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417 pages, Paperback
First published April 30, 2020
I made a promise. . . . I said I would never do this again, never play the detective, never again lose myself.
‘Mysteries always seem to find their way to you, don’t they?’
‘We’re the same, you and me. You know it deep down,’
‘So, here it is: Welcome to season two of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder – The Disappearance of Jamie Reynolds’
‘Ah, we’re still title-less are we, Lady Fitz-Amobi?’
‘Breakfast of kings, that is, nice and softened by my arse-heat.’
‘Just checking, Grumpus.’
‘That’s my word for you. You aren’t allowed to have it.’
‘Can solve murders, but can’t tell her left from right,’
‘That’s left, our left, his right.’
‘OK, please don’t hurt me.’
‘You want to put me on a dating site? You’re a weird kind of girlfriend.’
‘It’s just easier because I already have photos of you. We’ll delete the profile right after.’
‘Fine, but you can’t use this to win any future arguments.’
‘No but I really really like you.’
‘We are in a graveyard. Behave.’
‘They can’t hear.’
‘Stop.’
‘You actually being nice to someone.’
‘Well done. Gold star for you, Pip.’
‘Shut up.’
‘When do we move in?’
‘Like your bedroom is much better than this.’
‘Stake-out? Alright, Sarge.’
‘Hey, you’re Sarge. Don’t you use my own names against me.’
‘Let me know when you remember who I am. Who you are.’
‘You should have just asked me. I know exactly who you are. And I love her. I love you. Oh, by the way, I said it first.’
‘Yeah, in anger,’
‘Ah, that’s just because I’m so brooding and mysterious.’
‘I bet everyone dreads the day they get a knock at the door from Pip Fitz-Amobi,’
‘Why’d you ask his age? Looking to trade me in for an older model?’
"Dad said, 'You're a waste of space.'"
"Some people are pretty good at hiding who they really are."
"Yeah, that seems to be the image he and his lawyer have settled on. Expensive suit, fake glasses. Maybe they think his blonde, messy hair will be disarming to the jury or something."
"Hunches have to follow the evidence, that's how this works."
"What do you do when the things that are supposed to protect you, fail you like that."
"Everything's a clue until we discount it."
“So here it is: welcome to season 2 of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder: The Disappearance of Jamie Reynolds.”
“It is my responsibility because I started something and I can’t now take it back. Whatever it did to me, to all of us, I still solved a double murder case last year. Now I have six hundred thousand subscribers who will listen to me and I’m in a position to use that, to help people. To help Jamie.”
”Ravi knew just what to say, what to pick out, how to push her into thinking clearly. And he jumped with her, hand in hand, into even her wildest conclusions. They just worked like that, teased out the best in each other, knowing when to talk and when to just be there.”
“You actually being nice to someone.” The stupid face continued. “Well done. Gold star for you, Pip.”
“Shut up.”
“Go away,” Pip said, scrolling down a page of Leighlas on Instagram. The door skittered open and Ravi stood there, lips pursed in affront, one eyebrow raised.
“Oh, not you.” Pip looked up, a smile breaking across her face”
“Just checking, Grumpus.”
“That’s my name for you,” he said. “You aren’t allowed to have it.”
“I might not know him like you do, and I can’t explain it, but I need Jamie to be OK. He knew my brother, was friends with him and Andie at school. It’s like it’s happening all over again six years later, and this time I actually have a chance, a small chance, to help save Connor’s brother where I had no hope of saving my own. I know Jamie isn’t Sal, but this feels like some kind of second chance for me.”
“You don’t have to go to the trial,” she said.
“Yes I do. I’m not just doing it for you. I mean, I am doing it for you, I’d do anything for you.” He dropped his gaze. “But I’m doing it for me, too.”
“I’m sorry. I feel guilty all the time, so I don’t need you to tell me. I’m the expert on my own mistakes. I understand.”
“She hadn’t almost lost herself, maybe she’d actually been meeting herself for the very first time. And she was tired of feeling guilty about it. Tired of feeling shame about who she was.”
“She wanted just to be the Pip she was with Ravi for a while. But that Pip wasn’t here right now. And maybe she really was gone.��
“And she checked, down inside herself, under her skin, but she couldn’t find it. The scream was no longer there, waiting for her. She’d beaten it.”
“I think we all get to decide what good and bad and right and wrong mean to us, not what we’re told to accept. You did nothing wrong. Don’t beat yourself up for other people’s mistakes.”
And she checked, down inside herself, under her skin, but she couldn’t find it. The scream was no longer there, waiting for her. She’d beaten it.
“You don’t have to go to the trial,” she said.
“Yes I do. I’m not just doing it for you. I mean, I am doing it for you, I’d do anything for you.” He dropped his gaze. “But I’m doing it for me, too.”
‘OK . . .’ He chewed his lip and it made Pip’s stomach tighten. ‘So, something murder, or kill or dead. And you are Pip, who’s a student and a girl who’s good at . . . oh shit,’ he said suddenly, eyes widening. ‘I’ve got it!’
‘What?’ she said.
‘I’ve literally got it,’ he said, far too pleased with himself. ‘What is it?’
‘A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder.’
‘Noooo.’ Pip shook her head. ‘That’s bad, way too try- hard.’
‘Oh, justice exists,’ Charlie said, looking up at the rain. ‘Maybe not the kind that happens in police stations and courtrooms, but it does exist. And when you really think about it, those words – good and bad, right and wrong – they don’t really matter in the real world. Who gets to decide what they mean: those people who just got it wrong and let Max walk free? No,’ he shook his head. ‘I think we all get to decide what good and bad and right and wrong mean to us, not what we’re told to accept. You did nothing wrong. Don’t beat yourself up for other people’s mistakes.’
❝I don't have to be likeable. Fuck likeable❞
Pip sighed: Ravi liked anyone who fed him.