Pip:

What?

Mum:

He panicked when I came in. He was shaking. He tried several excuses as to why he was taking the card, said he needed the info so he could order more envelopes in, then said Todd asked him to do something for him. But I knew he was lying, and Jamie knew I wasn’t buying it. So then he just started apologizing, over and over again. Said he was sorry, he just needed the money and he said something . . . he said something like, ‘I wouldn’t have done this, if it wasn’t life or death.’

Pip:

‘Life or death’? What did he mean by that?

Mum:

I don’t know. I’m guessing he wanted to take the card to an ATM and draw out a few hundred pounds. He knew the PIN because I’d sent him out with that card to get office tea supplies before. I don’t know why he needed the money, but clearly he was desperate. We’d never had any problems with Jamie before this. I’d offered him the job to help him out, to help Joanna and Arthur out because Jamie had been struggling to settle anywhere. He’s a very sweet young man, has been like that since he was a kid. The Jamie I walked in on felt almost like a different person. He looked so scared. So sorry.

Pip:

He must have been desperate, because he would’ve known, even if he’d managed to steal the cash, you’d have found out eventually. Why did he need money so urgently?

Mum:

I never asked. I just told him to put the card down and return my key and I said I wouldn’t call the police. I didn’t need to make any more trouble for him; it looked like he had enough going on, whatever it was. And I would’ve felt too guilty, calling the police on one of my friend’s children in trouble. You don’t do that. So I told Jamie I wouldn’t tell anyone what I saw, but that he could no longer work at Proctor and Radcliffe and his contract would be terminated immediately. I told him he needed to straighten out his life, or I’d have to tell Joanna eventually. He thanked me for not calling the police, said thank you for the opportunity in the first place and then he left. The last thing he said on his way out was, ‘I’m so so sorry, I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t have to.’

Pip:

What did he need the money for?

Mum:

He didn’t say. But if he was willing to steal from the company and get caught for it, what else could he have needed the money for except, well, something . . . illegal . . . criminal?

Pip:

Well, maybe. But that doesn’t mean his disappearance two weeks later isn’t suspicious or out of character. If anything, this makes me more certain Jamie’s in trouble. That he’s got himself mixed up in something bad.

Mum:

I certainly never thought he’d be the sort to steal. Ever.

Pip:

And the only reason he gave you was that it was life or death?

Mum:

Mum: That’s what he said, yes.

Pip:

Whose life or death did he mean?

Fifteen

Pip was certain she could see the very moment Joanna’s heart began to break. It wasn’t when she told her and Connor about the calamity party, about Jamie following someone there. It wasn’t when she said he’d left the party at half ten and was witnessed on the phone, mentioning the police. It wasn’t even when she told them Jamie had been lying to them for two weeks about still having his job, and how he’d lost it. No, it was precisely when she said those exact words: life or death.

Something instantly changed in Joanna: the way she held her head, the outline of her eyes, the way her skin slackened and paled like some of the life in her had slipped away, drifting out into the cold air of the kitchen. And Pip knew she’d just given voice to Joanna’s very worst fears. Even worse than that, those words had come from Jamie himself.

‘But we don’t know what Jamie meant by that. It’s possible he was exaggerating in order to minimize the trouble he was in, or to get my mum to sympathize with him,’ Pip said, looking from Connor to Joanna’s broken eyes. Arthur Reynolds was not in. Apparently, he’d been out most of the day and neither of them knew where he was. Blowing off steam was Joanna’s best guess. ‘Do you have any idea what Jamie might have needed the money for?’

‘Wednesday two weeks ago?’ Connor said. ‘It’s not like there were any birthdays or occasions coming up which he’d need money for.’

‘I doubt Jamie intended to steal money to buy birthday presents,’ Pip replied as gently as she could. ‘Do you know if he had any debts he might have needed to pay off? Phone bill? We know he was very attached to his phone in recent weeks.’

‘I don’t think so.’ Joanna finally spoke. ‘He was on a good salary at the estate agents, I’m sure that more than covered his phone bill. It’s not like he’s been spending more than usual. Jamie hardly ever buys anything for himself, not clothes or anything. I think his main expense would just be, well, lunch.’

‘OK, I’ll look into it.’

‘Where has Jamie been going?’ asked Connor. ‘When he told us he was going to work?’

‘I’ll also look into that,’ Pip said. ‘Maybe he was just getting out of the house, so he wouldn’t have to tell any of you what happened. Maybe he was working on getting a new job, before he told you he’d lost the last one? I know it was a point of contention between Jamie and his dad, maybe he was trying to avoid another argument about jobs.’

‘Yes,’ Joanna said, scratching her chin. ‘Arthur would have been angry about him losing another job. And Jamie hates confrontation.’

‘Skipping back to the calamity party,’ Pip said, steering the conversation, ‘do you have any idea who Jamie could have been on the phone to? Someone who might have asked him to do something?’

‘No. It was none of us,’ she said.

‘Zoe?’ asked Pip.

‘No, she had no contact with Jamie that day. The only person I know Jamie calls regularly is Nat da Silva. Or it used to be.’

‘It wasn’t her,’ Pip said. ‘She told me Jamie never turned up at her house as planned and ignored all her texts and calls.’

‘I don’t know then. I’m sorry,’ Joanna said in a small voice, like that was slipping away from her too.

‘That’s OK.’ Pip brightened hers to compensate. ‘I’m guessing you would have told me, but any luck with the computer password?’

‘Not yet,’ Connor said. ‘We’ve been working through that questionnaire, trying all variables with number replacements. Nothing so far. We’re keeping a record of everything we’ve tried, think we’re over six hundred failed attempts now.’

‘OK, well, keep trying. Tomorrow after school I’ll see if I can contact someone who can brute-force the password without damaging any of the data.’

‘Yep, will do.’ Connor fiddled with his own fingers. There was an open packet of cereal on the counter behind him, and two discarded bowls; Pip guessed those had been dinner. ‘Is there anything else we can be doing, other than the password? Anything?’