“Looking forward to really sticking it to the Devious Four?”
Laurel grunted and glanced away.
Emma sighed loudly. She had enough on her plate without Laurel’s mercurial moods. “Okay, Laurel. What did I do this time?”
Laurel swung around and rode the escalator up backward, resting her hands on the arm rails. “Fine,” she spat. “Dad said you were snooping in my room. Again.”
Emma blinked, barely remembering searching Laurel’s room. Now that Laurel wasn’t a suspect, it was like her mind had erased all of the Laurel-themed sleuthing.
Laurel set her mouth in a line. “Were you looking for love letters between Thayer and me? Well, I have a surprise for you, Sutton. Something that will make you very happy.” She brushed a honey-blond lock behind her shoulder. “Thayer’s not into me that way.” Her voice trembled a tiny bit.
“Oh, Laurel, I’m sorry,” Emma said softly, stepping off the escalators. She reached out for Laurel’s arm, but Laurel pulled away.
“He told me last night that he’s still into you,” Laurel said, her voice low, like it pained her to say the words. “I just don’t get it. If you guys are still into each other, why did you break up?”
Emma blinked. Two sets of shoppers passed before she could speak again. “I’m not into him, Laurel. I swear.”
Laurel rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right. I heard about you two having a secret powwow the night of Dad’s party.”
A muscle in Emma’s jaw tensed. “Did Charlotte tell you?”
Laurel’s eyes widened. “So it is true?”
Emma sighed. The meaty smell of the steak house down at the end of the esplanade was beginning to give her a headache. “It’s true, but it’s not what you think. We were just talking. There’s nothing between us anymore. I really, really like Ethan.” Emma placed her hand on Laurel’s arm. “Look, I’m sorry about Thayer. And I’m sorry about going into your room without asking,” she said. “I promise I won’t do it again. I was just looking for those red leather sandals you borrowed for Homecoming. I was thinking of wearing them to Dad’s party.”
Laurel glanced at her. “With that green dress you had on? Are you kidding?”
“I thought it would make a statement.” Emma grinned.
“Yeah, you would have looked like a Christmas tree,” Laurel said with a laugh, and just like that, the tension lifted.
As they started toward BCBG, where the girls were meeting first, Emma realized she needed to clear something up. She looked at Laurel. “So what was up with that disgusting tennis racket under your chair?”
Laurel blinked, looking like she didn’t know what Emma was talking about. Then, a light appeared in her eyes. “Oh my God. I totally forgot about that. I used it to kill a rattlesnake in the backyard last week. It was awful.”
“Ew!” Emma said, relieved to have Laurel off her suspect list for good.
Then Laurel sighed. “And actually, it was sort of awful of Dad to tell on you.”
Emma swallowed hard. It was dangerous to involve Laurel at all, but she knew Mr. Mercer better than anyone. Perhaps she’d noticed something. “Yeah. He’s been acting kind of strange recently, don’t you think?” she said.
“Maybe a little,” Laurel said with a frown. “But I think he just doesn’t like Thayer.”
Before Emma could press for more, Laurel’s phone blasted a Rihanna song, scaring some of the nearby shoppers. She fumbled for her phone inside her crocodile-embossed handbag, then pressed the speaker button. “Hey, Dad,” she singsonged.
“Hi, darling,” Mr. Mercer said. His voice echoed off the hard surfaces in the mall. The hair on Emma’s arms stood on end.
“Sutton and I are both here,” Laurel said. “What’s up?”
“Sutton’s there, too?” Suddenly, Mr. Mercer sounded guarded. “Oh.”
Emma curled her toes inside Sutton’s four-inch wedges.
“Uh, what time are you girls coming home tonight?” Mr. Mercer asked.
Laurel glanced at Emma and shrugged. “We’re shopping right now. I guess I’ll be home after that. I don’t know about Sutton, though.”
Emma’s throat felt like it was closing. “Actually I’m not coming home,” she said, making a snap decision. “I’m sleeping at Charlotte’s. Please let Mom know.” Charlotte would definitely go for it, and the only way Emma was going to feel safe was if she was anywhere but Sutton’s house.
“Fine.” Mr. Mercer’s voice was stern. “Tell Mr. Chamberlain I said hello. And remember our conversation, all right, Sutton?”
Laurel shot Emma a questioning look, but Emma leaned over, plucked Laurel’s phone from her hands, and hit the END button before any more could be said. Then she composed her features, trying to act like this was just another one of Sutton Mercer’s bitchy little moods. Laurel just stared, slack-jawed.
“Whoa,” Laurel finally said. “What did you do this time to get on Dad’s bad side?”
You have no idea, I thought.
“And what conversation was he talking about? Did he catch you with Thayer at the party, too?”
“No,” Emma said tightly as BCBG came into sight.
Luckily, the Twitter Twins were standing in front of the store display, picking on the mannequins. “Who would accessorize with those hideous belts?” Gabby was saying of the one on the right.
Lili wrinkled her nose at the other mannequin, which was holding an oversized quilted bag. “And why do they have to make the models so freakishly thin?”