A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #3
As Good As Dead
by Holly Jackson
Contents
Forty-Six
Overview
Pip attends a voluntary interview with DI Hawkins about her podcast trailer on Jason Bell’s murder. She carefully explains her settlement call to Max’s lawyer and provides an alibi matching the shifted time of death, believing the frame has worked. Hawkins then unveils damning evidence: Pip’s distinctive headphones were recovered from Jason’s home, undermining her claim of no recent contact.
Summary
After Hawkins calls for a voluntary interview, Pip steels herself and arrives at Amersham Police Station, determined to appear peripheral to Jason Bell’s murder and to gauge whether the staged time-of-death has held. She spars with Hawkins over her podcast trailer and the Jackie Miller café altercation, nudging him toward Max Hastings as a person of interest.
Hawkins presses Pip on her defamation settlement call to Max’s lawyer, Christopher Epps, establishing the 9:41 p.m. timing and revealing he has looked into Max’s phone records. Pip realizes investigators likely have grounds to scrutinize Max, but the true test is Jason’s time of death.
When Hawkins asks where Pip was between 9:30 p.m. and midnight on September 15, she understands their ruse worked: the time-of-death window excludes her. She lays out an alibi—at the Wards’ house around 9:40 p.m., then driving Cara and Naomi to the Beaconsfield McDonald’s, paying twice by card, returning after 11:30, and arriving home after midnight—confident it will be verifiable.
During a coffee break, Pip signals success to Ravi by coded text. Hawkins resumes, casually questioning her podcast equipment and daily headphone use, which unsettles Pip as he guides her into confirming details about her black Sony headphones.
Finally, Hawkins confronts her contradiction: despite claiming no contact with Jason since April, her distinctive headphones—with her podcast sticker—were found inside Jason Bell’s home. The revelation, captured on tape, punctures Pip’s confidence and threatens her constructed narrative.
Who Appears
- Pippa Fitz-Amobi (Pip)Faces a voluntary police interview, presents an alibi, believes the frame holds, then is blindsided by her headphones found at Jason’s house.
- DI HawkinsInterviews Pip, probes her settlement call and alibi, guides conversation about her headphones, and reveals they were found at Jason’s home.
- Max HastingsTarget of Pip’s framing and the podcast trailer; phone records scrutinized, positioned as a key person of interest.
- Christopher EppsMax’s solicitor; received Pip’s late-night call accepting a settlement, anchoring key timeline evidence.
- Ravi SinghTexts Pip in code; receives confirmation that their plan seemed to work before the new evidence surfaces.
- Jackie MillerCafé owner whose interview about a violent Max–Jason altercation features in Pip’s trailer and Hawkins’ inquiry.
- Cara WardFriend cited in Pip’s alibi; one of the sisters Pip drove to McDonald’s.
- Naomi WardFriend cited in Pip’s alibi; accompanies Cara and Pip on the McDonald’s trip.
- Eliza (detention officer)Greets Pip at reception, signaling the station’s tense atmosphere.
- SorayaOfficer seen passing through reception, underscoring the active investigation environment.