“That’s … great,” Emma said slowly, taking it all in.
She thought about the SPH website. Emma had just assumed that Thayer was locked up on the psych ward in the hospital, but of course a rehab center could be part of a mental-health facility.
“And then there’s this.” Thayer held up the rope bracelet around his wrist, smiling wryly. “Remember how we fought over it because a girl made it? But Sutton, she’s fifty-two years old and has a husband and three kids.” I let out a long breath, remembering the fight Thayer and I had had at Sabino Canyon, the one that had kicked off that weird chain of events. I had felt jealous, sure that Thayer was somewhere cool and interesting without me. If only he had been honest. If only I hadn’t jumped to conclusions.
Thayer let out a breath and rested a large hand on the hood of his car. “You know, Sutton, you seem … so different. What’s changed?”
Emma licked her bottom lip and tasted Sutton’s watermelon-flavored gloss. No doubt Thayer knew her twin well. A part of her longed to tell him the truth, now that she knew he was innocent. He cared so deeply for her sister that he might help her and Ethan out. But she didn’t know him well enough to trust him with her secret—not yet, anyway.
“Nothing’s changed,” she said sadly. “I’m exactly who I always was. I’ve just … grown up a little.” Thayer nodded, even though it looked like he didn’t understand what he was saying. “I guess I’ve grown up, too,” he mumbled. “Rehab and jail will do that to you.” They both stared at each other. Emma wasn’t sure what more there was to say. Shrugging, she gave him a little wave and turned toward the store. When she looked over her shoulder, Thayer was still watching her, maybe hoping she’d come back to him. But she didn’t. She wasn’t Thayer’s to have, and she was with Ethan now.
When Emma didn’t return to him, Thayer’s face fell. He looked crushed.
I was crushed, too. Thayer didn’t understand why I no longer loved him back. And unless Emma solved my murder, he would never get the answer.
31
MEET THE MERCERS
That afternoon, Emma sat on the Mercers’ front porch and thumbed through Laurel’s glossy copy of Elle. A faint citrus smell wafted from the neighbor’s lemon tree and the sounds of an ice cream truck jingled from the next street over. One of the tennis-team moms jogged by with her golden retriever and gave Emma a wave just as Ethan’s beat-up Honda pulled to the curb. The engine coughed and sputtered as Ethan turned off the ignition.
Emma’s heart gave a tiny flutter as he stepped from the car. Ethan looked nervous as he raised his hand in a wave. At that moment, Mr. Mercer emerged from the garage clutching a white rag covered in black grease stains. He looked up with surprise, but then shrugged and shot Emma a weak smile.
Ethan walked up the front steps, noticing Sutton’s dad, too. “Is it okay that I’m here?”
“It’s more than okay,” Emma answered. “I told them about us at breakfast.” From now on, there would be no more hiding. They could be friends—and more—out in the open now.
Mr. Mercer’s cell phone suddenly bleated loudly.
Sutton’s dad, who was pretending to be absorbed in polishing his motorcycle but was clearly watching the interaction between Emma and Ethan, glanced at the caller ID. His face darkened, and he swore loudly. He slipped into the cover of the garage to take the call.
“That’s weird,” Emma said, her eyes on the garage.
“Maybe it’s a work call.” Ethan forced a grin but Emma could tell he was uncomfortable. “A hospital patient gone haywire.”
A car door slammed and an engine growled to life. Mr.
Mercer’s Audi reversed down the driveway. Emma waved good-bye to him, but Mr. Mercer didn’t even notice her. His face was drawn as he backed the car onto the street and hit the gas. He swerved, blasting his horn when two boys zoomed by on skateboards. Emma frowned. Maybe that phone call had been a work emergency.
“Remind me not to get on that guy’s bad side,” Ethan said, running a hand through his dark hair.
He sat next to her, and Emma filled him in on everything she’d found out the night before—it had been too loud and crowded to talk at the party, and they’d had Laurel in the car on the drive home. Ethan’s eyebrows went higher and higher as she explained that Thayer couldn’t have killed Sutton.
“Let me get this straight,” Ethan sounded out after Emma finished. “The night Sutton died, someone else hit Thayer with Sutton’s car?”
Emma nodded. “It definitely wasn’t Sutton who hit him.
Someone must have taken her car and dumped it in the desert. Maybe that person came back and killed Sutton, too.”
“So who was it?”
“I don’t know. I want to ask Thayer, but it might make me look suspicious if I don’t know.”
A gust of air caught the wind chime, and Ethan flinched at the sudden ringing, making Emma smile. “Scared of a little wind?” she teased.
“Very funny,” Ethan said, glancing across the lawn. “I am scared that whoever killed Sutton is still out there,” he whispered.
“I know,” Emma said, shivering despite the heat. “Me, too.”
A frown settled on Ethan’s face. “If it wasn’t Thayer, who could it have been? All signs pointed to him. He made perfect sense. And I still think he’s dangerous.” Emma shrugged. “Even if he’s troubled, he didn’t do it.