The Lying Game Complete Collection - Sara Shepard Page 0,232

the way.” A grin spread across Ethan’s face. “An abandoned house. It’s crazy. Sounds much more interesting than the usual Hollier parties.”

Emma smirked. “How many Hollier parties have you actually been to, loner boy?”

“You got me.” Ethan ducked his head. “Not many.”

There was a long pause. Something pulsed in the air between them. Maybe it was that tonight was their first appearance as an actual couple. As Emma shifted gears and sped down Ethan’s street, she realized that her stomach was humming with nerves. She peeked at Ethan, noticing how he was repeatedly licking his lips. Maybe he was nervous, too.

“So what’s wrong with your car?” Emma asked.

Ethan shrugged. “It probably just needs to be jumped. I’ll deal with it tomorrow.”

They turned onto the main road and passed Sabino Canyon. Emma felt a twinge of dread—it was the spot where she’d first arranged to meet Sutton, and where the cops had found Sutton’s car.

And maybe, I thought, where I hit Thayer… and he killed me.

Emma drove higher into the foothills, the Catalina Mountains shimmering red in the setting sun. The road twisted, and Emma gripped the steering wheel to navigate the turns. The farther north they went, the bigger and grander the houses became. The sky darkened as they passed a luxury strip mall consisting of a wine shop, a Pilates studio, and a bunch of real-estate agencies, another marker for a trailhead, and dozens of Southwest-style mansions tucked into the rocks.

“Hey, is that the street?” Emma interrupted, pointing to a yellow-and-green painted sign marked LEGENDS ROAD.

“Looks like it,” Ethan said, squinting into the semidarkness.

Emma turned onto the road and almost hit a roadrunner that darted across the lane. Desert brush lined the side of the pavement and Emma steered the car around a rock that must have fallen from the bordering cliffs.

“We have to find somewhere secluded to park,” she explained, looking for a good spot on the shoulder. “Mads says we can’t park in front of the house—that’ll tip off the police that we’re throwing a party there.” But she didn’t want to park just anywhere, either—Sutton’s car had been impounded, partly, for unpaid traffic violations. All she needed was Detective Quinlan finding yet another reason to drag her down to the station.

The road zigged and zagged, the land barren on either side of them. “There aren’t any other houses here?” Emma said aloud.

“Strange.” Ethan glanced out the window at a tangled tree branch that reached like fingers toward the windshield. “Maybe whoever had this place owned the surrounding land, too. It’s one way to guarantee the view.”

Emma drove another half mile before a towering white stone mansion came into sight. Oval arches shot high into the evening sky, and immaculate black shutters framed wide, illuminated windows. A massive balcony jutted from the side of the house and soared over a cliff that dropped at least one hundred feet to a rocky bottom. A FOR SALE sign was tipped over in the front lawn, long abandoned. The circular driveway was empty. So was the road around it.

“It’s gorgeous,” Emma breathed, pulling over. “But where are the other girls’ cars? They should have been here by now to set up.” She checked her watch. She was late—it was almost 9:30.

“Maybe there’s another route around the back? Or maybe they parked even farther away to avoid suspicion.” Ethan unbuckled his seat belt and they both got out of the car.

A silver slice of moon hung high in the sky. A gust of wind whistled between the rocks and tossed Emma’s hair across her shoulders. She followed Ethan along crooked stone steps embedded into a small hill that led to the house.

They climbed along the final yards of the path and onto a smooth porch made of solid granite. Ethan’s knuckles pounded the front door. He glanced at Emma while they waited and angled his ear close to the door. “Weird. I don’t hear anyone inside,” he said, narrowing his eyes. “No music, no nothing.”

Emma knocked again. “Hello?” she called. When no one answered, she tried the golden knob and pushed against the oak. The door swung open, revealing a double staircase that circled upstairs to an open-air second level. An unlit crystal chandelier hung in the foyer. Bright stars were visible through massive skylights. A grandfather clock in the far right corner of the entranceway was the only visible fixture—otherwise, the house was completely empty.

“Hello?” Emma called again. The girls should have been here already. Her voice echoed through the