A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #3
As Good As Dead
by Holly Jackson
Contents
Thirty-One
Overview
Pip and Ravi finalize a precise plan to frame Max by manipulating Jason’s time of death. They improvise refrigeration with Jason’s SUV air-conditioning and later reheating to reset lividity, while preserving and removing key traces. With Jason wrapped and cooling in the car, they depart to build alibis and return later to stage the scene.
Summary
Pip and Ravi lock in a twelve-minute plan to frame Max Hastings for Jason Bell’s death, accepting that they need outside help and must be flawless. Ravi’s mobile-tower idea cements the approach, and they agree the stakes: protect Pip, stop Max, and live with the moral cost.
At Green Scene, they search for ways to cool and later heat Jason’s body to manipulate time of death and lividity. Finding no industrial fridges, they note petrol for a future fire but still lack cooling. Pip worries about her DNA in Jason’s car and the storeroom, resolving to remove tape and clean surfaces later.
Pip realizes Jason’s SUV can serve as a fridge. She and Ravi confirm the air-conditioning can chill the cabin near fridge temperature, with plans to later use the heaters to warm the body and reset lividity. They gather work gloves and ice packs from the office freezer to boost cooling.
Pip wraps Jason’s body in a tarp, keeping Ravi from direct contact to protect him from forensic risk. Together they load Jason onto the SUV’s back seat, start the engine with AC on full blast, vents open, and ice packs positioned. The car will run for hours while they are gone.
They collect Pip’s duct tape and gloves for disposal, plan to clean all touched surfaces and use petrol to stage a fire, and leave the hammer to serve as Max’s planted murder weapon. Satisfied the site is secure with disabled alarms and cameras, they leave to continue building alibis before returning to finish the setup.
Who Appears
- PipLeads the plan to frame Max; devises using the SUV’s AC to cool Jason’s body; manages evidence and risks.
- RaviSupports and refines the plan; suggests the phone-tower angle; helps move Jason while avoiding leaving traces.
- Jason BellDead; his body is wrapped, cooled in his SUV, and prepared for staged reheating to alter time-of-death evidence.
- Max HastingsTarget of the frame; intended recipient of planted evidence, including the hammer as the murder weapon.