell she enjoyed that.’

‘And did Sal know she was selling drugs?’

Max laughed. ‘Oh no,’ he said, ‘no, no, no. Sal always hated drugs, that wouldn’t have gone down well. Andie hid it from him; she was good at secrets. I think the only people who knew were those who bought from her. But I always thought Sal was a little naive. I’m surprised he never found out.’

‘How long had she been doing this?’ Pip said, feeling a crackle of sinister excitement spark through her.

‘A while.’ Max looked up at the ceiling, his eyes circling as though he were turning over his own memories. ‘Think the first time I bought weed off her was early 2011, when she was still sixteen. That was probably around when it started.’

‘And who was Andie’s dealer? Who did she get the drugs from?’

Max shrugged. ‘I dunno, I never knew the guy. I only ever bought through Andie and she never told me.’

Pip deflated. ‘You don’t know anything? You never bought drugs in Kilton after Andie was killed?’

‘Nope.’ He shrugged again. ‘I don’t know anything more.’

‘But were other people at calamities still using drugs? Where did they get them?’

‘I don’t know, Pippa,’ Max over-enunciated. ‘I told you what you wanted to hear. Now I want you to leave.’

He stepped forward and whipped the photo out of Pip’s hands. His thumb closed over Andie’s face, the picture crumpling in his tight and shaking grip. A crease split down the middle of Andie’s body as he folded her away.

Seventeen

Pip tuned out of the others’ conversation and into the background soundtrack of the cafeteria. A bass of scraping chairs and guffaws from a group of teenage boys whose voices fluctuated at will from deep tenor into squeaky soprano. The tuneful scrape of lunch trays sliding along the bench, picking up salad packs or bowls of soup, harmonized by the rustle of crisp packets and weekend gossip.

Pip spotted him before the others and waved him over to their table. Ant waddled over, two packaged sandwiches cradled in his arms.

‘Hey, guys,’ he said, sliding on to the bench beside Cara, already tearing into sandwich number one.

‘How was practice?’ Pip asked.

Ant looked up at her warily, his mouth slightly open, revealing the churned produce of his chewing. ‘Fine,’ he swallowed. ‘Why are you being nice to me? What do you want?’

‘Nothing,’ Pip laughed. ‘I’m just asking how football was.’

‘No,’ Zach butted in, ‘that’s far too friendly for you. Something’s up.’

‘Nothing’s up.’ She shrugged. ‘Only the national debt and global sea levels.’