She was halfway past the garage when she heard the sound of something metal—car keys, maybe—dropping on the blacktop. She froze and looked around, but all she could see was fog. Footsteps followed, and then tense whispers, a conversation back and forth that she couldn’t hear. Finally, there was a boom so loud it made Hanna’s teeth hurt.
She swung around and stared at her friends. They stood paralyzed on the patio. Then she turned back and peered at the driveway again. When she saw a blurry figure lying splayed out near one of the flower beds, she screamed. Whoever it was wore a heavy coat with a hood that covered her turned face; the only part of her Hanna could see was a small, delicate hand.
“Is that Spencer?” Aria shrieked.
Hanna groped through the mist toward the figure. Tears streamed down her face uncontrollably. Didn’t Spencer have a down jacket just like that? Didn’t she own pointy leather boots? Suddenly, Hanna stopped. Was the murderer lurking nearby? Were they next?
“Spencer?” Emily came up behind Hanna. “Spencer?” She looked at Hanna in horror. “Do you think she’s . . . ?”
Hanna reached out to touch the down-filled hood, but then drew her hand away. She was terrified of what she was going to see. Spencer’s face, frozen in a scream? Half of Spencer’s brains collected inside the hood?
A car passed on the road, its headlights momentarily illuminating their bodies. When the beams bounced off the figure on the ground, Hanna noticed someothing wasn’t right. The few strands of hair peeking out from under the hood were paler than Spencer’s. The hand looked veiny and older. There was an enormous diamond ring on the fourth finger.
“Who is that?” Aria whispered.
Drawing in a breath, Hanna pulled back the figure’s hood. Aria screamed. Emily covered her eyes. And just as the sound of sirens filled the air, Hanna peered down. The two eyes were closed, the lips parted just so. It looked like the person was sleeping, save for the horrible gash just above her right temple. She took in the whole face, and then realized. She sank to her knees, feeling relieved, horrified, and confused at the same time.
The figure on the ground wasn’t Spencer. It was Gayle.
31
THE TRUTH COMES OUT
Emily stared at Gayle’s inert features, her pale skin, and the blood seeping out of her head. A shrill noise rang in her ears, and it took her a few seconds to realize it was the sound of her own screams. She spun around and bent over, dry-heaving on the grass.
The sound of sirens roared closer, and a car purred up the drive. It was Spencer. She slammed the door and took a few steps toward them, a confused look on her face. Then she saw Gayle’s figure on the ground and stopped short. Her face registered a series of emotions—surprise, horror, fear—in a split second. “Oh my God,” she screamed. “Is that . . . ?”
“Gayle,” Emily croaked, her voice quavering.
Spencer looked like she was going to be sick. “What happened?”
“We’re not sure.” Tears ran down Aria’s face. “We came out into the courtyard because we heard a baby crying, there was all this fog, we heard footsteps, and then something that sounded like a gunshot, and then . . .”
Police cars blazed up the street, and the girls froze. The vehicles sped up the driveway and screeched to a stop behind Spencer’s car. Hanna’s mouth dropped open. Spencer instinctively raised her hands in surrender. Emily took a big step away from Gayle’s body.
The doors to the police cars opened, and four cops jumped out. Two of them rushed to the fallen body, requesting for backup, while the other two stalked over to Emily and her friends. “What the hell is going on here?”
Emily stared up at the cop who’d spoken. He had spiky blond hair, acne scars, and wore a shiny gold Lieutenant’s badge that said LOWRY. “We didn’t do this!”
“We can explain!” Aria shouted at the same time.
Lowry twisted around and stared into the darkness beyond the police cars. “Where’s the person who called this in?”
“I’m here,” a voice responded.
Another figure emerged through the fog. Emily presumed it would be a neighbor, but then she noticed the guy’s black tuxedo, shiny shoes, and shoulder-length brown hair. Her stomach dropped to her feet. It was Isaac.
“W-what are you doing here?” Emily sputtered.
Isaac stared at her. “I followed you—I was worried about you. Then I heard the gunshot, so I called the cops.”
Emily’s head whirled. “You had no right to follow me! This is private!”
“If you would have told me what was going on I wouldn’t have!” Isaac’s voice cracked. “I was afraid you were in trouble!” His gaze fell to Gayle’s body, and his mouth wobbled.
Lowry snatched his walkie-talkie from his belt and checked in on the backup and ambulance. Then he looked at the girls. “Do you know who this woman is?”
“Her name is Gayle Riggs,” Aria said in a small voice.
Lowry stared, chewing his gum hard. “Were you trying to rob her?”