‘Jessie, of course!’
‘Mel, I think you should calm down.’
‘Calm down? Really? I’ve just found out that my son died of heart failure from taking speed. Would you calm down if that was Trent?’
‘Oh, my God, Mel! I’m so sorry. Drugs? I had no idea Noah was?—’
‘Neither did we but I suspect your daughter did.’ I strode to the foot of their stairs and shouted her name.
‘Why would Jessie know anything?’ Helen asked, looking perplexed.
Jessie appeared on the stairs, clocked me and stopped.
‘Jessie, honey, can you just come downstairs for a minute?’ Helen said, her voice gentle.
Jessie looked afraid and I reminded myself that she was still only sixteen, her seventeenth birthday not being until April, and me standing in her house yelling her name had to be pretty terrifying, especially when she was grieving.
‘I need to ask you about the party,’ I said, trying to keep my voice light but not succeeding.
She stayed where she was on the stairs. ‘What party?’
I bit back a tut. ‘The New Year’s Eve party.’
‘I wasn’t there.’
‘Of course you were! You went with Noah.’
‘I didn’t.’
‘Don’t lie to me!’
Helen glared at me, her body stiff, her arms crossed. ‘She’snotlying and I don’t appreciate you speaking to my daughter like that.’
I glared back. ‘Noah said they were going together.’
‘Then you need to look a bit closer to home and ask your son if…’ Helen gasped, her eyes wide. ‘I can’t believe I just said that. I’m so sorry.’
I barely registered her slip. I’d come here wanting answers and now I had even more questions.
‘Why didn’t you go to the party?’ I demanded of Jessie.
She was gripping onto the banister, looking close to tears. ‘Because I’m not his girlfriend.’ She closed her eyes for a moment, her voice weak as she corrected her tense. ‘Wasn’this girlfriend.’
Not his girlfriend? Was she winding me up?
‘Since when?’ I demanded.
‘Since November.’
‘That’s a lie! Noah would have told me.’
‘Mel!’ Helen snapped, but I ignored her.
‘Why did it end?’
Jessie shrugged, which inflamed me further.
‘There has to be a reason. Bloody hell, Jessie, you were together for two years and friends before that.’
