Sara Shepard - Two Truths and a Lie

“I’m sorry,” Emma said. “But I just sat down.”

“Okay, I can ask you here if you’d prefer,” Garrett said challengingly, placing his hands on his hips. He glanced at the Mercer parents. “I just wanted to see how your visit to the police station went yesterday, Sutton.”

Emma bristled. How did he know that ? The Mercers stiffened. “You were at the police station?” Mrs. Mercer blurted. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

Garrett faked a look of surprise. “Oh!” he said. “I figured you would have said something. I’ll leave you guys alone.” Then he backed away, returning to his parents’ table in the corner.

Emma faced Sutton’s parents, feeling her cheeks flush. She’d kind of hoped that they wouldn’t find out about her little trip to see Quinlan.

“Were you in trouble again?” Mrs. Mercer asked, looking heartbroken, no doubt thinking about how she’d visited the police station to reprimand her daughter for shoplifting the week before.

“I bet she was there to see Thayer,” Laurel said, her voice dripping with hatred.

“I wasn’t in trouble,” Emma said, her voice rising. “And I wasn’t there to see Thayer, either. I only went because Quinlan called me in. I didn’t want to tell you because it wasn’t important.”

“Yeah, right,” Laurel said under her breath. “Like you’re such the good daughter. Like you tell them everything .”

Emma shot her a look. “What about you? Have you told them about the Free Thayer campaign? How you’re asking kids to contribute to his bail fund?”

Mr. Mercer turned to her for a moment, looking horrified. Laurel reddened. “It’s a project for my government class,” she said quickly. “We were learning how petitions impact laws, and we had to put it into practice.”

“You could have petitioned for something other than freeing the boy who broke into your home and scared the hell out of your sister,” Mr. Mercer said sternly. Then he held up a hand. “We’ll get to that in a second. Why did you go to the police station, Sutton? Was it about Thayer?” He leaned forward, staring Emma down. Fear prickled along Emma’s spine. Sutton’s dad looked just as furious as he had the night he’d found Thayer in Sutton’s bedroom.

“I …” Emma started. But she wasn’t sure what to say.

A waitress appeared beside them, then noticed the family’s expressions. She waved her hands deferentially, and backed away toward the kitchen. Mr. Mercer laid his palms on the table, his face softening. “Well, Sutton?” he said in a milder voice. “Please tell us. We won’t be upset. We’re just concerned. Thayer is troubled. No normal guy runs away and then sneaks into your bedroom. We’re just trying to keep you safe.”

Emma lowered her eyes, her heart slowing down. Sutton’s dad was using the same gentle-but-protective voice he’d used in the garage last week when she’d helped him work on his motorcycle. He was just trying to be a good parent. Still, there was no way she could tell him about what had happened at the police station.

“I was just signing paperwork about the shoplifting incident,” she said, thinking quickly. “Nothing else happened. I promise. Garrett was just trying to get me in trouble because he’s pissed off because we’re not together anymore. You’re making too big a deal about this.”

She hid her shaking hands under the table, hoping they bought her story. Mr. Mercer stared at her. Mrs. Mercer bit her mauve-lined lip. Laurel sniffed, clearly not believing a word of it. But finally, the Mercer parents sighed and shrugged. “Next time you’re at the police station, maybe you could let us know,” Mrs. Mercer suggested calmly.

“Let’s hope there isn’t a next time,” Mr. Mercer said gruffly, a crinkle forming between his eyes.

Emma looked away uncomfortably, her gaze floating to where Garrett and his family were sitting. At that very moment, he glanced over and gave her a smirk. Jerk , she thought. She hadn’t wanted to open the Thayer can of worms tonight. But when she turned back to her parents, they were discussing whether they should order a bottle of Shiraz or Malbec from the wine list. She was off the hook—for now.

Or was she? I couldn’t help but notice Laurel glaring at Emma across the table. And I couldn’t help but remember those tiny little initials scribbled on her calendar the night I died. TV.

Laurel knew something. I only hoped Emma found out what it was before it was too late.

The following day, Emma stood in the Hollier parking lot, baking beneath the brutal Tucson sun. The girls’ soccer team ran laps around a dusty field in the distance. Emma had no idea how they weren’t keeling over—it had to be almost 110 degrees outside. She’d played thirty minutes of tennis at practice and felt like she needed to be hooked up to an IV for rehydration.

I remembered hot tennis practices like that. But weirdly, floating next to Emma, I felt neither hot nor cold. Just… nothing. It sounds strange, but I’d love to be sweaty and short of breath one more time. It surprised me that I desperately missed even those parts of being alive.

A horn honked, and Charlotte pulled up in her silver Mercedes. “Get in, bitch,” she called out the window.

“Thanks for the ride,” Emma said, throwing her tennis gear and purse in the backseat. “My sister is so lame for abandoning me.” They were all meeting at Madeline’s house for a prank-planning session today, but after tennis, Laurel had vanished without waiting for Emma. Luckily, Charlotte hadn’t left school yet, though Emma would have given anything to skip the meeting. The last thing she wanted to do was embarrass Ethan. When she’d seen him in the halls today she’d felt terrible, sure he knew that she was keeping something from him. She felt stuck: If she told Ethan what they were up to and blew the prank, Sutton’s friends would never forgive her. But if she didn’t tell him, she might lose him forever.

As soon as Emma was inside, Charlotte hit the gas and the car lurched out of the parking lot onto the highway. Within minutes they were passing a long stretch of desert, then a mini mall packed with local clothing boutiques, a 1950s-looking ice cream parlor, Starbucks, and a video store. Charlotte took a right into a familiar housing development. Emma was glad Charlotte was driving. She’d only been to the Vegas’ house once, when she and the girls had been planning a prank on the Twitter Twins, and she didn’t really remember where it was. It was one advantage of Sutton’s car having been missing for all this time—if Sutton’s friends thought she couldn’t find her way around Tucson, they’d probably check her into the mental hospital.

As they waited at a stoplight on Orange Grove, the local news came on. “Tucson is abuzz with the story about Thayer Vega, the missing boy from this summer,” a woman reporter said. Emma sat up straighter and tried not to gasp.

“Mr. Vega broke into an alleged girlfriend’s house early Saturday morning, and now he’s being held on a fifteenthousand-dollar bail for breaking and entering, resisting arrest, and carrying a concealed weapon,” the reporter went on. “However, Geoffrey Rogers, the lawyer assigned to his case, is convinced he’ll get it dismissed.”

A man’s voice boomed through the stereo speakers. “My client is a minor—he should not be tried as an adult,” Thayer’s lawyer said. “This is a matter of bad blood between him and a certain member of the Tucson police force.”