Two Truths and a Lie (29 page)

“I will be.” Thayer’s face tightens into a grimace. “I think my leg’s broken. I need you to get me to a hospital … somewhere out of town.”

“But we have amazing doctors here! You could—”

“No arguments, Laurel.
Please.”

Laurel nods, staring at the odd angle of Thayer’s leg and looking freaked. “I’ll do whatever you need me to,” she says. I can tell she’s trying to sound tough.

My sister helps Thayer into the backseat of the car so he can sit with his legs stretched out. He moans as he pulls his body across the cushions. I try to catch a glimpse of him, but I can only see his white soccer sneakers dangling over the edge of the seat. Something inside me breaks open. I have a horrible premonition: This will be the last time I ever see him. That tiny peck on the lips was our final kiss good-bye.

Just after Laurel shuts Thayer’s door, she glances around the brush surrounding the clearing. Her hands shake slightly at her side. I watch, helplessly, as her eyes squint and stare. She’s looking through each bush and thorny branch, one by one.

I start to duck, but it’s too late. Her eyes lock with mine. She blinks and takes a sharp breath before running to the driver’s side and slamming the door.

A sharp gust of wind whistles through the branches above my head. My legs feel shaky and I dig my fingers into the wet dirt to steady myself.

Laurel reverses and pivots the car over mud and rocks. She flicks on her brights to illuminate the treacherous path ahead. Then she speeds away into the night. I watch the red taillights disappear into the distance, trying not to think about Thayer. But I can’t help it. I think of him wincing every time the car hits a bump. I think about when I’m going to see him again—if I’m going to see him again. And I think about how someone used my car to run down the boy I’m in love with
…

But… who
?

29

Emma whipped around, ready to find herself face-to-face with Thayer, ready to defend herself against someone twice her size in the middle of the desert with no witnesses. But instead, Laurel’s piercing blue eyes stared back at her.

“What are you doing out here?” Laurel snapped, retracting her hand from Emma’s shoulder.

Emma took a breath, her body still tensed. “Just taking a walk,” she said, unclenching her fists and resting them at her side.

Laurel put a finger to her lips. “Wait, let me
guess
,” she said, her words singed with annoyance. “I’ll bet you’re out here calling Thayer now that he’s out of jail.”

Emma flinched. “You know he’s out?”

“What, did you think you were the only one?” Laurel’s face dropped into a scowl. “I wish you’d leave him alone. He doesn’t need more of
you
, Sutton. You’ve done enough already.”

Emma stared at her. “What are you talking about?” Did Laurel mean how Sutton had hit Thayer with her car? How could she know about that?

Laurel crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes. “I’m so sick of this. I
know
. I know what you’re hiding.”

Emma blinked at her. The night air hung heavy and silent between them. Panic gripped her limbs.
Hiding?
Was she talking about Emma’s real identity? Had she figured it out? Had Thayer told her?

“You’re going to stand there and pretend you have no idea what I’m talking about, aren’t you?” Laurel asked, her eyes widening.

Tiny scratching noises sounded in the underbrush as some animal scurried among the cacti. A shiver ran along the back of Emma’s legs and she tried to keep her glare even. The last thing she wanted was to give away how afraid she was.

“I was the one who saved him, after all,” Laurel spat. She yanked her honey blonde hair into a ponytail and stared at Emma like she was waiting for her to defend herself.

A low buzzing noise sounded. Emma couldn’t be sure whether it was music from the party or desert bugs swarming in the distance. Who had Laurel saved him from? From Sutton?

“I have
no
idea what you’re talking about, Laurel,” she said finally, making her voice sound as condescending as possible.

Laurel cocked her head to the side and dug her heels into the dirt. “I saw you hiding in the bushes after Thayer got hit by that car at Sabino Canyon. He denied it, but I know you were with him.” She shifted her weight and crossed her arms over her chest. “Why were you hiding? Why did you pawn him off on me? So I could take him to the hospital to be treated? Was that too much for you to handle?” She dropped her chin and shook her head. “Or was it just your usual MO?” She stared at Emma a long moment before lowering her voice to say, “You created too big of a mess to pick up yourself.”

“No!” I yelled at my sister. “I hid because I was afraid you wouldn’t get Thayer what he needed if you knew I was involved! I was trying to do the best thing for him!” But of course she didn’t hear me. I thought again about the memory I’d just seen. I felt foolish for being so convinced Thayer was my cold-blooded killer when I now realized that he was just looking to protect me. The anguish of seeing him lying there, twisted and hurt, felt fresh and raw. Who could have hit him with my car and just sped away like that? Maybe whoever had been chasing us. Which meant Thayer might know who my killer is without even knowing I’m dead.

Emma, meanwhile, blinked at Laurel’s words. She tried to understand what they meant. Part of this made sense—Thayer was hit by a car that caused his limp. But she had no idea Laurel had been involved that night. And the way Laurel was talking, it sounded like Sutton
hadn’t
been the one to hit Thayer.

“What else do you know?” she asked slowly. “What else did you see?” If Laurel had seen Sutton hiding, maybe she’d seen someone else there, too. Sutton’s true killer.

A coyote howl pealed over the rocks. Laurel glanced in its direction and sighed. “If you mean did I see the two of you making out, I didn’t. And I don’t know who hit him, either. He wouldn’t tell me anything that happened. Do
you
know who hit him? Are you making him keep quiet about something?”

“I don’t know anything,” Emma said. It was the truth.

Laurel’s silk dress billowed in the wind. She ran the palms of her hands over her bare arms. “All you’ve done for the past month is pester me about the night of August thirty-first, trying to get me to spill that I was with Thayer. Thinking I didn’t know you were there, too. That
is
why you asked me over and over what I was doing that night, isn’t it? Because you wanted to know if I saw you? Well, I
did
. I saw you, hiding in the bushes and abandoning Thayer when he needed you the most.” She scrunched up her face with disgust. “How could you have done that? And how could you have screamed when he came into your bedroom? Are you
trying
to ruin his life?”

“I’m sorry,” Emma blurted.

“Sorry’s not good enough,” Laurel snarled. “You need to stay away from him. He told me as much. Every time you’re around him, something terrible happens.”

“Wait, he
told
you that?” Emma asked, rewinding. “When did you talk to him?”

Laurel dropped her hands to her hips. “On the way to the hospital. I’m the one who cares about him, Sutton. I’m the one who took him to the hospital, where he was in surgery all night. And I’m the one who posted his bail, in case you haven’t figured that one out yet, while you were running around, hooking up with your new boyfriend.”

“You posted his bail?
How?
”

Laurel crossed her arms over her chest. “If you must know, I’ve been saving. And with the bond Grandma gave me years ago and all the money people contributed to the Free Thayer campaign, it was enough. But why do you care? Thayer obviously doesn’t matter to you. So just leave him alone, okay?” With that, she spun around and marched back to the party.

Emma ran her hands along her face, replaying everything Laurel had said over and over in her mind. The tables had just turned again. So … Thayer
hadn’t
killed Sutton? He’d left Sutton alive, then Laurel had taken him to the hospital. But there were so many unanswered questions. It had to have been Sutton’s car that hit Thayer, but who had been driving? Was someone else with them that night, someone who didn’t want them to be together? Or had someone stolen Sutton’s car?

If only I knew who Thayer was protecting me from. Who we were running from. Who was sitting behind the wheel when the car rammed straight into him.

But I didn’t know a thing. All I saw after that moment when Laurel and Thayer sped away was darkness. And with that darkness came a horrible realization: Emma and I were back to square one.

30

On Saturday morning, Emma pulled into the parking lot of Trader Joe’s and eased Sutton’s Volvo into a prime spot in front of the store. After she turned off the ignition, she unfolded the shopping list Mrs. Mercer had given her that morning. It included things like tahini butter, kimchee juice, and unsweetened almond milk. “You know how particular Grandma is,” Sutton’s mother had warned as she went down the list, explaining each item. “Get this stuff
exactly
as I’ve described it, or I’ll have a very cranky motherin-law on my hands.” The whole family was preparing for Grandma Mercer’s arrival early next week for her son’s birthday party. Apparently, Grandma was a bit of a handful.

Emma watched customers emerge from the grocery store, smiling and clutching brown paper bags, and sighed. They all looked so happy and carefree. She was pretty certain she’d be the only Trader Joe’s patron who’d spent the previous evening crossing a murder suspect off her list.