The Lying Game Complete Collection - Sara Shepard Page 0,238

with her car? How could she know about that?

Laurel crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes. “I’m so sick of this. I know. I know what you’re hiding.”

Emma blinked at her. The night air hung heavy and silent between them. Panic gripped her limbs. Hiding? Was she talking about Emma’s real identity? Had she figured it out? Had Thayer told her?

“You’re going to stand there and pretend you have no idea what I’m talking about, aren’t you?” Laurel asked, her eyes widening.

Tiny scratching noises sounded in the underbrush as some animal scurried among the cacti. A shiver ran along the back of Emma’s legs and she tried to keep her glare even. The last thing she wanted was to give away how afraid she was.

“I was the one who saved him, after all,” Laurel spat. She yanked her honey blonde hair into a ponytail and stared at Emma like she was waiting for her to defend herself.

A low buzzing noise sounded. Emma couldn’t be sure whether it was music from the party or desert bugs swarming in the distance. Who had Laurel saved him from? From Sutton?

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Laurel,” she said finally, making her voice sound as condescending as possible.

Laurel cocked her head to the side and dug her heels into the dirt. “I saw you hiding in the bushes after Thayer got hit by that car at Sabino Canyon. He denied it, but I know you were with him.” She shifted her weight and crossed her arms over her chest. “Why were you hiding? Why did you pawn him off on me? So I could take him to the hospital to be treated? Was that too much for you to handle?” She dropped her chin and shook her head. “Or was it just your usual MO?” She stared at Emma a long moment before lowering her voice to say, “You created too big of a mess to pick up yourself.”

“No!” I yelled at my sister. “I hid because I was afraid you wouldn’t get Thayer what he needed if you knew I was involved! I was trying to do the best thing for him!” But of course she didn’t hear me. I thought again about the memory I’d just seen. I felt foolish for being so convinced Thayer was my cold-blooded killer when I now realized that he was just looking to protect me. The anguish of seeing him lying there, twisted and hurt, felt fresh and raw. Who could have hit him with my car and just sped away like that? Maybe whoever had been chasing us. Which meant Thayer might know who my killer is without even knowing I’m dead.

Emma, meanwhile, blinked at Laurel’s words. She tried to understand what they meant. Part of this made sense—Thayer was hit by a car that caused his limp. But she had no idea Laurel had been involved that night. And the way Laurel was talking, it sounded like Sutton hadn’t been the one to hit Thayer.

“What else do you know?” she asked slowly. “What else did you see?” If Laurel had seen Sutton hiding, maybe she’d seen someone else there, too. Sutton’s true killer.

A coyote howl pealed over the rocks. Laurel glanced in its direction and sighed. “If you mean did I see the two of you making out, I didn’t. And I don’t know who hit him, either. He wouldn’t tell me anything that happened. Do you know who hit him? Are you making him keep quiet about something?”

“I don’t know anything,” Emma said. It was the truth.

Laurel’s silk dress billowed in the wind. She ran the palms of her hands over her bare arms. “All you’ve done for the past month is pester me about the night of August thirty-first, trying to get me to spill that I was with Thayer. Thinking I didn’t know you were there, too. That is why you asked me over and over what I was doing that night, isn’t it? Because you wanted to know if I saw you? Well, I did. I saw you, hiding in the bushes and abandoning Thayer when he needed you the most.” She scrunched up her face with disgust. “How could you have done that? And how could you have screamed when he came into your bedroom? Are you trying to ruin his life?”

“I’m sorry,” Emma blurted.

“Sorry’s not good enough,” Laurel snarled. “You need to stay away from him. He told me as much. Every time