“She was at Gayle’s funeral, remember?” Hanna pointed out. “Don’t you think that’s weird?”
Emily stared at the flag flapping on the pole overhead. She wasn’t sure if it was weird or not. “A lot of people live in Rosewood, though—someone else could have been watching us. And Jamaica still doesn’t make sense,” she whispered. “Naomi wasn’t there—we would have seen her. How could she know about that?”
“There’s got to be a connection,” Hanna said. “Maybe she was there and we didn’t know it.”
Spencer’s fingers flew on her phone. “Nope, Naomi was in St. Bart’s for spring break—it says so on her Facebook page.”
“Okay, maybe there are two As—one who saw what happened in Jamaica, and then Naomi, who’s carrying out all the evil deeds,” Hanna suggested.
Spencer squeezed her eyes shut. “God. My head is going to explode. Now we have to think about who a second A could be?”
Emily breathed in. “I think I have an idea.”
Hanna looked at her sharply. “Let me guess. Real Ali?”
“Yeah, Ali,” Emily said in a small voice. If Jordan had snuck aboard so easily and effortlessly, who was to say Real Ali couldn’t have done the same thing?
She glanced over her shoulder, terrified that Real Ali was watching them. A bolt of lightning flickered at sea. Puddles glistened under the lights. The idea of coming face-to-face with Real Ali on a boat terrified her. There were only so many places she could hide.
“Real Ali is dead,” Spencer said dismissively. “It’s got to be someone else.”
Aria cleared her throat. “Something weird happened to me today, too.” She took a deep breath. “You know how I signed up for that scavenger hunt? I got partnered with this guy who’d recently transferred from a school in New Jersey. We talked for a while, and I found out he knew Tabitha.”
“You’re kidding,” Hanna said worriedly.
Aria nodded. “It gets worse, though. He used to be Tabitha’s boyfriend.”
“What?” Hanna shrieked.
“Are you serious?” Spencer gasped.
“I know.” Aria looked tormented. “I think the universe is out to get us.”
“Or A is out to get us,” Spencer said. “Couldn’t he be A? He has a better motive than Naomi—or Real Ali. Maybe more of a connection, too—he could have been in Jamaica with Tabitha.”
Aria rocked from foot to foot. “I don’t know about Jamaica, but I doubt it. And Graham said he was in Chile last summer—how could he have witnessed our secrets, or stolen that money from Gayle’s mailbox? I could probably get him to prove it somehow the next time I see him.”
Spencer’s eyes boggled. “You can’t see him again! What if you slip and say something?” Then she blinked hard. “And does this mean that more people who knew Tabitha are on the boat, too? She could have tons of friends here—they could all be A, together!”
Aria shook her head. “No, no, Graham transferred from Tabitha’s school to a school in Philly. None of her friends are here.”
“Still I agree with Spencer,” Hanna said. “Stay away from that guy. It sounds like a situation you don’t need right now.”
Aria looked annoyed. “I can’t just drop him. I’d feel terrible.”
“Why?” Spencer demanded.
Aria stared at her fingers. “Do you guys really think we’re going to get away with this in the end? This might be my last chance to make things right with someone who cared about her before I go to jail.”
Spencer looked at her crazily. “Are you going to tell him?”
“No. But I feel I owe him something. I want to make his life better somehow.”
“You don’t owe him anything!” Spencer roared. “The only reason you feel that way is because A is screwing with your mind!”
“Well, that’s a good reason, isn’t it?” Aria shrugged helplessly. “A totally has us cornered! I don’t know what else to do!”
Everyone shut their eyes. A huge rush of dread swept through Emily. A did have them cornered. What if A turned them in for everything? They’d done so much, especially if Madison had died. And A seemed to know absolutely everything.
Spencer cleared her throat. “Look. If we figure out who A is, we can nail Gayle’s murder to him or her and protect ourselves.” She looked at Hanna. “You’re Naomi’s roommate. Search through her stuff. See if she has a second phone, like Mona did. Or break into her e-mail and see if any of the A notes are in her sent box.”
Hanna bit a fingernail. “You really want me to get that close to A’s stuff? Haven’t you forgotten the other things A has done? Like with Gayle? Or what about how she laced your brownies with LSD?”