I start to duck, but it’s too late. Her eyes lock with mine. She blinks and takes a sharp breath before running to the driver’s side and slamming the door.
A sharp gust of wind whistles through the branches above my head. My legs feel shaky and I dig my fingers into the wet dirt to steady myself.
Laurel reverses and pivots the car over mud and rocks. She flicks on her brights to illuminate the treacherous path ahead. Then she speeds away into the night. I watch the red taillights disappear into the distance, trying not to think about Thayer. But I can’t help it. I think of him wincing every time the car hits a bump. I think about when I’m going to see him again—if I’m going to see him again. And I think about how someone used my car to run down the boy I’m in love with …
But… who?
29
LIKE POISON
Emma whipped around, ready to find herself face-to-face with Thayer, ready to defend herself against someone twice her size in the middle of the desert with no witnesses. But instead, Laurel’s piercing blue eyes stared back at her.
“What are you doing out here?” Laurel snapped, retracting her hand from Emma’s shoulder.
Emma took a breath, her body still tensed. “Just taking a walk,” she said, unclenching her fists and resting them at her side.
Laurel put a finger to her lips. “Wait, let me guess,” she said, her words singed with annoyance. “I’ll bet you’re out here calling Thayer now that he’s out of jail.” Emma flinched. “You know he’s out?”
“What, did you think you were the only one?” Laurel’s face dropped into a scowl. “I wish you’d leave him alone.
He doesn’t need more of you, Sutton. You’ve done enough already.”
Emma stared at her. “What are you talking about?” Did Laurel mean how Sutton had hit Thayer with her car? How could she know about that?
Laurel crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes. “I’m so sick of this. I know. I know what you’re hiding.” Emma blinked at her. The night air hung heavy and silent between them. Panic gripped her limbs. Hiding?
Was she talking about Emma’s real identity? Had she figured it out? Had Thayer told her?
“You’re going to stand there and pretend you have no idea what I’m talking about, aren’t you?” Laurel asked, her eyes widening.
Tiny scratching noises sounded in the underbrush as some animal scurried among the cacti. A shiver ran along the back of Emma’s legs and she tried to keep her glare even. The last thing she wanted was to give away how afraid she was.
“I was the one who saved him, after all,” Laurel spat.
She yanked her honey blonde hair into a ponytail and stared at Emma like she was waiting for her to defend herself.
A low buzzing noise sounded. Emma couldn’t be sure whether it was music from the party or desert bugs swarming in the distance. Who had Laurel saved him from?
From Sutton?
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Laurel,” she said finally, making her voice sound as condescending as possible.
Laurel cocked her head to the side and dug her heels into the dirt. “I saw you hiding in the bushes after Thayer got hit by that car at Sabino Canyon. He denied it, but I know you were with him.” She shifted her weight and crossed her arms over her chest. “Why were you hiding? Why did you pawn him off on me? So I could take him to the hospital to be treated? Was that too much for you to handle?” She dropped her chin and shook her head. “Or was it just your usual MO?” She stared at Emma a long moment before lowering her voice to say, “You created too big of a mess to pick up yourself.”
“No!” I yelled at my sister. “I hid because I was afraid you wouldn’t get Thayer what he needed if you knew I was involved! I was trying to do the best thing for him!” But of course she didn’t hear me. I thought again about the memory I’d just seen. I felt foolish for being so convinced Thayer was my cold-blooded killer when I now realized that he was just looking to protect me. The anguish of seeing him lying there, twisted and hurt, felt fresh and raw. Who could have hit him with my car and just sped away like that?
Maybe whoever had been chasing us. Which meant Thayer might know who my killer is without even knowing I’m dead.
Emma, meanwhile, blinked at Laurel’s words. She tried to understand what they meant. Part of this made sense—Thayer was hit by a car that caused his limp. But she had no idea Laurel had been involved that night. And the way Laurel was talking, it sounded like Sutton hadn’t been the one to hit Thayer.
“What else do you know?” she asked slowly. “What else did you see?” If Laurel had seen Sutton hiding, maybe she’d seen someone else there, too. Sutton’s true killer.
A coyote howl pealed over the rocks. Laurel glanced in its direction and sighed. “If you mean did I see the two of you making out, I didn’t. And I don’t know who hit him, either. He wouldn’t tell me anything that happened. Do you know who hit him? Are you making him keep quiet about something?”
“I don’t know anything,” Emma said. It was the truth.
Laurel’s silk dress Bill owed in the wind. She ran the palms of her hands over her bare arms. “All you’ve done for the past month is pester me about the night of August thirty-first, trying to get me to spil that I was with Thayer. Thinking I didn’t know you were there, too. That is why you asked me over and over what I was doing that night, isn’t it? Because you wanted to know if I saw you? Well, I did. I saw you, hiding in the bushes and abandoning Thayer when he needed you the most.” She scrunched up her face with disgust. “How could you have done that? And how could you have screamed when he came into your bedroom? Are you trying to ruin his life?”
“I’m sorry,” Emma blurted.
“Sorry’s not good enough,” Laurel snarled. “You need to stay away from him. He told me as much. Every time you’re around him, something terrible happens.”
“Wait, he told you that?” Emma asked, rewinding.
“When did you talk to him?”
Laurel dropped her hands to her hips. “On the way to the hospital. I’m the one who cares about him, Sutton. I’m the one who took him to the hospital, where he was in surgery all night. And I’m the one who posted his bail, in case you haven’t figured that one out yet, while you were running around, hooking up with your new boyfriend.”
“You posted his bail? How? ”
Laurel crossed her arms over her chest. “If you must know, I’ve been saving. And with the bond Grandma gave me years ago and all the money people contributed to the Free Thayer campaign, it was enough. But why do you care? Thayer obviously doesn’t matter to you. So just leave him alone, okay?” With that, she spun around and marched back to the party.
Emma ran her hands along her face, replaying everything Laurel had said over and over in her mind. The tables had just turned again. So … Thayer hadn’t killed Sutton? He’d left Sutton alive, then Laurel had taken him to the hospital. But there were so many unanswered questions. It had to have been Sutton’s car that hit Thayer, but who had been driving? Was someone else with them that night, someone who didn’t want them to be together?
Or had someone stolen Sutton’s car?
If only I knew who Thayer was protecting me from. Who we were running from. Who was sitting behind the wheel when the car rammed straight into him.
But I didn’t know a thing. All I saw after that moment when Laurel and Thayer sped away was darkness. And with that darkness came a horrible realization: Emma and I were back to square one.
30
CHEESE, MILK, AND EX-
CONS
On Saturday morning, Emma pulled into the parking lot of Trader Joe’s and eased Sutton’s Volvo into a prime spot in front of the store. After she turned off the ignition, she unfolded the shopping list Mrs. Mercer had given her that morning. It included things like tahini butter, kimchee juice, and unsweetened almond milk. “You know how particular Grandma is,” Sutton’s mother had warned as she went down the list, explaining each item. “Get this stuff exactly as I’ve described it, or I’ll have a very cranky motherin-law on my hands.” The whole family was preparing for Grandma Mercer’s arrival early next week for her son’s birthday party.
Apparently, Grandma was a bit of a handful.
Emma watched customers emerge from the grocery store, smiling and clutching brown paper bags, and sighed.
They all looked so happy and carefree. She was pretty certain she’d be the only Trader Joe’s patron who’d spent the previous evening crossing a murder suspect off her list.
As she got out of the car, warm Tucson air stuck to the back of her neck. She pulled her chestnut brown hair into a ponytail and checked her reflection in the car’s window.
She was about to head toward the front doors when she noticed a familiar figure climbing out of a navy blue BMW
across the lot. She felt her insides twist and heat rise to her cheeks.
Thayer.
He hadn’t seen her. Emma could turn and run in the other direction, but now that she knew he was innocent, she owed him an apology. Her legs felt unsteady as she crossed the parking lot toward the car. She forced herself forward until she stood a few feet from him. “Thayer?” Her voice came out shaky. Something about him still made her so nervous.
Thayer turned and squinted. His white T-shirt was wrinkled, and his army green cargo shorts hung low, like they were too big for him. His jaw tightened and he ran a hand through his hair. “Oh. Hey.”
“You’re out of jail,” Emma said, immediately feeling stupid.
“Is that a problem?” Thayer leaned on the BMW’s hood, examining Emma carefully. Almost like he knew she wasn’t the girl he fell in love with. But Emma was being paranoid. She knew now that Thayer had no idea about the twin switch. He wasn’t Sutton’s killer.
“Look, I’m sorry about the way things worked out,” she said softly. “With… you know. That night. The hospital.” She held Thayer’s gaze, wanting him to believe her, wanting him to know Sutton didn’t mean to hurt him.
I wanted Thayer to know it, too.
Thayer’s face softened slightly. He fidgeted with the strap of the black backpack slung over his shoulder. “Look, Sutton. I’m actually not supposed to be around you.”
“I know,” Emma said quickly, suddenly nervous. She lifted a hand to shade her eyes and shifted her weight in Sutton’s flip-flops. “Laurel told me. I ruin your life every time I’m near you.”
A confused look passed over Thayer’s features. “Uh, no. I can’t be around you because your dad said so. I got a call from him this morning.” His expression darkened at the mention of Mr. Mercer. “He said that if he caught me hanging around with you or Laurel, he’d figure out how to throw me back in jail.”
Emma frowned. “Why does he hate you so much?” Thayer tilted his chin and gave Emma a weighted glance that made her feel like she’d asked a question Sutton would’ve known the answer to.
