“Who’s Maxine Preptwill?” Aria whispered.
Noel shrugged. “I don’t know. Ali suggested it.” He gestured to his phone. “It’s a dummy site. Somehow it always gets to her.” He slipped his phone back into his pocket. “It’s done. We’re meeting up tonight at nine at the Rosewood Public Library.”
Aria’s heart thudded fast. She was at Byron’s tonight. It would be easier to sneak out. “Will you be able to get away from your graduation party?”
“I’ll figure something out.”
Aria nodded. “Okay. We’ll be hiding nearby, waiting.”
Noel looked alarmed. “Just you guys? Shouldn’t you call the police, too?”
Aria shook her head. “She’ll never come if a bunch of cop cars are there. We’ll all ambush her. Jump on her. Throw her in my car. And then we’ll take her to the police station.”
An uncertain look clouded Noel’s face. “That sounds so dangerous. And violent.”
Aria swallowed hard, hating that she’d become someone who even considered throwing another person into the back of her car. “I know,” she admitted. “But I don’t know what else to do. This might save us.”
“Okay. I’m in.” Noel nodded, then turned for the door. His mom shifted inside. “See you tonight.”
Aria nodded, too, pivoting toward the waiting Subaru. She was about to step off the porch when Noel called, “Why didn’t you tell the cops what I knew about Ali?”
Aria whirled around and looked at him. His eyes were wide. His face was open and vulnerable. His beautiful, kissable, pink lips were parted just slightly.
“I-I couldn’t,” she admitted. “I wouldn’t do that to you.”
Noel stepped toward her. When he was close enough to give her a hug, he reached out and touched the edge of her chin, tilting it up. “I miss you so much,” he whispered. “If I could take all of this back, I would. I wish they’d find Ali. I wish they’d kill her. And I wish, when it is over, that we could be together again.”
His green eyes met Aria’s, and the look brought back hundreds of memories. How hard they’d laughed in cooking class. How Aria had had to hold Noel’s hand on the Batman roller coaster at Great Adventure because he was secretly terrified. The look on his face when he’d picked her up for homecoming. The first time he said he loved her.
She reached out for Noel, but she hesitated before taking his hand. Her fingers remained open in space for a few long beats, just inches from his. All sound fell away. All Aria could see were Noel’s thick eyebrows, his square jaw, his strong shoulders.
“I wish we could, too,” she blurted. And then she ran to her mother’s car as fast as she could. If she’d have stayed on that porch for a second longer, she would have never been able to leave.
29
STAKEOUT
Later that same night, as the digital clock in the bank across the street clicked to 8:56 PM, Emily, Aria, Spencer, and Hanna stood behind a line of bushes at the Rosewood Public Library, a stone building in the same complex as the King James Mall. A spotlight illuminated the library’s front walk. Another light shone on the book return slot, which had been decorated with a blue-and-white banner that said, CONGRATULATIONS, ROSEWOOD GRADS! Inside, the place was locked up for the night. The aisles were empty, the desks unoccupied, all the seats pushed in. Not a single car was in the lot; Noel had picked the girls up in his Escalade then parked it by the mall. Now, a few paces in front of them, Noel sat on a bench in the shadows, knocking his cast-bound arm against the wooden seat again and again.
Emily’s stomach jumped just looking at him. She couldn’t believe they were doing this. Then again, everything was a bit unbelievable these days, including what she’d almost done on the bridge. She was so thankful that her friends had come to her rescue, and she felt much calmer. But the teetering danger of the situation resonated with her. What if Ali fell for it? Could they really capture her? What if they actually got her?
What if they didn’t?
“He seems nervous,” Hanna whispered, brushing against one of the bushes. The shrubs were a bit thorny, but they wanted to be close to Noel if he needed them—if Ali actually showed up.
“I would be, too, if I was going to come face-to-face with the person who left me for dead,” Spencer mumbled. Aria shuddered. Emily squeezed her hand. “Are you okay?”
Aria shrugged. She’d been quiet this whole time, and Emily had noticed that she and Noel had shot each other a few shy glances. But then, after each look, Aria seemed to pull away sharply, as if ashamed.
Aria peered at the others. “So let’s run through the plan one more time. In a few seconds, we all spread out. When Ali shows up, Noel will give the signal that it’s her. Then we ambush.”
“Aria and I pile on her, then drag her to the car,” Emily added.
“Hanna and I are on the lookout for Helper A,” Spencer said. “And Noel’s in charge of calling 911.”
“If Helper A does show up, we bolt,” Aria said.
“But not before we get a picture of Ali with our phones,” Emily recited. “Proof that she’s alive has got to help us.”
“And if they catch one of us, we immediately call the police,” Spencer said.
Emily looked at Noel again, her heart thumping. She hated the idea of Ali or her helper hurting one of them. Still, it was a possibility. They had to consider every angle.
The bank clock ticked to 9:00 PM on the dot, and the girls took their places. Emily’s nostrils twitched with the smell of fresh mulch and some sort of fertilizer. She scanned the area, but no one appeared at the library entrance. Mall traffic whizzed past them. An eastbound SEPTA train clacked on the tracks. Noel shifted on the bench and checked his phone. The minutes crawled by. The bank clock clicked to 9:05, then 9:06. Dread blossomed in Aria’s stomach.