‘I did,’ said Abi, still crying. ‘I saw. I’m sorry, Fash, I couldn’t help it! I came back. After I got my phone and that from Cora’s bag. And you and Sadie … you …’ She looked at Mason, and didn’t dare to say anything more.
‘Tell them what you did next, Abi,’ said Cora. In a voice I didn’t like at all. And then, when Abi didn’t say anything, Cora answered for her. ‘She took a photo,’ she said. ‘Of the two of you doing it.’
‘I didn’t mean to! It was like … like a reflex, that’s all! I thought you were just messing around! And anyway, it didn’t even come out! You’ve seen it. You all have. You can barely even see Sadie’s face!’
‘But you were more than happy to show me, weren’t you?’ said Cora. ‘When you came to my house the next day?’
‘Which was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made!’ Abi’s face was blotched with tears, but now more than upset she looked angry. Furious, in fact. She pointed at Cora, her arm straight like a spear. ‘She was the one who shared it online. Using my account! The one I set up as a joke last year. The Lara one. I only didn’t delete it earlier because it had so many followers. Because people thought it was genuinely her. And Cora was in my bedroom one evening, and when I went out of the room for like five fucking minutes, she swiped my phone and posted it! More than once! And she didn’t even tell me!’
‘You started the rumours?’ I said to Cora. ‘You were the one spreading shit about my sister?’
Cora opened her mouth to answer, but Fash spoke up before she could.
‘The photo,’ he said. ‘I thought … I thought it was fake. I mean, I figured someone had seen us. But I just assumed … Lara, maybe, or … someone who hated us. Who didn’t really know us. Not one of our friends!’
Cora had the decency to look ashamed. ‘Why do you think I kept you out of it, Fash? To protect you. You and your friendship with Mason. And it wasn’t shit, Luke. That was the whole point!’ She looked at Mason, who was standing there trying to take it all in. ‘Everybody always thought Sadie was Little Miss Perfect. But she wasn’t! I was trying to show you, Mase! To prove to you that she didn’t love you as much as you loved her. The truth is, she didn’t deserve you. You should have been with me!’
Mason looked appalled, disgusted. You name it.
‘I would have stopped it, Mason,’ said Abi, pleading now. ‘I did stop it. I deleted the account. After Sadie went missing, Cora freaked out. She came to me and told me what she’d done. I didn’t even know until then! I didn’t even use that account! And what Cora said was, if I told anyone it was her – the police, she meant, because she knew how it would look if they found out how jealous she was – but what she said was, if I told anyone, she’d deny it. Tell them I did it. Which she said she’d be able to prove because the police would be able to trace the photo to my phone. And then she made me use another account to send other stuff. About Sadie’s parents, this time.’
‘I didn’t make you do anything!’ said Cora. ‘You could have said no. You’re not a fucking sheep.’ She turned to me. ‘And the stuff about your parents, Luke … I didn’t think you’d even see it. You’d already told us you’d deleted your accounts. And I was only trying to stop the police blaming Mason. You see that, don’t you? Both of you?’ She looked at Mason. ‘I said to you, Mase. I told you I’d tried to help you …’
‘Help me?’ said Mason. ‘By spreading lies about someone else?’
‘I swear,’ said Abi, cutting in, ‘none of it was my fault. It was all Cora. All of it. And I only didn’t say anything because I was so afraid. I thought … I thought Sadie had killed herself. We both did! Admit it, Cora – that’s what you thought, too!’
Cora didn’t have to say anything to confirm Abi was telling the truth. And I could imagine exactly what they’d been thinking. At first, they might have figured Sadie had run away. Hoped she had, maybe. But then, when she didn’t turn up, when there was no sight of her on any CCTV, and when you lot found her bag … Maybe they started to believe that Sadie had been so upset by all the gossip – the gossip they’d started – that she’d actually taken her own life.
It was no wonder they’d been so afraid of what they’d find out in the woods. And so ashamed, too. So terrified that one of them would betray the other.
‘You lied,’ said Mason. ‘All of you – you all lied! I knew you were lying! And not one of you went to the police! All you cared about was trying to save your own skin!’ He looked at Cora and Abi – and then his eyes settled on Fash. ‘And you. You let the police believe that Sadie was pregnant because of me!’
‘Mate, listen, honestly … I didn’t know anything about the pregnancy test! I swear on my life! On my mum’s life! On … on …’
‘On Sadie’s life?’ said Mason, and Fash’s mouth clamped shut. Because it was clear he felt as guilty as Cora and Abi did. Not
