Just Keep Breathing, GS Rhodes [best book club books for discussion TXT] 📗

“You mean if Sarah isn’t being dramatic and flouncing off for a couple of days,” DI Kidd said with a raise of his eyebrow. “You’re not wrong. She didn’t seem to like her much.”

“Which is odd when Ms Lu was practically in tears at the very mention of Sarah’s name.”

“I know,” DI Kidd said, staring out the window and looking at the car park. He hadn’t expected that kind of reaction from Ms Chowdhury. But, he supposed, he hadn’t expected Sarah to have done disappearing acts on a regular basis. Though it was certainly possible that her parents didn’t know about them, or had her staying off sick at home or something. The interview with the parents was certainly going to help them in all this.

“What about that website?” DS Sanchez said. “Whoever posted that obviously has it out for Sarah.”

“It’s one thing to have a healthy dislike for someone, but to post about it? To go out and look for evidence—”

“I think the kids call them receipts.”

“Receipts, then,” DI Kidd said. “That’s vicious. There’s something in that for sure, we just need to find out exactly who it was that did it.”

“But the website has been deleted.”

Kidd shrugged. “The tech bods will have a way to figure it out

They waited a little while longer, DS Sanchez fielding a lengthy call from DC Campbell—where he almost certainly asked her out again given the number of times DS Sanchez said, “No, no, for the last bloody time Campbell, no!”—during which he gave them the address for Sarah Harper’s parents. She told him they would make it there by early afternoon.

DI Kidd’s phone pinged in his pocket. A message from John.

JOHN: We still on for 1?

DI Kidd checked the time on his phone. It was already getting on for eleven. Given the amount of time this was going to take, and if they were going to be at Sarah’s parents’ house for the early afternoon, it wasn’t looking likely.

How about 3pm?

I know it’s late but something has happened at work.

I can explain.

Kidd waited as the three dots appeared on the screen, seeing that John was typing. He held his breath.

JOHN: 3 is fine. I’ll meet you at the station.

Great. See you then.

Kidd turned back to DS Sanchez who was watching him carefully.

“You okay?” she asked.

“Just rearranging lunch with John.”

“Ah,” she said. “Sweet.”

“Not really,” Kidd said. “I don’t want him to think I’m blowing him off or anything.”

“Well, Ben, I think he’d want to know if—”

The door opened to interrupt her, Ms Lu walking in ushering a young dark-skinned girl, her hair curly and free around her head. She fixed both of them with a nervous look before turning back to Ms Lu.

“What’s this about, Miss?” she asked, looking from Ms Lu back to Kidd and Zoe. “I’ve not done anything.”

“Nothing to worry about,” Zoe said, painting a smile on her face. This was what Zoe was good at. Kidd had a tendency to be a little abrasive in interviews, even though this wasn’t officially an interview, while Zoe always managed to be on the cooler side. “We just have a few questions about Sarah Harper we wanted to ask you. It won’t take long, then you’ll be free to go.”

The girl eyed them both warily.

“I’m not under arrest, am I?” She looked nervous. She crossed her arms and backed towards the door.

“Not at all,” Kidd said, trying to soften what was probably quite a hardened look on his face. “We’re just trying to track Sarah down and we thought you might be able to help us.”

Kidd walked over to the table and took a seat on one side. DS Sanchez joined him. The girl still looked nervous.

“Can I ask you what your name is?” Zoe said softly.

“Taylor,” she muttered. “Taylor Grant.”

“Taylor, we just have a few questions,” Zoe said, again keeping her tone as measured as possible. “It won’t take long.”

Taylor nodded and walked over to the chair on the opposite side of the table. She pulled her blazer tightly around herself as she sat and crossed one leg over the other, her body not quite facing the two detectives. She looked as if she would make a break for the door at any second.

“Taylor,” Kidd said. “I wondered if you’d be able to take us through the last time you saw Sarah Harper.”

“The last time I saw her?”

“Yes, please,” Kidd said. “I understand some…information was revealed that she didn’t really want out in the open. Can you tell us about that?”

Taylor tutted. “She was sneaking around with Jonno when she was actually with Dexter.” At the look Kidd gave her, she amended, “Dexter Black. Her boyfriend. She was stupid and got caught. Well, someone caught her. They should be worried about their life when they find out who it was.”

“Why’s that?”

“Well, Dex isn’t exactly happy about it,” Taylor said. “He’s not the nicest guy. Neither’s Jonno, come to think of it. Don’t know why we hang out with them.”

“You’re friends with them both?”

“They’re in our friendship group,” Taylor said. “That doesn’t mean we’re friends. Dexter and Jonno are tight though. Well, they were tight. After it happened, Dexter and Jonno got into a fight. Had to get Mr Warren and Mr Deans to pull them apart.”

“Who are they?”

“PE teachers,” Taylor said, laughing. “They were probably just happy to be doing something useful.”

Kidd took all this down, noting the names of other people they would need to speak with, if not today, then at some point in the future. There were a lot of names. The net for who might not like Sarah was getting cast wider and wider.

“So, how well do you know Sarah?” DS Sanchez asked.

“We’ve known each other since we started here,” Taylor said. “We were really good friends for a few years, but then boys started getting involved and then came the drama, and with the drama came…well…Sarah liked the drama, so the more of it that came, the more of it she