Jasmine sat on the sofa in Felicity’s lounge. She could tell by the look on Felicity’s face that she looked ghostly. She had rushed out of the house as soon as she could and turned up at Felicity’s, banging frantically on the door for someone to let her in.

‘You need sugar,’ Felicity’s mother said as she appeared with a glass of pineapple juice. It was the most motherly thing Jasmine had ever seen Carol do.

‘What happened?’ Felicity asked.

‘I just don’t feel well. I’ll be fine. I think I’ve got a summer cold coming,’ Jasmine said, desperate to get rid of Carol so she could confide in Felicity.

She thought about the wisdom of leaving Tim at her house. How would she explain any of this to her parents? She guessed it wasn’t her place to explain anything to anyone. Maybe Tim would be gone by the time she went back and she could forget all of this. Pretend that she had never seen those photos and pretend that the necklace she cherished wasn’t ripped from the neck of a dead girl. The thought of wearing that necklace ever again made her want to cry.

‘Come on, tell me what’s going on. Is it Tim? Did something happen?’ Felicity asked as her mother left the room.

Jasmine nodded and started to cry.

‘It’s not what you think. I don’t even know what it is. I’m so confused.’

‘You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Tell me what’s going on. I won’t say anything, I promise. Did he hurt you or something? Oh my God, did he force himself on you?’

‘What? No, it’s nothing like that.’ Jasmine took a deep breath. ‘I broke into the guest house when he was out, to try and find out more about him. He’s been behaving really weirdly. I was going to tell you, but I wanted to find out what the deal was first.’

‘Oh my God! What did you find out?’ Felicity said, clearly trying not to look too excited. She lived for drama.

‘I found some photos, horrible ones, dead girls and stuff.’

‘What, like snuff movie type stuff?’

‘Like … serial killer type stuff.’

‘What?’ Felicity’s mouth fell open. ‘Whose photos were they?’