“You sure this is going to work?” John asked from the back.
“No.”
“Awesome.”
She didn’t elaborate. Kitty’s stomach was already doing backflips, and she didn’t need to be reminded that plan B wasn’t exactly the most well-thought-out strategy in the history of secret missions.
Before she had time to further worry herself into an ulcer, the school door flew open and Amber raced down the stairs to the parking lot. Her face was beet red, her blouse disheveled, hair a tangled mess. It looked as if Amber had been in one hell of a catfight.
“You should see the other guy,” John mumbled.
A squeal of tires pierced the silence of the parking lot, and before Kitty could even turn over the ignition in her old Camry, Amber had peeled her Mercedes out of the lot.
Seconds later, the “other guy” appeared as Olivia scampered down the stairs. Like Amber, her clothes were in disarray and her pixie-short curls a rat’s nest. She hurried to Kitty’s car and climbed daintily into the front seat.
“How did it go?” Kitty asked.
A satisfied smile lit up Olivia’s delicate features. “It was amazing.”
Kitty held up her hand and gave Olivia an enthusiastic high five.
“It was the best acting performance Amber’s ever given,” Olivia added. “By far.”
“Yeah,” John said, “because she wasn’t really acting.”
Kitty grinned. “Neither was Olivia.”
It had been remarkably easy to get Amber onboard with the plan . . . as long as John was involved. Kitty had approached Kyle and Tyler with the idea before school, doubling down on her new position as leader of the ’Maine Men. She suggested they go on the offensive and try to catch the killer themselves, then laid out the plan to use Amber as bait.
Meanwhile, John recruited Amber via text, playing up his concern over her safety, and his wish that they could do something about it. He’d even managed to get Amber to suggest the staged catfight herself.
To Kyle, Tyler, and Amber, today’s plan seemed to be their idea. No one suspected DGM at all.
Not bad for a morning’s work.
“Stay with her,” Olivia advised. She fumbled with her seat belt as she tried to put it on. “But not, you know, too close.”
“Fly casual?” John suggested.
Olivia glanced back at John. “Am I supposed to know what that means?”
“Nope,” John said.
“Stay on target,” Kitty said as she released the parking brake. John and Bree weren’t the only ones who knew Star Wars by heart.
In the rearview mirror, she saw John nodding is approval. “Nice one.”
“It’s like you’re speaking a language I don’t understand,” Olivia said.
John leaned forward. “How can you not understand the best movie trilogy ever made?”
“American Pie?” Olivia asked.
John shook his head in bewilderment. “I don’t think I can talk to you right now.”
“Good.” Olivia turned back around. “Can we hurry up and catch Amber?”
Kitty gritted her teeth as she sped after Amber’s black Mercedes coupe, trying to ignore Olivia’s nonstop stream of passenger-seat driving. Run that light. She’s switching lanes. Watch that pedestrian. You’re too far behind. Now you’re too close.
“Why do we have to tail her, Kojak?” John asked as they sped through an intersection, barely avoiding a red light. “Haven’t you been to her house like a million times?”
Kitty saw Olivia’s body tense up. “I don’t want anything to happen to her.”
John snorted. “Between school and here?”
The light mood of a few moments ago had evaporated. Kitty knew exactly why Olivia was so worried, and she needed John to understand that the risk factor here was very, very real. She caught his eye in the mirror as they stopped at a light. “Remember what he’s capable of.”
Amber was four or five cars ahead of them when the light turned green. According to Olivia’s directions, Amber should have turned at the intersection, but instead, she kept going straight.
“What’s she doing?” Kitty asked.
Olivia bit the inside of her lower lip. “I don’t know. Stay with her, though.”
Kitty followed the line of cars, her eyes peeled for the shiny black coupe in case Amber realized she’d missed her turn and flipped a bitch in the middle of the street. They’d gone almost a mile before Amber veered off the road into the Coffee Clash parking lot.
“She wants a latte?” John asked as Amber hurried up the steps and into the coffeehouse. “Now?”
“An iced triple-shot nonfat vanilla soy latte with two Splenda,” Olivia corrected.
“This is ridiculous.” Kitty pulled into a spot at the far end of the mini-mall and looked around. There were three other cars in the lot, plus a silver SUV at a meter in front. It was pretty deserted for a Friday afternoon, and Kitty could see through the glass doors into the café, where Amber was paying for her drink.
“At least we know no one’s following her,” Olivia said. “That’s something.”
Kitty pursed her lips. “I guess.”
Two minutes later, Amber strolled out of the café, iced coffee concoction in hand, and rolled her car out of the lot. Without a word, Kitty followed, again leaving a few cars between them. They’d gone three blocks before Kitty noticed a car close behind them. The same silver SUV that had been parked in front of the Coffee Clash.
Amber pulled into the left turn lane, but instead of following her, Kitty switched lanes to the right, keeping an eye on the SUV. She was probably imagining things, but she just wanted to make sure they weren’t being followed.
“What are you doing?” Olivia asked as they passed Amber’s car.
Kitty glanced at the rearview mirror. “Checking something.”
Olivia twisted in her seat and stared out the back window. “Is someone following us?”
“I don’t know,” Kitty answered. The SUV hadn’t followed them into the new lane. They drove a few more blocks in tense silence, then Kitty let out a slow breath. “I think we’re fine.”
Olivia relaxed back into her seat. “Thank God.”
Kitty made a U-turn at the next intersection and headed back toward Amber’s house.
“Was it the silver SUV you were worried about?” John asked from the backseat.
“Yeah,” Kitty said. “Why?”
“Because it just made a U-turn to follow us.”
“Are you sure?” Olivia asked.
Without waiting for an answer, Kitty slammed on the accelerator. The aging engine strained, the RPMs rocketing into the red zone. She zigzagged around cars, weaving in and out of lanes like a race-car driver. If the SUV was actually following them, he’d have to match her speed and her course. To her horror, she saw the SUV accelerate rapidly, and whiz around several cars in an attempt to keep up with her.
“Shit.”
“Oh my God!” Olivia cried. “It’s him!”
Whether or not the killer who’d been terrorizing them for weeks was, at that very moment, tailing them through the streets of Menlo Park, Kitty couldn’t say for sure. There was a logical argument against it, but that the moment, the logical-argument part of her brain wasn’t working. Just the panic reflex.
“Can you get the license plate?” Kitty asked.
John spun around in his seat. “Looks like California, but I can’t get digits. He’s too far away.”
“Dammit!”
Kitty scanned the road ahead, looking for an escape route. Her eyes landed on a large delivery truck in the far right lane two blocks ahead.
“Hang on!” she said. The engine roared as Kitty coaxed even more speed out of the old Camry. They careened through a yellow light, then just as she passed the truck, she zipped in front of him, slammed on the brakes, and made a dangerous right turn onto a side street. With any luck, their pursuer had lost sight of them for a split second when Kitty pulled in front of the
truck, and didn’t see her turn off the main road.
Foot back on the accelerator, she raced through the suburban neighborhood, praying no one pulled out of a driveway or stepped into the street, then turned into someone’s driveway and cut the engine.
“Everybody down!” she ordered.
Seat belts off, Kitty and Olivia crouched low in the front seat while John flattened himself in the back.
“Do you think we lost him?” Olivia whispered.
“I hope so.” Even if he did see them turn onto the side street, Kitty was counting on the fact that her nondescript Camry was a pretty common car, and whoever was following them might not notice one parked in a driveway.
“I don’t understand,” John said. “I thought we wanted the killer to show up at Amber’s house. Why were we trying to lose him?”
“I . . .” That was a good question, after all. But Kitty couldn’t explain the abject terror she felt at the idea that the killer had been following them. It was like an instinctual reaction to flee.
Before Kitty could answer, she heard a sound which made her blood run cold. A car pulling up alongside.
She held her breath as a car door opened, then slammed shut. Maybe it was just the homeowners? Footsteps on concrete as someone walked up to the door and knocked on the window.
“What are you guys doing?” someone asked.
But Kitty knew that voice. She sat up and found the slightly confused face of Logan Blaine on the other side of the glass.
UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE
HarperCollins Publishers
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THIRTY-FOUR
OLIVIA LET OUT THE BREATH SHE’D BEEN HOLDING, THEN opened the passenger door and tumbled out of Kitty’s car. “Logan!”
But instead of his usual smile, Logan’s face was hard, his eyes narrow. “What the hell is going on?”
Kitty scrambled out of the driver’s side, closer to Logan. “It’s okay,” she said, trying to calm him down. “I can explain.”
Olivia had no idea what she was talking about. “Explain what?”
Logan yanked his cell phone from his pocket. “I should call the cops right now. Tell them what you’ve been up to.”
“Dude, calm down.” John placed his hand on Logan’s arm.
“Calm down?” Logan cried, shaking John off. “Your girlfriend tried to kill my girlfriend. Don’t tell me to calm down, dude.”
John shook his head. “It’s not like that.”
Logan pointed at Olivia. “And I told you about those Gertler guys and now they’ve disappeared.”
“Logan,” Kitty said, her hands held up before her. “You don’t understand.”
“Damn right I don’t understand.”
But Olivia understood perfectly. Logan thought they were the ones behind the killings, the ones who had attacked Margot. It was so ridiculous, especially since until about twenty seconds ago, they thought the killer was behind the wheel of Logan’s silver SUV, that she burst out laughing.
“Really?” John said, turning to her.
“I’m sorry,” Olivia gasped, gripping her stomach. “Can’t help it. He thinks we’re the killers!”
“Why is that funny?” Logan asked with complete sincerity.
“Because we thought you were the killer,” John said.
Logan’s eyes grew wide. “Me?”
“Well, whoever was chasing us,” Kitty explained. “By the way, why were you chasing us?”
“Um . . .” Logan scratched his chin. “I guess I don’t really know. I saw the fight in the gym and then Olivia followed Amber outside. I saw her get into your car and . . .”
“And you thought we were all in it together,” Kitty said, completing his thought.
“Aren’t you?”
“Yes,” Olivia said, coming around the car and taking Logan by the arm. “But not in the way you think. We’re all on the same side.”
“Same side of what?” Logan asked.
Olivia tugged him toward his SUV. “Come on,” she said. “I’ll explain on the way. We have a date to keep.”
“So you’re using Amber as bait to try and find Rex’s killer?” Logan asked as he halted his SUV down the hill from Amber’s house.
“That’s the plan,” Olivia said. She’d kinda sorta filled him in on the drive, leaving out key information, like the fact that she, Kitty, and Margot were members of DGM. Best not to bring him into the fold without Margot’s permission.
Logan stared at the steering wheel. “If it’s the same dude who attacked Margot . . .” His voice trailed off, and Olivia watched the tendons around his jaw ripple as he clenched his teeth.
“Then we’ll hand him over to the police,” Olivia said softly, finishing his sentence.
“And Margot will be safe,” he added.
Olivia could see the mix of emotions playing themselves out in the minute changes in Logan’s facial features. Tightly pressed lips denoted his anger, his furrowed brow showed the worry, and hints of loneliness and confusion could be found in his searching brown eyes and wrinkled forehead, respectively. There was nothing else Olivia could say without giving away too many of DGM’s secrets, so instead she patted his hand and opened the door. “Come on.”
Olivia and Logan climbed out of the car just as Kitty pulled up behind them.
“Dude,” John said, with a nod at Logan. “When you’re not chasing someone, you drive like my grandma.”
Logan smiled, all traces of his earlier worry vanished. “My mom threatened to yank my car if I get a ticket. So I try to drive like she does.” His smile deepened. “When I’m not in car chases.”
Kitty linked her arm through Olivia’s and started up the street. “Which one’s her house?”
“This way.”
Olivia and Kitty hurried ahead, separating themselves from the boys. “What did he say?” Kitty whispered as soon as they were out of earshot.
Olivia spoke low and fast. “He’s figured out that the attack on Margot is somehow related to the murders, but he doesn’t know how.”
“Did you tell him?”
Olivia shook her head. “Not about DGM. Just that we were trying to protect Amber.”
“Okay.” Kitty squeezed her arm. “Hopefully in a few hours, this will all be over.”
Olivia nodded, and turned into a steep driveway. “Here it is.”
The boys jogged up behind them as they hiked to Amber’s front door, which flew open before Olivia even had a chance to knock.
Amber rushed out and threw her arms around John’s neck. “I’m so glad you’re here,” she said, holding him close.
“Er, yeah,” John said, playing along. “We want to keep you safe.”
“And Kyle and Tyler are coming too?” Amber asked.
Kitty nodded. “They should be here any minute.”
Amber leaned into John, who stiffened at her touch. “I’m lucky to have so many strong men here to protect me.”
“So now what do we do?” Logan asked, peering out the window.
Kitty followed his line of sight. The window had a bird’s-eye view of the driveway and the winding street below. If anyone came looking for Amber after she declared she was going home, alone, they’d see him or her coming. Kitty just prayed the killer took the bait.
“Now,” she said calmly. “We wait.”
Olivia curled up in the corner behind the sofa, hidden from sight by a large plastic ficus, and kept her eyes on Amber. She lounged amid the sofa cushions, languidly flipping channels on the television. Olivia was pretty sure she’d fallen asleep at some point, but despite the tediousness of the afternoon, Amber hadn’t complained once. She sat as she was supposed to, calm and casual, seemingly alone in a well-lit house. The bait dangling at the end of the line.
Olivia, on the other hand, had been a fidgety mess. She’d sat opposite Kitty at the dining room window for the first two hours, but had so much trouble keeping her body still, Kitty banished
her to the other side of the room where her restlessness wouldn’t rustle the curtains and give away her presence.
It was the silence more than the waiting that was getting to her, and she was almost grateful when Amber finally opened up the conversation.
“No one’s coming,” she said softly.
“We don’t know that.”
“They’d be here by now.”
“We don’t know that either.”
“This sucks.”
At least Olivia could agree with that.
“He’ll come,” Olivia said, trying to sound confident. “And we’ll get him.”
They had lookouts at every entrance. Kyle had taken the sliding door that led from the kitchen to the backyard. Tyler staked out the laundry room, which opened to the side of the house. John and Logan took the upstairs, where they could command a view of the entire block. They had every angle covered, every entrance to the house accounted for. If the killer did show up, they’d see him.
Only he hadn’t.
“I know Rex could be an asshole,” Amber said. “But I loved him.”
From where she sat, Olivia couldn’t see Amber’s face, but her voice was sad, an emotion Olivia had never seen in her before.
“The night of the bonfire,” Olivia began. She needed to get this off her chest. “What you saw, me and Rex, it wasn’t what you thought.”
She paused, but Amber didn’t say anything.
“I know I told you that I broke up with Donté, but that’s not how it went down. He dumped me.”
“What?”
“Yep,” Olivia said. “So I was just trying to make him jealous. Rex was so drunk he didn’t know what he was doing.”
She decided to omit the fact that Rex, even when sober, was a pig who hit on her at every opportunity. He was dead, and Amber deserved to remember him in any way she chose.
“He knew what he was doing,” Amber said softly. “When it came to you, he always knew.”
Olivia wasn’t sure what to say.
Amber took a deep breath, then exhaled loudly. “Rex was always talking about you. Whenever he was trying to get me to do something I didn’t want to do, he’d make a comment about how hot you looked, or how talented you were. I’d give in every time.”
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