Five Parts Dead by Tim Pegler Page B

you?’
    â€˜Same,’ she said, smiling. ‘Mel and her gang are all pumped about the triathlon on Australia Day. It’s not really my thing.’
    â€˜You’re not going along too?’ I raised my arms in mock horror. ‘Surely there’s some sand crab that’s endangered by the triathletes’ feet?’
    Whack! A solid right hook to the shoulder. ‘You wouldn’t be mocking me, would you, Daniel?’
    â€˜Ow! No. Maybe a little. But seriously, Philippa, you’ve done some good stuff this year, with your petition and everything…’
    She was about to reply when a stretch limo purred up, spilling SGC girls onto the driveway. We watched as they preened like herons and I tried to spot Sarah.
    They were all lean, tanned and blonde, their outfits variations on a theme. Button shirts, wide belts, short shorts, expensive-looking strappy sandals. Sure enough, there was Sarah, her hair up in a fashionably messy pile that wisped down way too casually to be natural.
    â€˜Clones,’ Pip whispered, breaking my trance. ‘Look, they’re all the same.’
    I had to agree. It was like the Barbie aisle in a toy store. And I wanted one.
    We gawked at them as they swarmed into the house. Sarah didn’t even glance my way. None of them did. I sipped gloomily at the beer. Brilliant. Sarah was here and I had no idea how to speak to her. Not one clue. First sighting and she erased everything in my head.
    Pip sighed and stood up. ‘I’m going to get something to eat. Want anything?’
    â€˜Yeah, that’d be good. Some chips would go down well—for us non-triathletes, anyway.’
    Pip’s eyes sparkled as she disappeared into the house…
    I lie back onto the grass, turning to face Pip. ‘So were you gone long?’
    Pip frowns. ‘A little while. I got talking to someone. When I came back outside they were wrestling you into the car—Phan had your legs and Boris was just about strangling you. You didn’t look like you wanted to go, no way. But Aaron took off before I could do anything.’
    We lie there, the creek chattering below us, ‘what ifs’ swarming around us. I think back to the hospital, to Mel and Pip visiting me the day before the police came to take my statement.
    â€˜Why didn’t you say something before now? Like, tell me you knew. I might have…maybe I’d have told the police a different story. Told them they forced me to go.’
    â€˜They were your best mates, Dan. I couldn’t be certain whether it was abduction or some stupid game. And I wasn’t sure you’d…want me to interfere.’ She lowers her voice. ‘I didn’t say anything to you afterwards because…I didn’t want to know if what happened was partly my fault. I mean, I did nothing. I knew Aaron had been drinking and I…I still did absolutely nothing.’ She sits up and hugs her knees, silhouetted against the starry sky.
    â€˜Hey. What could you have done? It had happened. Our fates were sealed from the minute…Aaron turned the key.’
    â€˜Maybe I could have called the police. I didn’t know where you were going but I could have described the car. Reported it as stolen or something—not that I knew he’d taken it without asking Travis. Maybe I could have stopped him before, before…I felt so useless standing there watching you go.’ She’s sobbing now. ‘I’ve been over it…in my head…so many times. You know, asking if there’s anything…I could have done differently.’
    I push myself up. Put an arm around her. ‘Me too. Many, many times.’ I falter, emotions and loyalties colliding inside me. ‘You saw I didn’t want to go. I really didn’t want to be in the car. But, you know, it was actually fun, at first. I remember laughing. All of us were. Then I had this feeling in my gut, like it was all going to go