Sara Shepard - Killer

She grinned at Isaac. “Where did you get this?”

Isaac walked over to her. “Remember that aunt I told you about when we got Chinese last week? The one who’s into horoscopes and stuff? She got this for me at a flea market.” He touched a spot on Emily’s skull. “Hmm, you feel very bumpy.” He glanced at the phrenology head. “According to this, you’re really good at giving affection…or you make others want to give you affection. I can never remember which.”

“Very scientific,” Emily teased. She touched the top of his head, feeling for a bump. “And you’re…” She leaned back, searching the ceramic head for an appropriate quality. The thief. The mimic. The murderer. Rosewood PD needed one of these heads—they could massage every cranium in town and find Ali’s murderer right away. “You’re wise,” she concluded.

“ You’re beautiful,” Isaac said. He slowly steered her over to the bed and pulled her down. She felt flushed and short of breath. She hadn’t anticipated lying down on Isaac’s bed, but she didn’t want to get up. They kissed for a while longer, easing down until they were lying flat on the pillows. Emily thrust her hand underneath his T-shirt to feel his warm, bare chest. Then she giggled, astonished at her behavior.

“What?” Isaac asked, pulling away. “Do you want to stop?”

Emily lowered her eyes. The truth was, whenever she was around Isaac, a calmness came over her. All of her anxieties and worries flew out the window. Being with him, she felt safe and secure…and in love.

“I don’t want to stop,” she whispered, her heart fluttering. “Do you?”

Isaac shook his head. Then, he pulled off his T-shirt. His skin was pale and soft. He unbuttoned Emily’s blouse, one button at a time, until her shirt gaped open. The only sound was their breathing. Isaac touched the edge of Emily’s pink scalloped bra. Ever since he had taken off her shirt two days ago in the car, she’d worn her prettier bras to school. Nicer underwear, too, not the comfy boy shorts she usually wore. Maybe she hadn’t anticipated this, exactly, but maybe, just maybe, it was exactly what she’d been hoping for.

When the digital clock on Isaac’s nightstand turned from 5:59 to 6:00, Emily sat up and pulled the flannel sheets around her. The streetlights up and down Isaac’s block were now lit, and a woman across the street was calling her kids in from the front yard for dinner.

“I should probably go soon,” Emily said, giving Isaac another kiss. They both giggled. Isaac pulled her back down and started kissing her again. Eventually, they both stood up and got dressed, sneaking not-so-covert peeks at each other. A lot had happened…but Emily felt right about it. Isaac had gone achingly slow, kissing every inch of her body, admitting that this was his first time too. It couldn’t have been more perfect.

They started down the stairs, straightening their clothes. Halfway down, Emily heard someone let out a phlegm-filled cough.

They both froze. Emily widened her eyes at Isaac. His parents weren’t supposed to be back until after seven.

A creaky footstep sounded from the kitchen. A set of car keys jangled, then dropped into a ceramic bowl. Emily’s stomach swooped. She gazed at the mute, glassy-eyed dolls on the steps. They seemed to be smirking at her.

Emily and Isaac scrambled down the stairs and flung themselves on the couch. As soon as their butts hit the cushions, Mrs. Colbert walked into the room. She was dressed in a long red wool skirt and a white cable-knit sweater. Because of the way the light reflected off her glasses, Emily couldn’t tell where she was looking. There was a stern, disapproving look on her face. For an agonizing second, Emily became panicked that Mrs. Colbert had heard everything that had just happened.

Then, she turned and flattened her palm to her chest. “Guys! I didn’t see you there!”

Isaac leapt up, awkwardly knocking the stack of photo albums on the coffee table to the floor. “Mom, you remember Emily, right?”

Emily stood up, too, hoping her hair wasn’t a complete mess and that she didn’t have a rapidly growing hickey on her neck. “H-hi,” she stammered. “Nice to see you again.”

“Hello, Emily.” There was a pleasant enough smile on Mrs. Colbert’s face, but Emily’s heart continued to gallop all the same. Was she really surprised to see them, or was she just waiting until Emily left to yell at Isaac in private?

She gazed at Isaac, who looked uncomfortable. He placed his hand on top of his head, matting down his mussed hair. “Uh, Emily, do you want to stay for dinner?” Isaac blurted. “That’s okay, right, Mom?”

Mrs. Colbert hesitated, drawing her lips together until they practically disappeared. “I—I shouldn’t,” Emily stammered, before Mrs. Colbert could answer. “My mom is expecting me home.”

Mrs. Colbert breathed out. Emily swore she looked relieved. “Well. Perhaps another time,” she said.

“How about tomorrow?” Isaac pressed.

Emily shot an uneasy glance at Isaac, wondering if he should just let the dinner thing drop. But Mrs. Colbert brushed her hands together and said, “Tomorrow would be fine. Wednesday is pot roast night.”

“Uh, okay,” Emily answered. “I guess I could do that. Thanks.”

“Good.” Mrs. Colbert gave her a tight smile. “Bring your appetite!”

She glided back to the kitchen. Emily sank back onto the couch and covered her face with her hands. “Just kill me now,” she whispered.

Isaac touched her arm. “We’re safe. She doesn’t know we were upstairs.”

But as Emily glanced through the arched doorway to the kitchen, she saw Isaac’s mom standing at the sink, rinsing off the breakfast dishes. Although her hands continued to manically scrub the plates, Mrs. Colbert’s dark eyes were fixed steadily on them. Her lips puckered, her cheeks flushed, and the cords in her neck bulged with fury.

Emily flinched, aghast. Mrs. Colbert noticed Emily was watching, but her expression didn’t falter. She stared unblinkingly at Emily, as if cognizant of exactly what she and Isaac had done. And maybe even blaming Emily—and only Emily—for all of it.

As the sun was sinking beneath the horizon, turning all of Rosewood pitch-black, Spencer watched out her bedroom window as the remaining Rosewood PD squad cars and news vans pulled away from her street. The cops had abruptly called off the search for Ian’s body, having found nothing in the woods. And a lot of people had bought into the new theory that the girls had made up seeing Ian’s body, thereby allowing him to easily escape Rosewood forever.

Such bullshit. And it didn’t seem possible that the cops hadn’t found a single piece of evidence. There had to be something out there. A footprint. Tree bark rubbed off from someone’s nails.

Her desktop computer at the other corner of the room made an angry buzz . Spencer looked up, eyeing the CD she and Andrew had made of her dad’s hard drive yesterday. It was where she’d left it after it finished loading last night, sitting in a paper sleeve on top of her antique Tiffany blotter. She hadn’t looked through the files yet, but there was no good time like the present. She walked to her desk and slid the CD into her computer.

Instantly, the computer made a farting noise, and every single icon on Spencer’s desktop turned into a question mark. She tried to click on one, but it wouldn’t open. Then the screen went black. She tried to reboot, but the computer wouldn’t turn on.

“Shit,” she whispered, ejecting the CD. She had backups of everything on her hard drive, like her old papers, tons of pictures and videos, and her journal, which she’d kept since before Ali disappeared, but without a functional computer, she couldn’t look through her dad’s files for evidence.