A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #1
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder
by Holly Jackson
Contents
Forty-Two
Overview
Pip successfully plants her phone in Elliot Ward's car and tracks him with Ravi, proving that Elliot lied about going to Old Amersham. Instead, Elliot drives to Mill End Road in Wendover, near where the Wards used to live, giving Pip and Ravi a likely location for whatever he is hiding.
The discovery pushes Pip close to acting immediately, especially because Andie might be alive there, but Ravi insists she protect her future and wait until after her exam. The chapter raises the stakes by turning suspicion into a concrete lead while forcing Pip to confront the damage the truth will do to Cara.
Summary
Pip fakes a sprained ankle at school so Cara will ask Elliot Ward to give her a lift home. Cara helps Pip to the teachers' car park, joking with her as usual, which makes Pip feel guilty and afraid for how the truth about Elliot may hurt Cara.
Elliot agrees to drive Pip home. During the ride, Pip hides her phone under the back seat while pretending to check her ankle. She asks about his tutoring plans, and Elliot says he is going to Old Amersham, giving Pip and Ravi a route to test against the phone's location.
After Elliot drops Pip off, Pip stops limping and lets Ravi into her house. In Pip's room, with her door open under Leanne's suspicious instruction, Pip and Ravi track the phone through Find My Friends. The phone first appears at the Wards' house, then begins moving.
Ravi repeatedly refreshes the map as Elliot drives away from the route to Amersham and instead heads north on the A413. When Elliot stops on Mill End Road in Wendover, Pip remembers that the Wards used to live in Wendover before moving to Kilton.
Pip and Ravi use Google Maps Street View to identify the likely destination as number forty-two or forty-four Mill End Road. Pip realizes she can ask Cara whether one of those houses was the Wards' old home, and she becomes overwhelmed by the thought that exposing Elliot will destroy Cara and many others.
Pip wants to go to Wendover immediately because Andie may be alive there, but Ravi refuses to let her jeopardize her Cambridge exam or act impulsively. Ravi persuades Pip to wait until after school the next day, either to investigate when Elliot is absent or to send an anonymous tip to police, and then forces Pip to focus on studying and sleeping.
Who Appears
- Pip Fitz-AmobiFakes an injury, plants her phone in Elliot's car, and tracks his secret destination.
- Ravi SinghHelps track Elliot and persuades Pip not to risk her exam by acting immediately.
- Elliot WardGives Pip a lift, lies about going to Amersham, and drives to Wendover.
- Cara WardHelps Pip with the fake injury and unknowingly enables the plan against her father.
- Leanne Fitz-AmobiNotices Ravi's visit and warns Pip to keep her bedroom door open.
- Josh Fitz-AmobiInterrupts Pip and Ravi's tracking to ask Ravi to play FIFA.