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It wasn't a punishment, walking with Barney could be one of her favorite things to do, and as well as getting to know a bit more about the tiny town she lives in, Barney is her best friend.
With each step, a different thought invaded her head, changing according to the places she passed. She was there again, in front of that graffitied wall, watching children running away; they must have been used to it by now, the curtains were always closed.
Continuing her walk, she stopped right in front of a memorial to Andie Bell, with a painting of the blonde and lots of cards stuck to a railing. Pippa passed it every day on her way home from school, and she felt obliged to always stop and look for a few seconds at Andie's smile in the drawing. It was no different now.
Some might say she was obsessed, but that would only be the beginning. Pippa would find out the truth and nothing else mattered, she would do it for herself and especially for the Singhs. Sal isn't a murderer, even though that's the answer everyone in Little Kilton gives when they ask about Andie.
Pip was lucky that her parents insisted on a chalkboard wall in her room, which was now filled with notes like a police board. Andie leaves the house at 10:30, Sal leaves the house of his friend, Max Hastings, also at 10:30. Five days later Sal's body was found in the woods behind his house, his younger brother Ravi being the last person to see him alive, and his younger sister Cairo the one who found him.
The questions are: who killed Andie? Where is her body? Did Sal really take his own life? And if not, who killed Sal?
She still has loose ends to work out with the Singhs, she really needs to have a decent dialog with them so that the thousands of questions in her mind can just dwindle down to hundreds. Pippa was about to cross a line made of imaginary chalk and she didn't know if there was any way back.
She couldn't explain how she'd found out, it might sound like a stalker and that would be the last thing the girl wanted, but acting like a stalker would be her last hope. She had spent the morning preparing blueberry muffins just for that moment, and now she was standing at the bus station with a pot of muffins in one hand and Barney's collar in the other.
