Sara Shepard - Crushed

Emily cocked her head. “So . . . you don’t have anything else to tell me?”

The woman frowned. “No, that’s all.” She pulled out a rubber stamp from under the table, pressed it on an ink pad, and stamped Emily’s hand. “It marks that you’ve been here already. I don’t do repeats.”

Emily stood, unable to hide the disappointment on her face. This challenge suddenly felt like the I Spy books she used to look at in the school library. She would drive herself crazy trying to find the hidden snowman or tiny lamb charm or pink apostrophe in the cluttered photos, feeling unobservant and unintelligent when she failed. Or maybe Jordan just didn’t know her that well. Maybe Emily didn’t know Jordan that well.

She trudged over to Iris, who was marching in the conga line. Iris let Emily cut in, then looked at her strangely. “What’s on your hand?”

Emily peered at the stamp the fortune-teller had given her. “No repeats,” she mumbled. But when the strobe light flashed on it, she noticed the stamp was a large black circle with the initials JR in the center. She stopped short. Could that stand for Jordan Richards ?

She broke out of the conga line, held her hand directly under a recessed light by the buffet, and squinted hard. The mark looked like a stamp on an envelope. Around the initials was the word Bonaire. Could that be some kind of clue as to where Jordan was? Was Bonaire a post office? A town?

Emily darted out of the ballroom and into the hall, where the light was much brighter, and fished out her old cell phone. The clock at the top said ten PM exactly. Luckily, the WiFi signal in the hotel was strong, so when she typed BONAIRE into the browser, quite a few results immediately popped up. Bonaire was a little island in the Caribbean. Emily clicked on a Chamber of Commerce page. According to the site, Bonaire was a popular spot for snorkeling. The site showed a slideshow of images: tropical fish, people playing in a turquoise ocean. Then, a photo of an old-timey movie theater flashed on the screen. On the marquee, instead of the coming attractions, were the words I MISS YOU, EMILY.

Emily’s heart almost stopped. She stared, unblinking, at the website, worried she was seeing things. But then the image appeared on the slideshow again. I MISS YOU, EMILY. She gasped. “I miss you, too, Jordan,” she whispered.

She watched it scroll through six more times. Then, at 10:01, it disappeared. Emily felt dizzy. It was the most romantic thing anyone had ever done for her. If only she could book a flight to the Caribbean tonight and find Jordan. But she was sure Jordan was much too smart for that. Even if she had been in Bonaire, she was most likely long gone by now.

“ There you are, Miss Fields!”

A cold, slender hand landed on her bare shoulder. Emily jumped and looked up. Agent Fuji’s smile was unfriendly. Her conservative gray suit looked out of place among all the tulle and silk. “Have you been avoiding me?”

Emily’s mouth immediately felt dry. “Um . . .”

“I wanted to give you a chance to explain something,” Fuji cut in. “Maybe we could talk right now.”

Emily’s mouth fell open. Explain . . . what ?

Without waiting for Emily’s consent, Fuji guided Emily to the end of the hall, where it was quieter. “I received an anonymous tip that you are harboring priceless art in your house,” she said sternly. She leaned closer. “Do I need to get a search warrant, Miss Fields?”

Harboring priceless art? “There’s no art at my house!” Emily blurted out.

Fuji raised an eyebrow. “Is it in someone else’s house you know? I was told one of you girls had something we should know about. If it’s not you, who is it?”

The music pounded in Emily’s ears. She’d spoken before thinking. A had told . . . but A hadn’t told everything. It was a brilliant scheme: She was relying on Emily to spill the rest.

She looked at Fuji again. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh really?” Fuji placed her hands on her hips. “Are you sure about that?”

Emily shook her head faintly, trying her hardest to stand her ground. After a moment, Fuji pulled at the strap of her briefcase and spun on her heel. “You better not be lying,” she warned.

She strode away, her phone glued to her ear before she’d even left the building. Emily felt hot, then cold. What had she just done? Where was Fuji going? As soon as the cops found that painting, they were done.

She ran back into the ballroom and looked around for her friends, but she didn’t see any of them anywhere. Her burner phone was at the bottom of her clutch; she whipped it out and dialed Aria’s number. “Not it!” she screamed after the voicemail beep. She tried Spencer next, then Hanna. Nothing. “Not it, not it!” she yelled at both of them.

“Are you okay?”

Iris was behind her, breathless from the conga line. Emily dropped her phone back into her clutch, feeling scattered. “Um . . .”

“Did you get your surprise? You ran out of here so quickly, and . . .” Iris trailed off abruptly, her eyes widening at something across the room.

“What is it?” Emily followed her gaze. Was Fuji back? Was there a SWAT team here? The only people on the dance floor were kids in gowns and tuxes. The DJ was now heading the conga line, bopping his head back and forth.

Iris started to tremble. “I can’t believe it. That’s the guy who visited Ali at The Preserve.”

Emily frowned at the DJ. He had a scruffy goatee, beady eyes, and a fireplug of a body. “ Really? ”

Iris nodded, her gaze fixed. “I would recognize his picture anywhere.”

Suddenly, Emily realized she was looking at a picture on the easel. ROSEWOOD DAY MAY DAY PROM KING AND QUEEN! read swirly lettering at the top. Beneath it was the picture of the king and queen in their crowns. This year’s king and queen. A king Emily knew very, very well. Her gaze fell to the gold watch on his wrist. It was the same gold watch she’d seen in that photo from Tripp’s house. The one that had been taken of Ali at The Preserve.

She stared at Iris, all feeling leaving her extremities. “Noel Kahn? Are you sure ?”

Iris nodded gravely and with authority. “I’d bet my life on it.”

It took Spencer forty-five minutes, several hiding spots to avoid the dicey-looking locals, and a fifteen-block walk in the direction of the city before she found a cab that would take her to the Four Seasons. She’d brought some emergency cash and her credit card—A hadn’t found a way to shut that down. She’d tried to power on her phone again and again during the ride, but it was useless. A had jammed her in-box.

Something hit her, too: A knew of her in-box. Which meant A knew this phone number. Of course A did: A was Chase. He’d probably peeked at her phone when she was hanging out with him. She’d stepped right into his trap, and her friends were going to die because of it.

She glanced out the window as the Art Museum swept past. Couldn’t the driver get to the hotel any faster ? She needed to find Aria, Hanna, and Emily before Chase found them first.

Finally, the Four Seasons appeared on the right. “This is fine!” Spencer shouted on the corner, shoving some money at the driver and launching out of the backseat. She ran haltingly down the block in her narrow-fitting maxi gown. Several cabs and limos were parked at the hotel entrance. A familiar black car screamed past Spencer, lifting the ends of her dress. Was that . . . Fuji?

Spencer peered into the tinted windows but couldn’t see the driver or any passengers. Were Hanna, Emily, and Aria already in there? Had Fuji already gotten them?