𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐦𝐞 - 𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐢 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐡

Twelve

River was fidgeting nervously under the table, hoping that Cara was too busy jabbering to notice. It was the first time ever that River and Pip had to keep things
from her and the nerves were puppet-stringing Pip’s fiddling hands and the knot in her stomach.

Pip and River had gone over after school on the third day back, when teachers stopped talking about what they were going to teach and actually started teaching. They were sitting in the Wards’ kitchen pretending to do
homework, but really Cara was unspooling into an existential crisis.

‘And I told him that I still don’t know what I want to study at uni, let alone where I want to go. And he’s all “time’s ticking, Cara” and it’s stressing me out. Have you had the talk with your parents yet?’

‘Yeah, a few days ago,’ River said. ‘I’ve decided on James Cook University, Townsville.’

‘Psychology?’

River nodded.

‘You are the worst person to vent to about life plans,’ Cara snorted. ‘I bet you already know what you want to be when you grow up.’

‘Of course,’ she said. ‘I want to be Louis Theroux and Heather Brooke and Michelle Obama all rolled into one.’

‘Your efficiency offends me.’

A loud train whistle erupted from River's phone.

‘Who’s that?’ Cara asked.

‘It’s just Rav,’ River said, scanning the text, ‘seeing if I have any
more updates.’

‘Oh, we’re texting each other now, are we?’ Cara said playfully. ‘Should I be saving a date next week for the wedding?’

River threw a ballpoint pen at her. Cara dodged expertly.

‘Well, do you have any Andie Bell updates?’ she said.

‘No,’ River said. ‘Absolutely nothing new.’

The lie made the knot in her gut squeeze tighter.

Ant and Connor were still denying authorship of the note in her sleeping bag when she’d asked them at school. They’d suggested maybe it was Zach or one of the girls. Of course, their denial wasn’t solid proof it hadn’t been
them. But River had to consider the other possibility: what if ? What if it was actually someone involved in the Andie Bell case trying to scare her into.giving up the project? Someone who had a lot to lose if she kept going.

She told no one about the note: not the girls, not the boys when they.asked what it said, not her parents, not even Ravi, which Pip told her not to, even though River desperately wanted to. Their concern might stop her project dead in its tracks. And she had to take control of any possible leaks. She had secrets to hold to her chest and she would learn from the master, Miss Andrea Bell.

‘Where’s your dad?’ asked River.

‘Duh, he came in, like, fifteen minutes ago to say he was off tutoring.’

‘Oh yeah,’ River said. Lies and secrets were distracting. Elliot had always tutored three times a week; it was part of the Ward routine and River knew it well. Her nerves were making her sloppy. Cara would notice before long; she knew her too well. River had to calm down; she was here for a reason. And being skittish would get her caught out.

She could hear the buzz and thud of the television in the other room; Naomi was watching some American drama that involved a lot of pewpewing from silenced guns and shouts of ‘Goddamit’.

Now was River's perfect moment to act.

‘Hey, can I borrow your laptop for two secs?’ she asked Cara, relaxing her face so it wouldn’t betray her. ‘Just want to look up this book for English.’

‘Yep, sure,’ Cara said, passing it across the table. ‘Don’t close my tabs.’

‘Won’t,’ Pip said, turning the laptop so Cara couldn’t see the screen.

River's heartbeat bolted into the tops of her ears. There was so much blood behind her face she was sure she must be turning red. Leaning down to hide behind the screen, she clicked up the control panel.

She’d been up until three last night, that what if question haunting her, chasing away sleep. So she had trawled through the internet, looking at badly worded forum questions and wireless printer instruction manuals.

Anyone could have followed her there into the woods. That was true.

Anyone could have watched her, lured her and her friends out of the marquee so they could leave their message. True. But there was one name on her persons of interest list, one person who would have known exactly where
Pip and Cara were camping. Naomi. She’d been stupid to discount her because of the Naomi she thought she knew. There could well be another
Naomi. One who may or may not be lying about leaving Max’s for a period of time the night Andie died. One who may or may not have been in love with Sal. One who may or may not have hated Andie enough to kill her.

After hours of stubborn research, Pip had learned that there was no way to see the previous documents a wireless printer had printed. And no one in
their right mind would save a note like that on their computer, so attemptingto look through Naomi’s would be pointless. But there was something else she could do.

She clicked into Devices and Printers on Cara’s laptop and hovered the mouse over the name of the Ward family printer, which someone had nicknamed Freddie Prints Jr. She right-clicked into Printer Properties and on to the advanced tab.

Pip had memorized the steps from a ‘how to’ webpage with cartoon illustrations. She checked the box next to Keep Printed Documents, clicked apply and it was done. She closed down the panel and clicked back on to
Cara’s homework.
‘Thanks,’ she said, passing the laptop back, certain that her heart was loud enough to hear, a boom box sewn on the outside of her chest.

‘No problemo.’

Cara’s laptop would now keep track of everything that came through their printer. If Pip received another printed message, she could find out for
definite if it had come from Naomi or not.

The kitchen door opened with an explosion from the White House and federal agents screaming to ‘Get out of here!’ and ‘Save yourself!’ Naomi stood in the door frame.

‘God, Nai,’ Cara said, ‘we’re working in here, turn it down.’

‘Sorry,’ she whispered, as though it compensated for the loud TV. ‘Just getting a drink. You OK, Riv?’ Naomi looked at her with a puzzled expression and only then did River realize she had been staring.

‘Err . . . yep. You just made me jump,’ she said, her smile just a little too wide, carving uncomfortably into her cheeks.

—————

Updated: 02/08/24