Burroughs wheeled around and glared at them. “No talking!”
They were outdoors by then. The sun on Spencer’s face felt delicious, but she couldn’t relish it for very long because the guards were shoving them into a waiting van. Hanna and Aria tumbled in after her, and the same guy who’d escorted them to the prison manned the front seat. Rubens climbed into the passenger side. Spencer stared at the back of his head, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. What was so important that they were being led back to the courthouse? Was the jury going to sentence them to immediate death?
After a long, almost intolerable silence, the courthouse appeared on the hill. The van rattled into the parking lot and pulled up to the curb. Spencer peered out the window. “Why are there press people here?” she asked.
The lawyer jumped out of his seat and slid open the doors. “Let’s go,” he said roughly.
Hanna climbed out, almost tripping over her ankle chains. “Are we going to be ambushed with something? You have an obligation to tell us, you know.”
“Y-yeah,” Aria said shakily. “If this is bad, you have to let us know now.”
But the reporters had already descended upon Rubens and were bombarding him with questions. “What’s going on in there?” they shouted. “Why was everyone called back to court?” “What’s happened?”
“No comment, no comment,” Rubens said, gripping Spencer’s hand hard and pulling her up the steps. The other girls followed. Spencer was acutely aware of all the flashes going off, getting pictures of her in her orange jumpsuit and messy hair and, most likely, filthy-sweaty-grimy face. But she was far too curious about what was happening inside to worry. Guards whisked her through the metal detector, and soon enough she was standing just outside the courtroom.
Rubens stood in front of them, his hand on the doorknob. There was a jittery expression on his face, but Spencer couldn’t tell if it was good or bad. “Okay, ladies,” he said breathlessly. “Brace yourselves.”
“For what?” Hanna squeaked.
The door swung open, and several people who were already in the courtroom, including the judge, swiveled around and clapped eyes on them. Then Hanna gasped. Aria made a small breathy sound that was a cross between a hiccup and a sob. A tall, familiar girl stood at the front of the courtroom. It was a girl Spencer had thought she’d never see again. A girl she’d thought about far too many times, who’d appeared in far too many dreams, who’d haunted her endlessly since she vanished.
“E-Emily?” Spencer managed to say, shakily pointing at the girl at the front of the courtroom. She looked at Rubens.
He smiled. “I just got the call an hour ago. She was escorted here this morning.”
Spencer looked again. Tears filled Emily’s eyes. She broke into a wide, careful smile. “H-hey,” she said. And it was, indeed, Emily’s voice. Emily’s everything.
She was alive.
28
BACK ON DUNE STREET
One week, two days earlier
Cape May, NJ
“Do you smell that?” Emily said excitedly, gesturing into the garage of the closed-up beach house that belonged to Betty Maxwell, Nick’s grandmother.
She watched as her friends stuck their heads into the garage and sniffed. “Is that . . . vanilla?” Aria finally said.
Emily nodded, feeling like she was going to burst. “We should call the police. This is proof she’s still alive!”
But her friends just shifted, looking uncomfortable. Spencer peered back into the empty house. “Em, that’s not enough to get the police here.” She sighed. “Besides, she’s not here now.”
Emily couldn’t believe it. Okay, okay, Ali wasn’t here now—but it was still an amazing lead, right?
They all just shrugged and looked at her like she was nuts. And maybe she was nuts—the Ali voice in her head was cackling so loudly Emily could barely think straight. She couldn’t believe that, once again, Ali had gotten the best of them. It was yet another slap in the face.
Emily tried to tell herself this was the end. But she couldn’t just let it go so easily.
Emily heard her friends say they should stay here for the day, catch some rays, have a nice dinner. She felt herself nod along only because fighting would worry them more. But as they walked away, she felt detached from her body—from the whole scene, really. Her entire mind, her whole being was back in that house. There had to be a bigger clue there, something they’d missed.
She had to find it.