Sara Shepard - Deadly

Spencer took a breath. She hadn’t thought Fuji would actually go for it.

Then she explained what they knew, including how they’d accidentally pushed Tabitha off the balcony but didn’t kill her. They couldn’t tell anyone the truth, though, because of how it looked. And because someone was threatening them.

Agent Fuji tented her fingers. “So there’s another A?”

Emily glanced at the others. “More than one, we think.”

Fuji folded her hands. “And who do you think your stalker might be?”

Again, everyone exchanged a glance. Aria cleared her throat. “Alison,” she said loudly.

Fuji widened her eyes. “I see .”

Spencer launched into an explanation of exactly why they thought A was Ali and how all the pieces fit. “Wait a minute,” Agent Fuji interrupted, when they got to that part about Emily’s baby. “You think Alison killed Gayle Riggs?”

Spencer nodded.

Fuji squinted hard. “But in the police notes, you girls said it sounded like A spoke to the person who shot her.”

“That’s right,” Emily said. “We heard Gayle talking to someone. Kind of like, What are you doing here? And then there was the shot.”

Fuji’s brow furrowed. “So perhaps Gayle knew Alison?”

“Maybe,” Spencer said. “Or maybe she knew her helper.”

“Do you have any idea who her helper might be?”

The girls looked at one another. “We had a lot of theories,” Spencer said. “Graham Pratt for a while. And then Noel Kahn.”

“Noel?” Fuji cocked her head. “What does he have to do with this?”

Spencer opened her mouth to explain, but Aria caught her arm. “It was a false lead,” she said quickly. A look flashed across her face that said, Let’s not rat out Noel right now . Spencer just shrugged.

“This is really, really serious, girls,” Fuji said. “We’re talking about a serial killer. I’m glad you finally came to me about this—there’s no way you can handle this on your own, and you shouldn’t have to.”

No one spoke. Spencer held her breath.

“With your permission, I’d like to keep your phones. I want to look at all of these texts A has sent. There are ways to track which phone they’re being sent from, even from what part of the Philadelphia area. Give me any other evidence you can think of, too. Things these people might have touched. Places they might have been. We need every tip you can get.”

Spencer brightened. “I think Ali and her helper trashed my stepfather’s model home.”

Fuji nodded. “Maybe there are fingerprints.”

“I’m also worried that Ali might have done something to a girl named Iris Taylor,” Emily added, explaining how Ali had known Iris and that Iris had gone missing after Emily asked her questions.

Fuji wrote Iris’s name on a notepad. “We’ll look into her.”

Hanna tentatively raised a hand. “We have a lot more texts, but we’ll have to get them off our old phones from home. We switched phones when we figured out A was tracking us.”

“A lot of notes aren’t on our phones at all,” Spencer added, thinking of the very first missive they’d received from this A. It had been a postcard inside Ali’s mailbox— Jamaica is beautiful this time of year! Too bad you can’t ever go back .

“That’s fine,” Fuji said. “Collect everything and bring it back to me as soon as you can. And as far as security goes, you have my personal promise for a twenty-four-seven security team on all of you— and your families—until we crack the case. A won’t be able to get to you anymore.”

Aria blinked hard. “So you’re really letting us go ?”

Fuji nodded. “I’ll talk to my partners and the state police and let them know that your charges are dropped.”

“So my dad won’t know about this?” Hanna bleated.

Emily’s hands trembled. “I’m not in trouble with the FBI?”

“What you gave me is very important. I need to hold up my end of the bargain,” Fuji said as she stood. “However, if you receive another A note, I want you to forward it to me immediately. But I ask that you tell no one about what we’re doing or why you have a security detail. The less people know, the better. Is that clear?”

“Yes,” everyone said at the same time, though Hanna then raised a hand.

“My boyfriend knows,” she admitted. “He kind of guessed.”

Fuji winced. “Well, he’ll be under watch because he’s Aria’s brother.” She glanced around. “A, Alison, whoever it is, this is Tabitha’s killer. Gayle’s killer. Graham’s and Kyla’s killer. Obviously she’s dangerous. I’m going to personally lead this team—and believe me, there will be a team on this. We’re going to work day and night to find out what’s going on. Whoever this is, they’re not smarter than all of us. We’ll get them.”

Everyone exchanged another glance. “Oh my God,” Hanna bleated. “That sounds . . .”

“ Awesome,” Emily breathed.

They stared at one another in disbelief. Spencer glanced at Fuji, and the agent gave her a small, genuine smile, the first smile Spencer had ever seen from her. A delicious feeling washed down Spencer’s back. Could it finally, finally be over? Was someone actually going to help them?

The girls stood up and hugged one another tight. They didn’t have to handle this on their own anymore. They didn’t have to look over their shoulders or freeze when they heard a footstep or a twig crack or cringe when their cell phones chimed. They wouldn’t have to skulk around having secret conversations in dark places, fearing all the while that Ali was listening in.

Spencer threw back her head and laughed. It felt amazing, suddenly, to have power. If only Spencer knew how to reach Ali now, she’d send an anonymous note of her own: Take that, bitch .

About an hour later, an FBI officer drove Emily back to the Philadelphia church where she’d parked her car for Graham’s funeral, leaving Emily to drive the fifteen miles back to Rosewood alone.

Only, she wasn’t alone. As she pulled onto the expressway toward the suburbs, she peeked in her rearview mirror. A large, black Escalade switched lanes when she did. Fuji had instated the security detail immediately, instructing the bodyguards that they should watch the girls at all times, twenty-four hours a day. Emily’s guard had introduced himself as Clarence, taking her hand in his meaty palms and giving it a good shake, then giving her a business card with his phone number on it. “Me or my partner will be outside day and night,” he said in a New Jersey accent. “But if you get scared, you can always call us, too.”

A huge smile spread across Emily’s face, and she drummed happily on the steering wheel. If you get scared . How many times had she been terrified and had no idea how to rectify it? She might be able to sleep through a whole night now. She might be able to go for a jog around her neighborhood without fearing an attack by a mysterious assailant.

Of course, she did feel a twinge of apprehension about everything that had happened. The cat was definitely out of the bag, and Ali would probably know soon. Her potential rage was terrifying—especially given her track record. Rehashing the past brought back memories about seeing Gayle’s dead body in her driveway. And what if Ali had done something to Iris? At least the FBI was looking into it now . . . but what if Iris turned up dead?

Emily took the Rosewood exit off 76 and sped up the hill toward home. When she pulled into her driveway ten minutes later, her stomach flipped a few times. What if her parents somehow found out that the FBI had escorted her out of the funeral? Fuji insisted that they would keep everything very quiet, but there were all those reporters outside the church—could they have leaked the story? She really didn’t feel like going through the third degree.