A Good Girl's Guide to Murder

At the Ivy House Inn, Pip and Ravi are greeted by an older woman who is the inn’s owner. The woman informs Pip that any records she had from five years ago would have been thrown out. Pip then shows the woman a photograph of Andie and asks her if she has ever stayed at the inn, to which the woman replies, “I know her. She’s been here” (217). She is insistent that she did not see Andie five years ago but rather just a few weeks prior.

A man enters the room, introducing himself as Henry Hill, the woman’s grandson. The old woman begins crying, and Henry suggests he be the one to help Pip and Ravi. Henry explains that his grandmother becomes upset when she’s confused due to her Alzheimer’s. Henry tells them that his grandmother mixes up when things have happened and probably recognized Andie from five years ago. Pip and Ravi apologize for having upset her and leave.

Pip and Ravi later discuss how Andie was probably meeting the secret older man at the inn to avoid getting caught, likely because the man had a family. Climbing into Pip’s car, the two spot Howie Bowers exchanging heated words with Max Hastings, who has obviously lied to Pip, having said he did not know who Andie’s dealer was.

In Capstone Project Log—Entry 27, Pip recounts the evidence stacked against Max Hastings and speculates that he and Howie Bowers could have teamed up to murder Andie. Pip decides to ask around about whether anyone knew of girls getting their drinks spiked at calamity parties, as this might play into what happened that night.

Capstone Project Log—Entry 28 includes the information Pip has gathered on the use of roofies at calamity parties. Emma Hutton confirms she does remember girls stating they thought they had had their drinks spiked. Pip has also emailed some people who are tagged in photos with Naomi. Laura Hands’s response states that her friend Nat da Silva thought her drink had been spiked at a calamity party in early 2014.

Capstone Project Log—Entry 29 holds another email response from Joanna Riddell, who states that a friend of hers—whom she does not name—had her drink spiked and attempted to file a police report with a young officer.

Pip informs Cara that she has heard some rumors regarding old calamity parties that might help her with her capstone project. Cara deduces that Pip wants her help logging into Naomi’s Facebook profile to have a look at Max Hastings’s second profile. However, Cara does not realize Pip is also doing this with Naomi in mind as a suspect. Pip feels momentarily conflicted about manipulating Cara and wonders when she became “this person.”

Cara gives Pip Naomi’s Facebook login information, and Pip searches for “Nancy Tangotits.” She quickly finds the profile and zeros in on the photos taken the night Andie disappeared. Pip focuses on a photo that contains Naomi, Max, Millie, and Jake in it from that night, and she wonders who has taken the picture.

Pip realizes that in the shot, Naomi’s phone screen is clearly visible, and it states the time: 12:09am. Sal’s friends stated he had left Max’s house at 10:30pm, so Pip is sure that Sal is the one who took the photo. Pip enlarges the photo and notices a window behind the group that has captured the flash of the phone camera. She can make out a faint hint of blue in the reflection of the window, the same color Sal was wearing that night.

Pip shows Ravi the photo evidence, and it confirms for Ravi that Sal is innocent. Pip tells Ravi the only way they can be sure of this is to do “an Andie Bell murder reenactment” (237), where they run through the timeline of events and see if Sal would have had enough time to commit the crime. Pip calculates that Sal would have had 45 minutes to do so—given when he left Max’s and when he arrived home—and the two go through the theoretical scenario that Sal actually murdered Andie. They realize Sal would not have had enough time to kill her and dispose of her body.

Ravi is overcome with a “confusing moment of happiness and grief” (242). Pip figures they need to determine why Sal’s four friends lied about his alibi, and she decides to start by asking Naomi.

Pip learns that both Naomi and Max are at Cara’s house doing homework, and she heads there with the intention of “bringing an ambush” (244). Pip lays out the photographic evidence before Max and Naomi and states that this is their chance to explain before she takes it to the police.

Pip asks who is taking the photograph, and Naomi’s face reveals immediate alarm and acknowledgement. Max attempts to state that Sal took the photo earlier in the evening, but Naomi points out that the time it was taken is visible on her phone screen. Naomi then says, “We’re going to have to tell her” (247). Max urges Naomi to remain silent, but Pip asserts aloud that Sal actually left Max’s at 12:15pm, just like he told the police, and that the four of them lied to take away his alibi. Naomi looks over to Cara in tears and slowly nods.

Max explains to Pip that someone texted the group from an anonymous number telling them to delete the photos of Sal taken that night and to lie about Sal’s alibi. Naomi admits this person knew a secret about them and held it over their heads.

One night, she explains, the four friends left a party with Max claiming he was sober enough to drive, and Max accidently hit a man in the road. The group left the man and cleaned up the car, and Max then drove the car into a tree near his driveway to explain the damage to it. Pip questions how someone could have found out about the hit-and-run when they had all agreed to keep quiet about it.

Pip then questions Naomi about the time she was missing the night of Andie’s disappearance. Naomi explains that she was talking with Sal upstairs about Andie and how he had decided to end things with her.

Cara begs Pip not to go to the police with the photographic evidence because, she says, she cannot lose her sister after having lost her mother. Pip feels internally conflicted, knowing she cannot do this to her best friend while also knowing that Sal is innocent and that Ravi deserves for his brother’s name to be cleared. Pip agrees not to go to the police with the photo, claiming she will prove Sal’s innocence by finding Andie and Sal’s true killer.