Sara Shepard - Crushed

The folder opened, and several pictures loaded. Spencer leaned down to look. A grainy, black-and-white shot of a Hollis street appeared. Garbage cans sat at the curb. A girl in a leather jacket was getting into her VW Beetle. There was nothing interesting in it, as far as she could tell.

But then Chase pointed to two shadowy figures in the top right corner. “Doesn’t that girl seem familiar?”

Spencer squinted. Even in black-and-white, she could make out the girl’s long blond hair. She had a heart-shaped face, too, and there was something about the angle of her chin that made her heart seize.

She stared at Chase. “ Alison? ”

“It looks like her, doesn’t it?” Chase clicked to the next photo. This one showed Ali’s back and more of her helper. The person was taller that she was, and broader, too—definitely a guy. Spencer pressed her face so close to the laptop her nose was almost touching the screen. It was impossible to tell, but that could definitely be Noel.

Nausea washed over her. She ran her hand over her forehead. All this time, Ali was in Hollis ? This was a huge lead. She needed to show this to the cops. Or maybe she needed to stake Ali out on her own. She had to do something.

Chase shut the laptop and dropped it back into his bag. “I thought you should see that stuff. But as of now, I’m discontinuing the Alison investigation. I think it’s for the best.”

Spencer blinked hard, not expecting him to say that. “Oh,” was all she could murmur.

He looked up at Spencer, his eyes full of sorrow and longing. “I wish we could be friends, but I totally get why you never want to see me again. I just hope you find peace in all this. I hope you guys can nail her for real. That girl did terrible things to you. You’re too awesome to deserve something like that.”

Then he spun on his heel and stepped off the porch. His messenger bag banged against his hip as he headed for the car. His head was still down, and halfway across the yard, Chase’s shoulders rose and fell in a sigh. It tugged at Spencer’s heartstrings. Okay, so Chase was a little misguided, and he never should have Facebook-stalked her, but she could feel in her heart that he wasn’t a bad person. And if it weren’t for Chase and his connections, she wouldn’t know where Ali was potentially hiding.

And, if she was being honest, she’d tried to Google-stalk him, too.

“Wait!” she called after him. Chase stopped and turned. “We figured out that Ali’s boyfriend is definitely her helper,” she said. “It’s this guy who goes to our school, Noel Kahn.”

Chase’s eyes widened. “What are you going to do?”

The wind chimes knocked together. Leaves swirled on the street. “I don’t know,” Spencer admitted. “But maybe you shouldn’t stop the investigation so soon. We might need you.” I might need you , she was too afraid to add.

Chase walked back to her. “I’ll do anything.”

“Well, do you know the exact address of that house you just showed me?”

Chase nodded. “It’s on Atherton Street.”

“Maybe we could go there tomorrow. Just to see.”

“Of course. No matter how small or big. I’m here.”

Spencer pulled her bottom lip into her mouth. She needed someone like that right now, didn’t she? Someone who truly cared. Standing on the path, the sun at his back, Chase simply looked like he was a handsome college kid who liked her— really liked her. Slowly, her icy interior started to melt.

“Have you really had a crush on me since you saw me in People ?” she asked in a small voice. And when she peeked up at Chase’s bashful, heartfelt, lovesick face, he didn’t even have to say anything. She already knew the answer.

When Emily pulled into her driveway, her mom was bent over in the front flower bed, spreading mulch. She brushed off her hands and smiled at Emily as she got out of the car. “Did you have fun at prom?”

Emily pretended to rub at an invisible stain on her dress. Fun wouldn’t quite describe it. She still couldn’t wrap her mind around what had happened. All this time, A had been right in front of them. At their parties. In their bedrooms—well, Aria’s, anyway. She couldn’t get the image of Noel’s body on top of Aria’s in the graveyard out of her mind, either. He’d looked so . . . desperate. Angry. And then he’d run off . . . to where? Ali? The police? Was it crazy that they’d given Aria six hours to find him?

Mrs. Fields pushed the wheelbarrow to the garage, breaking Emily from her thoughts. “Where’s Iris?”

“She went home,” Emily mumbled.

Mrs. Fields pulled off her gardening gloves. “It was nice having her here. I think she was good for you, too.”

Emily nodded. “She was,” she said distantly, realizing she meant it. In the end, Iris had been a good confidante. She was glad she’d shared Jordan’s secret with her. And she’d made the Noel connection in the nick of time. Emily felt bad for not seeing her off to The Preserve last night, but by the time she’d returned from the graveyard, Iris had been gone. It wasn’t like Iris had a cell phone, either—Emily couldn’t text her and make sure she got there okay. She headed toward the front door, suddenly dying to know.

She grabbed the cordless phone in the kitchen and dialed The Preserve’s front desk. “I want to check if a patient got in all right last night,” she said after a receptionist answered. “Her name is Iris Taylor?”

The receptionist typed something, then made an mm noise. “Yes, Miss Taylor returned safe and sound.”

“Okay, thanks.” Emily pressed the receiver closer to her ear. “Maybe I could set up a visit next week, then.”

After arranging to visit Iris next Wednesday, Emily hung up the phone and slumped into a kitchen chair. She felt good that Iris returned like she said she would. Maybe this time, she’d actually take her stay at The Preserve seriously.

Emily conjured an image of The Preserve with its Grecian columns and small terraces, then pictured Noel pulling his SUV up the drive to visit Ali, his secret girlfriend. Had he set appointments with “Courtney” like Emily just had with Iris? She still couldn’t quite wrap her brain around the fact that he and Ali had been working together for all these years. Watching Emily and her friends’ every move, plotting to bring them down.

She shivered, thinking of all the intimate moments Noel had spied on. How carefully had he watched Emily and Jordan on the cruise? Had he seen them on that glass-bottomed boat in Puerto Rico? Had he seen them kiss on the top deck? She’d known that A had been watching, but that A was someone they knew so intimately hurt even more. It had been Noel who’d called the FBI on Jordan. And it was because of Noel that Jordan had to swan-dive off the top deck, risk those treacherous seas, escape the country forever. Sure, maybe Ali had told him to do it, but Noel had actually done it. He hated them that much.

And he loved Ali that much.

Lost in her thoughts, Emily climbed the stairs and padded into her bedroom. She sat down on the bed and stared into the middle of the room, a memory suddenly coming to her. She’d been in the Rosewood Day locker room. The girl she’d thought was Courtney had sidled up next to her and acted devastated that Emily had been with her sister on the night she was killed. Emily had taken pity on Courtney, saying that if she ever needed anything, Emily was there for her.

Courtney’s face had lit up. Maybe we could get together after school tomorrow? she’d asked. If it’s not too weird, that is. With Ali, I mean. And Emily had said yes, of course, that would be fine, and when she’d looked up at Courtney again, the girl had a gleam in her eye, a twist of a smile on her lips. Is she flirting with me? Emily had thought, stunned. Courtney had winked, like she knew exactly what she was doing. And something resembling lust had rumbled in Emily’s chest. Those old feelings had started to stir. That old love.