by Sara Shepard
“I’m happy to help.” Spencer smiled. “Makeovers always work wonders.”
Zach’s eyes remained on hers in the mirror. He still didn’t pull up the zipper. Then, slowly, he touched the small of her back with his palm. His warm, smooth hand sent tingles up Spencer’s spine. She turned to face him. He moved his arms up and wrapped them around her waist. They stood just inches from one another, so close that Spencer could smell Zach’s breath mints. In just seconds, their lips would touch. Thousands of questions swarmed in Spencer’s head. But you said you were . . . Are you?. . . What is this . . . ?
“Guys?”
They shot apart. A pair of snakeskin heels peeked under the curtain. “What are you doing in there?” Amelia asked.
“Uh, nothing.” Spencer fumbled away from Zach, knocking into a few garments hanging on the wall. She pulled her jeans back on underneath the dress.
At the same time, Zach smoothed down his shirt and exited the room. “I was just helping Spencer zip something up,” he murmured to his sister.
Amelia’s snakeskin-clad feet turned this way and that. “Is that all you were doing?”
A long pause followed. Zach was saved by his ringing phone, and he padded out of the dressing room hallway to take the call. Spencer slumped down on the little bench inside her alcove and stared at her flustered face in the mirror. If only Zach had answered his sister. Spencer would have loved to know if that was all they’d been doing, too.
Chapter 22
The Bridges of Rosewood County
A few hours later that same Friday, just after the sun was sinking past the tree line, Emily pulled into the parking lot of the Rosewood covered bridge. It was about a mile away from Rosewood Day, constructed from Revolutionary War–era stone, and spanned a small creek filled with fish—in the summer, anyway. Now, in dreary February, the frozen creek was silent and deathly still. The pine trees whispered in the wind, sounding like gossiping ghosts. Every so often, Emily heard a crack or a snap far off in the woods. It wasn’t exactly somewhere she wanted to be right now. The only reason she’d come was because Chloe wanted to meet her here to talk.
She got out and walked under the bridge, inhaling the scent of wet wood. Just like everything else in Rosewood, the bridge held a sad memory. Emily and Ali visited it once in the late spring of seventh grade, sitting under its shady cover and listening to the creek rushing beneath them. “You know that guy I told you about, Em?” Ali sing-songed happily. She’d often teased Emily about an older guy she was in love with. Later, Emily found out it was Ian Thomas. “I think I’m going to bring him here tonight so we can make out.” Ali twisted the string friendship bracelet she’d made for all of them around her wrist and gave Emily a sly, I-know-just-how-badly-I’m-breaking-your-heart smile.
Emily’s memory shifted to the friendship bracelet she’d seen on Tabitha’s wrist. As soon as she’d spotted it, she’d backed away from her fast. Something was really, really wrong.
The crowd on the dance floor and at the bar was thick, making it almost impossible for Emily to find her friends. She finally located Spencer sitting on top of a remote patio table, staring dazedly at the dark, raging ocean. “I know you’re going to tell me I’m crazy,” Emily blurted out, “but you have to believe me.”
Spencer turned and stared, her blue eyes huge. “She’s Ali,” Emily persisted. “She is. I know she doesn’t look like her, but she’s wearing Ali’s old string bracelet—the one she made for us after the Jenna Thing. It’s exactly the same.”
Spencer shut her eyes for a good ten seconds. Then she told Emily how Tabitha insinuated that they looked like long-lost sisters. “It was like she knew me,” she whispered. “It was like . . . she was Ali.”
Emily felt a hot sizzle of fear. Just hearing Spencer say it made it all feel even more real and dangerous. She looked around to make sure no one was listening. “What are we going to do? Call the police?”
“How could we prove it?” Spencer chewed on her bottom lip. “She hasn’t done anything to us.”
“Yet,” Emily said.
“Besides, everyone thinks Ali’s dead,” Spencer continued. “If we tell them a dead girl has come back to life, they’ll have us committed.”
“We have to do something.” The idea of Ali roaming the same resort they were staying at chilled Emily to the bone.
A car door slammed, and footsteps rang out behind her, breaking Emily from her memory. Chloe appeared in the archway of the bridge. “Hey,” Emily called.
“Hey,” Chloe answered. Her voice sounded dampened and morose, and Emily’s chest tightened. Chloe hadn’t explained why she’d wanted to meet her tonight—only that they needed to talk. What if she’d seen her father kiss Emily? What if A had told her? A’s note pounded in her head: Naughty, naughty! You just love to be bad, Killer!
Chloe made her way to Emily, and they both walked through the covered bridge. For a while, the only sounds were their boots crunching through the thin layer of crushed ice. Chloe pulled out a flashlight from her pocket and shone it on the wooden beams, stonework, and graffiti tags. Brad + Gina. Kennedy is a bitch. Go Rosewood Sharks.
Chloe still hadn’t said a word. Her silence began to unnerve Emily, so she took a deep breath. “Chloe, I’m really, really sorry.”
“You’re sorry?” Chloe turned around. “I’m sorry.”
Emily squinted at her. “But I—”
“I had so much to drink last night,” Chloe interrupted. “A couple glasses before you came, a couple glasses while you were there . . . the whole night is a blur. I barely remember going to bed. I left the responsibility of Grace up to you.”
The cold was beginning to make Emily’s feet numb. “Oh,” she finally sputtered. “It’s okay. Grace was fine.” She stepped forward. She had to come clean about Chloe’s dad. This wasn’t a way to start a friendship, and the last thing Emily wanted was to keep yet another secret from someone. “Listen, there’s something I need to tell you.”
“Wait, let me finish.” Chloe raised her palms in a halting gesture. “I was hiding something from you last night. I shouldn’t have been drinking. I had a problem with it back in North Carolina—I had these friends who drank all the time, I acted out because of my parents’ issues, and I took things too far. One time, I even had to be hospitalized for alcohol poisoning.”
“Oh, Chloe!” Emily covered her mouth with her hands. “That’s awful!”
A huge burst of steam puffed from Chloe’s nostrils. “I know. I was out of control. And yesterday was kind of . . . a relapse. My parents would kill me if they knew—they had me in rehab programs, but I swore I was better and didn’t need to go to the meetings anymore. That’s why I went to bed last night without telling you—I didn’t want them to see me in that condition. You didn’t mention the champagne to them, did you?”
“No!” Emily cried. She’d run out of the house before she could say much of anything.
Chloe looked relieved. “Do you know if they saw the bottle in the kitchen trash? I took it out this morning, but I was so scared.”
Your dad was way too preoccupied to be hunting around for champagne bottles, Emily thought grimly. And she hadn’t seen Mrs. Roland downstairs at all. “I don’t think so.”
A mound of snow fell off the roof with a wet slap, and both girls turned. Chloe wandered farther into the bridge, and Emily followed her. “So why were you drinking yesterday?” she asked.
Chloe’s boots made loud clonks on the ground. She shrugged. “It’s hard to move to a different place, I guess. Hard to start over. And things feel so strange here—not quite right. The only really happy thing I’ve found is you.”
Emily blushed. “Thanks. And, you know, if you need someone to talk to about it, I’m here.”
“I’m here for you, too.” Chloe turned. “I didn’t black out what you told me last night—about the baby. We can help each other.”
They hugged, squeezing each other tight. When they broke apart, a comfortable silence fell over t
hem. Cars swished by on the highway. More twigs cracked in the woods. For a split second, Emily was sure she saw a dark, humanlike shape darting between the trees, but when her vision adjusted, there was only darkness.
“So what were you going to tell me?” Chloe asked suddenly.
Emily stopped short. “When?”
“Just now, silly.” Chloe’s voice was playful.
Emily curled her numb toes in her boots. Once again, the pendulum swung in the opposite direction. There was no way she could tell Chloe about what her father did—not with the state she was in. The last thing she wanted was to upset her friend and send her into a downward spiral of destructive drinking. “Oh, it doesn’t matter. I guess I’m preoccupied today.”
“About swimming?”
Emily looked up questioningly, and Chloe smiled. “You have a big meet tomorrow, right? My dad mentioned that the recruiter’s going to be there.”
Just the mention of Mr. Roland made a nervous streak shoot through Emily’s gut. “Oh, yeah. Right.”
“You shouldn’t worry,” Chloe said. “You’re going to be great. And you’re going to get that scholarship. I can feel it.”
“Thanks.” Emily nudged her with her hip. “Why don’t you come, too? I’d love the moral support.”
Chloe’s face fell. “I have to babysit tomorrow.”
Then, a sharp bleating sound pierced the air. Chloe pulled out her phone and looked at the screen. “I’ve gotta go. My mom’s actually home in time to make dinner tonight.”
They both walked back to their cars. Chloe’s headlights flickered as she unlocked the doors. After turning on the engine, she leaned out the window and peered at Emily. “Wanna come over after your swim meet? I’d love to hear how it goes.”
“Definitely,” Emily said.
Chloe pulled out of the space. Emily remained there for a moment, her hands shoved deep in her pockets. Just as she was about to unlock her door, she noticed something tucked under her windshield wiper. Her boots slipped on the icy ground as she groped toward it and yanked it free.
It was a picture, printed on copier paper, probably originally taken with a camera phone. Two girls danced together, one of them holding her arm out to take the photo. As Emily squinted, she realized she was staring at her own image. She wore a top that said MERCI BEAUCOUP, and her skin looked pale and drawn. Behind her were flaming tiki torches, swaying palms, and a familiar wood bar with a cerulean-tiled backsplash.
Jamaica.
Then Emily looked at the other girl, the one who’d taken the photo. The breath left her body. It was Tabitha. This was the picture she’d snapped during their one and only dance.
Crack. Another twig snapped in the woods. Emily peered at the bridge, her heart pounding.
Then she turned the photo over. There was writing scribbled across the center. It matched the script from the postcard they’d found in Ali’s mailbox. Emily’s mouth fell open as she read the words.
Is this proof enough? –A
Chapter 23
Whatever means necessary
“There she is!” Mr. Marin opened his arms wide when Hanna stepped into the atrium in the bottom level of the office building where her dad was holding a campaign fund-raising party. “My inspiration! The public’s new darling!”
Several guests turned and smiled as Mr. Marin embraced Hanna tightly, squishing her face against his wool suit. “My daughter’s been through a lot, but she’s a beacon of how people can change. How Pennsylvania can change. And how we can make that happen.”
Finally, he released her, giving Hanna a thrilled grin. Hanna’s smile was wobbly at best. In forty-eight hours, her dad might know the truth about her—in more ways than one.
How was she supposed to come up with $10,000? And even if she found a way to pay off Patrick, how could she stop A?
Hanna pulled out her phone and started to type a text to Mike. You were right about Patrick. I miss you. Please call me.
As she hit SEND, she noticed someone was bustling up the walk. Hanna narrowed her eyes at the bright blue Rosewood Day Swimming anorak. Was that Emily?
“I’ll be back in a sec,” she told her dad, who had turned to speak to a man in a tailored black suit. Hanna burst out of the atrium and into the frigid outdoors. Emily’s reddish-gold hair was wild around her face, and her clear green eyes looked red-rimmed. “I had to talk to you,” Emily said, noticing Hanna. “And you keep hanging up on me, so I figured this was the only way.”
“How did you know I’d be here?” Hanna demanded, hands on hips.
Emily rolled her eyes. “You posted it all over Facebook. You’d think with A running loose you’d be a bit more secretive about your whereabouts. Or do you still not believe it’s real?”
Hanna turned away. “I don’t know what to think.”
“So you’ve gotten notes, too?”
An older couple passed them and pushed through the atrium doors. In the middle of the big room, Hanna’s father shook hands and slapped backs. This was way too public of a place to be talking about A. She pulled Emily farther down the path and lowered her voice. “I already told you I’ve been getting notes.”
“Someone knows, Hanna.” Emily’s voice cracked. “A sent me a photo of me and . . . her.”
“What do you mean?”
Emily pulled out the picture and shoved it in Hanna’s face. Sure enough, it was from Jamaica. “Who could have gotten this? Who knows?”
“It’s her, Hanna. Tabitha. Ali.”
“But that’s impossible!” Hanna cried. “We—”
Emily cut her off. “All of my notes so far have sounded exactly like something Ali might write. In one of them, she even called me Killer.”
Hanna stared into the middle distance. Of course her notes reminded her of Ali. “It’s not possible.”
“Yes it is,” Emily insisted, sounding angry. “And you know it. Think about what happened. What we did. What we saw—or didn’t see.”
Hanna opened her mouth, then shut it again. If she allowed herself to talk or think about Jamaica, Tabitha’s awful voice would invade her head again.
But it was already too late. Visions swarmed into Hanna’s mind like an invasion of ants at a picnic. That awful night, after Tabitha hinted that she knew Hanna used to be a chubby, ugly loser, Spencer and Emily ran toward her, worry on their faces. “We need to talk,” Spencer said. “That girl that Emily saw on the landing? There’s something weird about her.”
“I know,” Hanna said.
They found Aria alone at the bar. She’d met Tabitha, too, she said, but she still didn’t believe she was Ali. “It has to be a coincidence,” she said.
“It’s not,” Emily urged.
The three of them dragged Aria up to the room she and Emily were sharing and triple-locked the doors. Then, one by one, each of them shared the eerie, Ali-like experience they’d had with Tabitha. With each tale, Hanna’s heart galloped faster and faster.
Aria frowned, still skeptical. “There has to be a logical explanation. How can she know things only Ali knows, say things only Ali says?”
“Because she’s Ali,” Emily insisted. “She’s back. Just . . . different. You saw the scars.”
Aria blinked. “So you’re saying she didn’t die in the fire?”
“I guess not.” Emily shut her eyes, guilt washing over her again. She swallowed it down. “I guess she escaped from the house.”
The room went silent. There was a loud thump from one of the upper floors; it sounded like kids were wrestling in their rooms. Aria cleared her throat. “But what about her family? Who’s been supporting her? How did she get here?”
“Maybe they don’t know she’s alive,” Emily whispered. “Maybe she’s gone rogue.”
“But if this is Ali, she had major reconstructive surgery,” Aria pointed out. “You said so yourself, Em. Do you really think she got through all that on her own? How did she pay for it?”
“It’s Ali we’re talking about.” Hanna hugged a pill
ow tight. “I wouldn’t put anything past her.”
Unspoken questions floated almost palpably through the air: What if Ali had deliberately followed them to Jamaica? What if she was planning to finish the job she’d started in the Poconos? What should they do?
A muffled, scratching sound made them turn. There, on the carpet just inside the door, was a folded-up piece of resort stationery. Someone had clearly just slipped it into the room.
Spencer leapt up and grabbed it. The girls gathered around and read it together. Hey girls! Meet me on the crow’s nest in ten minutes. I want to show you something. Tabitha.
An Amtrak train across Route 30 clanged past, breaking Hanna from the memory. She pinched the bridge of her nose and looked at Emily. “Do you think Wilden would believe us?”
“I heard he isn’t a cop anymore.” Emily rubbed her hands up and down her arms, shivering. “And could you see his face if we told him we were being tortured by a dead girl? And anyway, if we tell anyone, A would tell what we did. And we can’t have that, Hanna. We can’t.”
“I know,” Hanna said softly, her heart thudding hard.
The door to the atrium whooshed open, bringing with it a rush of party noise. Jeremiah stepped out, spied Hanna, and stormed toward her, his face twisted into a scowl. “What are you doing out here? And who’s this?” He glared at Emily like she was a spy.
“A friend,” Hanna snapped.
“The friend who wrote this?” Jeremiah waved his iPad in Hanna’s face. On the screen was an email message. Hanna’s gotten into all kinds of trouble lately! Better ask her about it before the reporters do. The sender’s return address was a nonsensical jumble of letters and numbers.
“Oh my God,” Emily whispered, reading the message over Hanna’s shoulder.
Jeremiah eyed her. “Do you know what this is about?”
“No,” Emily and Hanna stammered together. Which was the truth, at least for Hanna. She didn’t know which horrible thing it was about: what happened in Jamaica, or what happened with Patrick.