‘It has to be hers,’ Mason insisted. ‘It’s nobody else’s, right? And she was the only other person who had a copy of that photo.’
Which wasn’t necessarily true. I mean, Abi had sent the picture to all of us right after she’d taken it, but that didn’t mean none of us had forwarded it on. And obviously Abi had posted it on Instagram. She puts her cornflakes on Instagram, for Christ’s sake.
Plus, the other thing was, Sadie had an iPhone like Abi’s, and you’d already found it down by the river. Right? With her wallet and her house keys? So, really, we couldn’t be sure whose it was.
‘Hold on,’ said Fash, voicing what I’d been thinking. ‘We shouldn’t go jumping to conclusions.’
Luke had started tapping at the phone screen. The rest of us watched him to see what he was doing. All of a sudden his legs went from under him, and he dropped arse first on to the ground.
‘Luke?’ said Fash. ‘What’s the matter?’
Luke was just staring at the phone, one hand covering his mouth.
I tried to see what he was looking at, but Mason took the phone from Luke’s hand. His jaw tightened, and he turned the screen towards us. At first I couldn’t work out what the problem was. There was just a bunch of apps showing on the home screen, and the same photo we’d already seen in the background.
And then I realised. He’d unlocked it. Luke had. Meaning he must have entered the code.
‘Zero-eight-zero-eight,’ said Luke, which was all he needed to say. It was Dylan’s birthday, the code Sadie used for everything. Her phone, her bank card, anything that needed a PIN.
Mason was looking at the screen. After a moment or two tapping and swiping, his eyebrows joined at the middle.
‘There’s nothing on it,’ he said. ‘No photos, no contacts, no messages. Nothing.’
‘Are you sure?’ said Abi, angling herself to try to see.
‘Literally,’ said Mason, ‘there’s nothing. Just the apps that would have come loaded on the phone.’
‘So what does that mean?’ Abi asked, looking to me now.
Mason turned the phone over in his hand, and then he was the one to go white. ‘What’s that?’ he said, pointing.
We all looked closer. I swallowed.
‘That’s just … It’s mud,’ said Fash. ‘Isn’t it?’ There was a stain on the corner of the cover, and he reached out with his finger, as though he meant to wipe it away.
I grabbed his arm. ‘Don’t,’ I said. ‘Don’t touch it.’
Fash looked at me. He didn’t say anything. He let his arm fall away.
‘Oh God,’ said Abi. ‘That’s not … Please don’t tell me that’s …’
‘We don’t know what it is,’ I said, because I swear to God she was practically hyperventilating.
‘It is, though, isn’t it?’ said Abi. ‘It’s blood. It’s Sadie’s blood.’ She looked like she was about to cry.
‘We don’t know what it is!’ I said again. ‘Just like we can’t be certain the phone is even hers!’
‘Oh, for fuck’s sake!’ said Mason. ‘Who else apart from one of us would have that photo on their lock screen? And it’s Sadie’s passcode! That’s pretty fucking conclusive if you ask me.’
Luke was still sitting on the floor, his thumbs tucked under his chin and his fingers steepled across his mouth. I sat down next to him, and wrapped my arm around his shoulders.
‘Mase,’ I said, quietly. Just like a warning, you know? And I tipped my head slightly in Luke’s direction.
But Mason either didn’t hear, or he wasn’t in the mood to listen.
‘I told you,’ he said. ‘I fucking told you. And you lot all wanted to go back! You were dying to go back.’
‘Mason!’ I said again, practically shouting this time. ‘Shut up, will you! Just stop! Just for a minute!’
Luke had started muttering to himself, saying something I couldn’t make out. Mason was shaking his head, ignoring me the way he had before.
‘Now we have to stay out here,’ he said. ‘Nobody’s going home now.’
‘Mase …’ said Fash. ‘Let’s just … let’s think about this for a second. Let’s try to work out what it means.’
Mason spun. ‘It means Sadie was out here. That’s what it means. It means she’s probably still out here.’
‘But why would Sadie have a second phone?’ I said, as much to myself as anyone. ‘It doesn’t make any sense.’
Mason opened his mouth to answer, but it was obvious he didn’t know what to say. ‘I don’t know,’ he said eventually. ‘I don’t fucking know, OK? But that’s not the point. You know as well as I do, that’s not the point.’
Luke got to his feet. ‘I need to go home,’ he said, and I realised that’s what he’d been muttering before. ‘I need to get back.’
‘What?’ said Mason, as Luke swung his rucksack over his shoulder. ‘No, Luke, wait. We can’t go back. Not now. You see that, don’t you?’
Luke shook his head. ‘Dylan,’ he said. ‘Dylan needs me. I need to get back. I’m sorry, Mase, but I do.’
Mason took hold of his arm. ‘Luke, wait. Listen. Maybe Dylan needs you, but what if your sister needs you more? What if she’s out here and she’s hurt? Just like we said before?’
Luke opened his mouth again, but this time nothing came out.
‘Guys?’ said Fash. ‘Don’t you think … I mean, if it is Sadie’s phone, shouldn’t we … I don’t know. Tell the police or something? Especially if that’s …’ He gestured to the phone in Mason’s hand. ‘If what’s on it isn’t mud.’
‘The police?’ said Mason, incredulous. ‘What are the police going to do?’
‘They’ll run, like, tests or something,’ said Abi. ‘Won’t they? They’ll be able to find out for sure.’
‘Find what out?’ Mason scoffed. ‘It’s Sadie’s phone. We know that. All that forensic shit takes days, and anyway, the cops have already made up their minds. They think Sadie’s dead, and they think I killed her. If we turn up with this,’ he said, waggling the phone, ‘and they discover I was there when we found it, it
