Spencer’s eyes flashed, but she said nothing.
“I’ve gotten some requests to put the Tabitha Clark murder on my blog, since it’s local,” Chase said. “I looked into it a little. I also peeked at your Facebook page—some of your photos are public, including a few from The Cliffs in Jamaica last spring. Curtis was in the room when I was searching, and I might have said that you were there at the same time Tabitha was—it was such a weird and sad coincidence.” His big eyes filled with remorse. “But I’m sorry, Spencer. It’s a huge invasion of privacy. I should have never Googled you, never stalked your Facebook page. I should have been honest with you from the very start.”
The sun came out from behind a cloud, illuminating the scars on Chase’s cheek. Spencer shut her eyes and tried to process what Chase was saying. In some ways, it wasn’t really so different from what Their Ali did to them. She’d convinced them—everyone—that she was someone she wasn’t. And people trusted her because of it. People bought into her lies.
“Why should I believe anything you’re telling me?” she said stiffly. “You could be stalking me, too.”
“I’m not.” Chase shook his head. “I promise, Spencer, I’m not. I would never do that. This has happened to me, remember?”
“Exactly!” Spencer cried. “You know what being stalked was like. Or was that a lie, too?”
Chase set his jaw. “Look at me, Spencer. I’m not lying to you. And I’ll never lie to you again. My roommate slashed me—and even then, people didn’t believe he could do such a thing. You’re right: I shouldn’t have invaded your privacy like that, but I was just trying to help. As far as sending my brother in my place, tell me you wouldn’t have slunk away, creeped out by the scars. I saw your face when you met Curtis. We all judge a book by its cover. It’s just how life is.”
A gust of wind blew her hair sideways. How would she have reacted? Was she really that superficial?
Chase sighed heavily. “Look, I don’t expect to ever see you again, but I do want to assure you that everything on my site is for real. And I was serious yesterday when I had my brother say I found a picture of Alison on a surveillance video from a building not far from here. Look.”
He rummaged in his messenger bag. Spencer shifted, having forgotten what Curtis had mentioned in the car. Chase extracted a silver laptop, opened it up, and clicked on a folder. “I’m friends with a bunch of cops in Rosewood, Yarmouth, and a couple of other towns outside Philly. I was actually researching that case about the Rosewood Stalker—remember that? Someone thought they’d seen the stalker near Hollis. A cop friend gave me some surveillance videos, and I hit on this.”
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.”