Pip records that she has sent her Cambridge application and been registered for the ELAT, but instead of working on admissions essays, she returns to Andie Bell’s planner for her EPQ. Pip concludes that CP likely marks drug meetings with Howie at the station car park and HH likely means Howie’s house, but IV remains unexplained.

Ravi emails Pip a wider list of possible IV meanings outside Kilton: Imperial Vault Nightclub, The Ivy House Hotel, Ida Vaughan, and The Four Cafe. Pip begins researching each lead online, starting with Imperial Vault, which could plausibly be connected to drug selling because it is a nightclub with student nights and events.

Pip then investigates the Ivy House Hotel through TripAdvisor. While reading reviews and looking at photos posted by a reviewer, Pip notices a bathroom with a red-and-white tiled floor and a full-length mirror.

The hotel photos trigger a major connection: Pip believes the bathroom matches the background of the explicit photo of Andie that Pip saw hidden in Max Hastings’ bedroom. If Pip is right, Andie visited the Ivy House Hotel at least three times in three weeks, raising the question of whether Andie was meeting Max or another secret older man there.

Unable to reach Ravi by phone, Pip decides to go to Little Chalfont after school the next day to investigate the Ivy House Hotel in person.