Free Hollow Pike by James Dawson Page B

‘Lis, our rule is that anything said in Kitty’s attic, never leaves
Kitty’s attic.’
    ‘Seems reasonable.’ Lis looked to Kitty and she smiled warmly. The air of menace Kitty had at school was nowhere to be found in the cosy loft conversion.
    ‘That works for you too,’ Jack continued. ‘You can tell us anything you want. We won’t say anything at school.’
    ‘It’s not as if anyone talks to us, anyway, is it?’ Kitty added.
    Lis smiled sympathetically. ‘I want you to know, I’m not like Laura and the others. I never slagged you off.’
    ‘We know.’ Delilah smiled. ‘We wouldn’t have invited you here otherwise.’
    Lis sat forward, feeling braver. ‘I left my last school because I was being bullied. It got quite bad. I wouldn’t do that to someone else.’
    Jack pulled his legs up onto the sofa. ‘You were bullied? But you’re so pretty! And there I was thinking only the fat, gay kids got bullied!’
    All four of them laughed uproariously, and Lis realised she hadn’t laughed out loud like this in a very long time.

    A few hours later, all four of them were sitting in a circle on the tatty rug. Night had long since fallen and the plan to murder Laura Rigg was well under way.
    Jack’s initial suggestions were hilarious and outlandish, involving the construction of various death contraptions for Laura to step inside, not unlike Mousetrap . Kitty and Delilah
steered the conversation round to more realistic ideas.
    ‘But how could we do it?’ asked Delilah. ‘How could we murder the most popular girl in school and get away with it? There has to be a way.’
    ‘We could all provide alibis for each other,’ Lis suggested.
    ‘We could. They’d have to be airtight though,’ mused Kitty. ‘Maybe we could wait until someone’s parents were on holiday, or something, so we could believably all
be in one place at the time of death and make sure we could come and go without anyone knowing.’
    Jack ran a hand through his mousy hair. ‘My mum and Amber are always away overnight for Amber’s dance contests, so that could work.’
    Drawing tiny elaborate doodles on a notebook, Delilah looked distracted but remained focused on the conversation. ‘We wouldn’t want to kill her anywhere near any of our houses,
obviously.’
    ‘And we can hardly follow her around, waiting for her to be alone in a dark alley,’ Jack laughed. ‘It’s not as if we’re inconspicuous.’
    ‘Hmmm . . . Maybe we could arrange for her to meet us somewhere?’ Delilah suggested as she continued with her doodles.
    An idea occurred to Lis. ‘I’m pretty sure I have Laura’s email address . . .’
    Kitty laughed. ‘Nah, even from a fake account, they could trace where the email had originated.’
    ‘Really? Forget it then.’
    ‘No, it’s a good idea. We could write a letter instead of an email. A print-out from a school printer wouldn’t incriminate any of us as long as we didn’t handle the
paper,’ said Kitty.
    ‘We should totally write the note from Danny!’ Jack said eagerly, popping up onto his knees.
    Lis felt distinctly strange at the thought of dragging Danny’s name into things. Although he’d have his own alibi, he’d no doubt be put through hell.
    ‘No,’ stated Delilah, to Lis’s relief.
    ‘I agree,’ Kitty added. ‘Danny’s OK. I haven’t got a problem with him.’
    ‘Say it’s from Nasima Bharat,’ Delilah breathed.
    ‘Good call!’ Jack threw himself back onto the sofa. He was a bundle of energy, barely able to sit still for a second. ‘Frankly, that bitch has it coming.’
    Lis was drawn in to what was essentially a problem-solving exercise. How can you control all the variables surrounding a murder? The police, the body, the weapons? It was harder than any SAT
question. She flipped her hair back and squinted in concentration. ‘What about poison? Then there’d be no weapon.’
    ‘Yeah,’ said Kitty. ‘Could work. But how would we get her to take it?’
    ‘She’s a