Twenty-Five

Pip leads a large after-school volunteer search, dividing teams across Kilton to trace Jamie Reynolds’s movements between 12:02 and 12:28 a.m. Ravi joins after Max’s trial adjourns. While Pip’s team sweeps Lodge Wood, Cara calls: her team has found something at the abandoned farmhouse on Sycamore Road.

Pip and Ravi run to the site where Cara and Naomi indicate a knife in long grass beside the farmhouse. It matches the missing grey-bladed, yellow-handled knife from the Reynoldses’ kitchen. Pip orders teams dismissed, calls Amersham police, and preserves the scene for collection.

With minutes before police arrive, Pip and Ravi check inside. The farmhouse shows recent use: upturned metal bins as stools, snack wrappers, beer bottles, and weed-laced cigarette butts, plus a fresh sit-mark in dust. They infer the “abandoned” house hosts night-time hangouts and consider a stakeout to identify visitors who might link to Jamie’s disappearance.

Officers Daniel da Silva and Soraya Bouzidi arrive. Despite Daniel’s hostility, Soraya agrees to collect and log the knife properly. When Pip presses that foul play likely occurred here and mentions “Layla Mead,” Daniel’s immediate fluster betrays he’s been talking to Layla, which he angrily denies, implying a hidden connection.

Pip reflects: the knife’s location aligns with Jamie’s Fitbit stopping at 12:28 a.m., confirming Jamie likely returned home for his hoodie and the knife before reaching the farmhouse. But the timeline strains against Arthur Reynolds’s 11:15 p.m. return, suggesting someone is lying. Pip schedules a midnight stakeout with Ravi, Connor, and Cara to watch the farmhouse.