Toxic

18 THE STING OPERATION

Everyone spent the next few minutes pacing around the old pool house and deciding where to place the surveillance cameras once they bought them. The idea was that they’d come back here later with all the equipment and a ladder and mount everything, carefully concealing it with tree branches. Hopefully, by that night, they’d have a whole surveillance operation up and running.

But halfway through the strategizing, Aria padded back to the car and climbed inside. Moments later, Hanna joined her. The two of them silently passed a bottle of water back and forth, the only sounds the water sloshing in its container and the two of them noisily swallowing.

“Are we really doing this?” Hanna whispered.

Aria gulped. Hanna seemed as freaked as she was. “I guess so.”

“Do you actually think Ali’s staying there?”

Aria shut her eyes. “I don’t know. I want to believe it, for Em’s sake. And there was that smell of vanilla, I guess. . . .”

“I’m worried about her,” Hanna blurted.

Aria opened her eyes. Hanna looked like she was about to cry. “I can’t imagine what it must feel like to have the person you love most in the world die,” Hanna said haltingly.

“I know,” Aria said, tearing up just thinking about it.

“But, I mean, I’m afraid Emily’s going to do something . . . destructive. And I’m scared we won’t be able to help her this time.”

Aria swallowed hard. She had a feeling Hanna was talking about Emily’s suicide attempt. Aria would never be able to forget that day, seeing Emily on the edge of that bridge. The expression on her face had been haunting: It was like she’d just . . . given up, standing there, ready to plunge into the water. Thankfully, they’d been able to talk her down, and Emily promised she’d never do something like that again.

But that was three weeks ago, and now Emily seemed unhinged again. Except instead of throwing in the towel, she was acting kind of . . . crazy.

“We’ll keep an eye on her,” she said, touching Hanna’s hand. “And hopefully this will be over soon.”

She was about to say more, but then Spencer and Emily appeared around the side yard and climbed back into the car. Spencer looked frazzled, but Emily’s expression was still focused, charged, and alert. “Okay,” Emily said as she swung into the driver’s seat. “Off to Best Buy.”

Emily started down the long, hilly driveway toward the street. Aria glanced over her shoulder, back at the house, feeling a strange pull in her stomach. What if Ali really did use this property as her secret hideout? Had Ali killed Jordan? Was Ali coming after them next?

She slid her cell phone from the pocket and checked the screen. Her new agent, a woman named Patricia, had sent a text about the success of last night’s show. Four buyers interested in pieces, she’d written. She’d received a note from Harrison, too. I’ve gotten a ton of site traffic because of my exclusive with you!

Her stomach did an excited flip at all this news—especially that Harrison had signed off with a dozen Xs and Os. But she didn’t feel as excited as she should. They really, really needed to get Ali before she ruined everything in their lives.

Suddenly, Emily slammed on the brakes, sending Aria flying against her seat belt. The bottle of water she and Hanna had been sharing rolled to the floor, the cap popping off and liquid pouring everywhere.

“What the hell?” Spencer called out.

“Look.” Emily pointed at a woman strolling down the path that paralleled the road. She had dark hair and wore denim shorts and a faded blue T-shirt. A golden retriever with a bandanna around its neck walked beside her, its tail wagging. “I bet she lives here,” Emily added.

“So?” Hanna hissed. “That’s no reason to give us whiplash!”

Emily pulled to the side of the road, killed the engine, and got out of the car. Spencer gave Aria a nervous look. What’s she doing? she mouthed. Aria pulled her bottom lip into her mouth and climbed out of the car.

Emily jogged up to the woman. “Excuse me, miss?”

The woman turned and squinted at them. She was older than Aria had first thought, her face lined and weathered, with ropy tendons sticking out on her neck. She pulled on the leash for the dog to stop. “Can I help you?”

Emily jutted a finger at the Maxwells’ red mailbox. “Have you seen anyone coming in and out of there? A girl, maybe?”

The woman stared at the mailbox for a long time. A gust of wind blew up the ends of her hair. The fingers of her left hand kneaded into the dog’s fur on his back. “I don’t think so.”

“Think,” Emily insisted. “It’s really important.”

Aria touched her friend’s arm warningly. Emily sounded kind of pushy . . . and they didn’t know this woman at all.

A light went on in the woman’s eyes. “Yes. I saw a girl, actually. A blonde, I think.”

“When?” Emily cried in a loud, somewhat aggressive voice.

The woman flinched. “I—I don’t know. Isn’t she their daughter?”

“When did you last see her?” Emily pressed.

The woman suddenly looked trapped. Aria grabbed Emily’s arm and pulled her away. “We should go.” She smiled politely at the woman. “Sorry.”

The woman drew her dog closer to her. Two deep parentheses formed at the corners of her mouth, and then she started down the road. “You should be,” Aria thought she heard her mumble.

When they got back to the car, Aria saw that Spencer’s face was bright red. “Em, what’s gotten into you?” Spencer cried. “You can’t assault people!”

“She knew something!” Emily cried. “What if she’s hiding Ali? What if she’s bringing her food? She could be an Ali Cat!”

Emily tried to break free and run after the woman again, but Spencer grabbed her tighter. “Em, come on. You have to calm down.”

Emily’s tense form slackened. She laid her head on Spencer’s shoulder and started to sob. “I can’t take this,” she blubbered, barely able to get the words out. “I just want to find her and end this.”

Aria stepped forward and caressed Emily’s back, trying to understand how awful it must be to lose someone that important. Of course Emily was beside herself. Of course she wanted answers. “We know,” Aria said gently. “And we’re here for you.”

“And we’re going to find Ali,” Spencer insisted. “We’re going to put up those cameras, and we’re going to catch her. Okay?”

“Okay,” Emily blubbered.

Gently, Spencer took the keys from Emily’s hand and settled her into the passenger seat. Then she moved into the driver’s seat herself. Aria thought it was a good move—Emily was way too distraught to drive. Spencer slowly pulled away from the curb, passing the woman and her dog down the road. Aria turned her head away, too embarrassed to make eye contact.

In thirty minutes, they’d reached the Best Buy outside Rosewood. They walked into the store, which smelled like rubber and had Miley Cyrus blasting loudly over the speakers. “So we’ll buy four cameras,” Spencer was saying as they walked through the aisles. “They’ll be in four quadrants on the screen. And we’ll have a server so that we can watch even when we’re in the car, or in class—whatever. We don’t even have to find a wireless signal.”

“That sounds good,” Aria said, nearly colliding with a turning rack of headphones in order to keep up. “And I think . . .” She trailed off and stopped short. A familiar figure stood a few feet from her, staring at the selection of computer mice. A thin girl with long blond hair and expensive-looking wedge sandals stood next to him, her arm slung around his waist. Aria’s heart froze in her chest.

It was Noel.

A small sound escaped from the back of Aria’s throat. Noel turned and saw her, his features tensing, his Adam’s apple bobbing.

“H-hi,” Aria blurted. Her cheeks reddened. She stared at the girl’s thin, tanned arm around Noel’s waist. She couldn’t help it.

Noel glanced at the blond girl, too. “Oh. Scarlett, this is Aria.”

The girl smiled tightly, a territorial look flashing across her face. After a beat, she extended her hand. “Scarlett Lorie. Nice to meet you.”

Aria nodded, her mind scattering in a zillion directions. She didn’t know that name or recognize this Scarlett person at all. Was she Noel’s girlfriend? For how long? Why were they shopping for computer mice together? Why did Noel look so happy?

Spencer swept up to Aria with a cart full of boxes. “We’re all good,” she said in a perfunctory voice, then noticed Noel and Scarlett, still standing there, their arms entwined. “Oh. Hi, Noel.” She grabbed Aria’s hand and pulled her away. “Come on. Let’s go.”

Aria turned and gave Noel a parting glance, but he didn’t wave. He just . . . stared at her, and Scarlett wrapped her arm around him tighter, leaning forward to whisper something into his ear. Aria bit down hard on the inside of her cheek as the cashier rang Spencer up and she handed over a stack of twenty-dollar bills—it was better to pay in cash, they’d decided, so no one could track them down later.

When the transaction was finished, she peeked at Noel once more. Now the two of them were laughing flirtatiously. Maybe at her.

Aria jerked away, facing the front of the store. Whatever. It didn’t matter. Noel could date anyone he wanted.

Even a ditzy blond idiot who looked, disturbingly, like Ali.