And Then We Ran by Katy Cannon

Author:Katy Cannon [Katy Cannon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781847158550
Publisher: Stripes Publishing
Published: 2017-08-26T04:00:00+00:00

Elliott

“I can’t believe you ever went out with him,” I said as we followed the bend around the cliffs and the noise of the cove faded away behind us.

“Dylan?” Megan’s nose wrinkled up as she pulled a face. She looked pale beside me in the mix of moonlight and the yellow cast of the street lamps from the road above. “Me, neither.”

“Why did you?”

She shrugged. “Honestly? I’m not sure. I mean, he was fairly obvious about liking me and we had a laugh together. We were all hanging out most of the time anyway. It just sort of … happened. But I can’t tell you why. It’s like I was a different person then.”

“Before Lizzie.”

“Yeah.” Megan’s steps slowed a little. “I was with him, you know. The night she died. And afterwards … I couldn’t even look at him.”

I didn’t reply to that. What could I say? That I knew where she’d been that night because Lizzie had told me? How would that help now?

“Come on,” I said. “I know where we should go.”

I led her further down the beach, all the way past the harbour to where the brightly coloured tourist cottages clustered around the beach. They were mostly dark, now, although one or two of them had lights on – families spending Christmas away from home, I supposed.

At the far edge, a path led up to the old viewing platform, a leftover from when St Evaline was a seaside town favoured by the Edwardians. These days, all that was left was a bench with a brass plaque and a telescope that took 20p pieces.

We sat on the bench, close enough to share warmth, and looked out over the waves in silence. After a long moment, Megan tipped her head to rest it against my shoulder and, automatically, I stretched out an arm round her.

It felt like she was exactly where she should be.

At least until she said, “Will you tell me about Lizzie?”

My shoulders stiffened. “You knew her better than I did.”

“I don’t mean her, generally. I meant…”

“Her last night.” Because hadn’t I known she’d ask eventually?

“Yeah.

I sighed and shifted, taking my arm back, and Megan sat up again, staring at me and waiting for my answer.

“You’ve already heard it all. In my testimony.”

“That was just the facts,” Megan pointed out. “I want to know … how she looked. How she felt. What she was thinking.”

“I don’t think she was, much,” I admitted. “She was drunk before I even got to the cove that night.”

“That’s the part I don’t understand. Lizzie hardly ever drank – and when she did, she didn’t get drunk. I don’t get why she would – or why she was with Evan Roberts.”

“Maybe she just wanted to party after her exams,” I suggested, knowing it wasn’t the truth. “She’d just finished her AS levels, right?”

“And aced them.” Megan smiled. “Just like we knew she would. The school sent the results on to us, after. She wanted to apply to Oxbridge, you know. She’d have got in, too, if she’d…”

The word Megan couldn’t say hung in the icy air between us.

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