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“Thayer told me that Laurel didn’t stay with him all night at the hospital,” Emma whispered, her voice sounding tinny and hollow against the low ceiling. “She just dropped him off. And he told me that she was furious at Sutton. He literally said she wanted to kill her.”
“Whoa.” Ethan let out a low whistle, seemingly forgetting his anger. “That’s messed up.”
“So how can I prove it before she does something to me?” Emma asked. She glanced through the crack in the door, watching as a couple of Hollier kids bounced on the pole vault mat. “I want this over with. This is getting so out of hand. And beyond getting justice for Sutton, do you realize how sick I am of pretending? How I just want to be me again? My entire life is on hold. I just realized the other day that I may not be able to go to college.”
Ethan’s features softened. “I know,” he said, wrapping his arms around her.
Emma nuzzled into his shoulder, feeling better. “So you’re not mad at me?”
Ethan shrugged. “It’s hard to think about you and Thayer together.”
“You know I’m into you—and only you.”
“I know. Really, I do. But I am annoyed you didn’t invite me to the hot springs. I’d love to know where they are.”
“Well, now I know where they are.” Emma playfully poked his chest. “You and I will go soon—alone.”
“Sounds like a date,” Ethan murmured.
“You’re still planning on coming to my dad’s birthday party Saturday night, right?” Emma asked. “Please tell me you are. I don’t think I can deal with it without you. Especially with Laurel there. It’s freaky enough sleeping one room away from her. I’ve locked the door and the windows every night this week.”
Ethan pretended to think about it. “I suppose,” he said after a moment. “But only if you’re very, very good. And only if you introduce me to this Grandma Mercer.”
“You’ll love her.” Emma rolled her eyes. “But she smells like she bathed in Chanel No. 5. And she’ll probably offer you a cigarette.”
“Well, then I’ll be sure to bring my lighter,” Ethan joked. “Oh, and speaking of old ladies, I almost cracked the code on the traffic cameras. The proof that it wasn’t you pulling that tree prank will be yours in no time to hand over to Ms. Ambrose.”
“Thank you!” Emma clutched her hands dramatically. “The Lying Game will really love you then. They’re already working on another prank for the dance to keep the Devious Four in their place.”
Ethan raised an eyebrow. “You’re not going to do anything too horrible to those girls, are you? I mean, they’re bitches, but I know what you Lying Game girls are capable of.”
“I’m not a Lying Game girl,” Emma reminded him. “And we’re only doing what they have coming to them.” Then she had an idea. “Maybe the prank-inside-the-prank at the secret dance could be the video footage displayed on a big screen in the gym. That way, the school would know it wasn’t the Lying Game who did it. And the Devious Four will finally have to own up to their actions.”
It seemed like a good prank to me—effective, but not cruel. I approved.
Ethan nodded. “Works for me. It’s time-stop photography, so it’ll be like a flip book, not continuous footage.”
“Even cooler.” Emma leaned against the field house door, suddenly contemplative. “If only there was video footage of who killed Sutton. That would make our lives a whole lot easier, huh?”
Ethan’s expression became serious. “Do you really think it’s Laurel?”
“Yes, I really do. But that doesn’t mean the police will believe me.”
“Have you ever searched her room?” Ethan asked.
Emma twisted her mouth. “A few times—at Sutton’s birthday party, and I noticed that she’d put Thayer’s initials on her calendar the night Sutton died.” She raised her head, staring at Ethan’s silhouette. Had Laurel known Thayer was coming? Had she followed them to Sabino Canyon and then run Thayer over while aiming for her sister? “But I’ve never snooped in her drawers or anything. I guess I’ll try again.”
“Good.” Ethan leaned in and kissed her. “You never know. Maybe I’ll be attending the next school dance with Emma Paxton.”
“Maybe,” Emma said, hope creeping into her heart. Ethan took Emma’s hand, and they emerged from the field house together.
As the sun blazed down on them like a spotlight, I wondered if Emma would get her happy ending. If after exposing Laurel, she’d live with my family, stay friends with my besties, and go to U of A with Ethan on a full scholarship. But then again, I knew all too well that not everyone got a happily ever after.
13
GRANDMOTHERS KNOW BEST
“Sutton?” a voice called through Sutton’s bedroom door Friday night.
Emma jumped off Sutton’s bed, where she’d been looking at the Sutton Mercer Murder Suspects list that she’d started when she’d first arrived in Tucson. At the top of the page, Laurel’s name had been crossed off in thick black ink, but Emma had re-added it at the bottom, just below Thayer’s now crossed-out name, and underlined it three times. Just as she slapped the notebook closed and shoved it under her bed, Grandma Mercer poked her head in.
“What’s that?” Grandma’s eyes narrowed at something on the floor.
Emma followed her gaze. The edge of her notebook peeked out from under Sutton’s white bed skirt. “Oh, just doing a little journaling,” she muttered dismissively, kicking it farther under the bed.
