“Wait,” Sean says, catching my arm. “You can’t walk back on your own.”

“Relax,” I say, a mocking copy of Jack’s words. “We’re not going to be jumped by a serial killer, remember?”

“Why are you being like this?”

“Like what? Sticking up for my sister? Calling your brother out for such a stupid stunt bringing us here?”

“No. Cruel.”

I stop walking and take a shaky breath.

“Saying that to him about Ellie and Mum…that was cruel.”

“What—more cruel than bringing us to a murder site?”

He takes a step toward me and I stumble away from the anger on his face. “Does it not occur to you that Jack could be hurting too?” he says. “Oh no, why would it? If it doesn’t affect you, it doesn’t register, right? It’s fine to be a bitch if it’s just to Jack and Sean.”

There’s a lump in my throat. I want to say sorry again. Explain that the words burst out in anger and I didn’t mean to be cruel. I don’t want to be cruel. But I’m not apologizing to Sean Lewis.

“Well, maybe it’s hanging round you lot that’s turning me into a bitch.”

“That’s easily solved,” he says stiffly. “I’ll make sure we keep well away in future.” He turns away and walks back toward Jack and Bella.

“Good,” I shout after him. “You do that.”

Bella gets home just before seven. I jump up off the bed to greet her. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have had a go at Jack like that. Not about Ellie.”

Someone’s stolen the smile from her face and, instead, she looks pale and sad. “It’s okay, Tess. It’s not me you have to say sorry to.”

“Yeah, well, I tried saying sorry to Sean and he was an idiot about it.”

“You should say sorry to Jack.”

I quail at the thought. “How was it?” I ask, avoiding her suggestion. “Did the boys know any more about the man they’ve arrested?”

She shrugs, facing away from me as she bends to pull her shoes off. She wore her white Converse and I notice mud all over them. Did they actually go into the field? Tread on the ground where a girl was raped and murdered?

“Not really,” she says quietly.

“It has to have been the same person, though, right? The same person who took that other girl and…hurt Nicole?”

“God, Tess, I don’t know, okay?”

I wait for a moment, chewing my lip. “So what did you do?”

“Tess…I’m tired. Can we talk about it later?”