Elliot Ward, Pip’s teacher, is found to have framed Sal for Andie’s murder. In A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, Mathew Baynton plays Elliot.
Elliot Ward is not only Pip’s teacher but also Cara’s father. Pip has known Elliot for a very long time, as she and Cara have been friends since childhood.
Pip trusts Elliot, which is why his involvement in concealing the truth about the murder case she has been trying to solve comes as a surprise to her.
Committing a murder to protect himself
Soon after Elliot’s wife’s death, Andie comes to him for help with her grades. Due to problems at home, Andie’s grades have been slipping, so Elliot agrees to tutor her.
Elliot grows close to her, and the two of them get into a relationship, which ends when Andie starts dating Sal and falls in love with him.
Andie’s friends are the only ones who know that she previously dated an older man, whom they refer to as the Secret Older Guy, but they remain unaware that he is their teacher.
Later, when Andie needs money, she contacts Elliot again. They meet at the Ivy House Hotel, and Andie asks him for money, which Elliot refuses to give.
A few days later, Andie tries again. This time, she visits him at his house and threatens to reveal that he took advantage of her if he does not give her the money.
Elliot refuses once again, leading to Andie lashing out at him. In their struggle, Andie hits her head and suffers a serious injury. She leaves before Elliot can call an ambulance.
This is the last time Elliot sees her, as Andie goes missing soon after. Fearing that the investigation into her disappearance would falsely implicate him, Elliot decides to frame Sal.
Elliot had read his daughter Naomi’s diary and knew that she was involved in a hit-and-run case with her friends. Naomi and her friends were also Sal’s alibis.
Elliot sends them a letter, threatening to report the hit-and-run if they do not lie to the police about Sal’s whereabouts on the night of Andie’s disappearance, leaving Sal with no alibi.
Elliot then kills Sal, sending a message to Sal’s father from his phone, confessing to killing Andie and himself. As a result, Andie’s case is closed.
Elliot’s guilt and fear of exposure
Elliot’s crimes do not end with Sal’s murder. One day, he comes across a girl named Isla, who resembles Andie, and offers to let her stay at his place.
Isla has nowhere to go, and Elliot, being a teacher and a father of two daughters, seems trustworthy, so she accepts his offer.
Elliot then takes her to his old family house, which his daughters think he had sold. The guilt of killing Sal still haunts Elliot, and while talking to Isla, he ends up confessing to killing Sal.
Following his confession, Isla tries to run away, but Elliot does not let her go and locks her up in the attic. He keeps her hostage there.
Additionally, Elliot realizes that he might not be able to keep his crimes hidden for long, as Pip starts investigating Andie’s case for her EPQ project.
Elliot then sends an anonymous note to stop her from digging. When that does not work, he discourages her as her teacher and suggests she pick another topic.
Pip chooses another topic but does not stop investigating the case with Ravi. All it takes is one phone call from Naomi, using Elliot’s old phone, for Pip to realize that Elliot is the Secret Older Guy.
Pip then tracks him to his old house and rescues Isla. Elliot gets arrested, but even then, he continues justifying his actions, believing that killing Sal was the only way to protect himself.
While Elliot still refuses to take responsibility for his choices, his daughters lose the only family they had and have to come to terms with the fact that their father is a murderer.
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