The Lying Game

by Sara Shepard

Page 16

 

  Madeline tucked her dyed-black locks behind her ear and sang another verse. Halfway down the winding stretch of Campbell Avenue, Madeline’s cell phone bleeped. She pulled it out of her pocket and checked the screen, one eye on the road. Her face settled into a scowl.

  “Everything okay?” Emma asked.

  Madeline stared straight ahead, as if the traffic light they’d stopped at was infinitely interesting. “Just more Thayer crap. Whatever. ” She threw the phone into the backseat. It hit the cushion hard.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” Emma asked.

  Madeline let out a little exclamation point of a breath. “With you?”

  “Why not?” That was what good friends did, wasn’t it?

  I’m sure it was. But I had a feeling my friends and I weren’t exactly the touchy-feely kind.

  The traffic light turned green, and Madeline hit the gas. Her eyes were glassy, as though she was about to cry. “It’s just, the cops told my parents they aren’t searching for him anymore,” she said in monotone. “He’s, like, officially a runaway. There’s nothing more they can do. ”

  “I’m really sorry,” Emma said. She’d hunted around Facebook for information about why Madeline’s brother had run away, too, but there were hardly any mentions of it. She’d found a page dedicated to the fact that he was missing, listing the details of what Thayer had last been wearing (an oversized polo shirt and camo cargo shorts), where he’d last been seen (the hiking trails near the Santa Rita mountains in June), and recounting that there had been a search that had yielded nothing, not a missing shoe, not an empty water bottle, absolutely no trace of Thayer. There was an 800 number for people to call if they had any information. Sutton wasn’t Facebook friends with Thayer, so Emma couldn’t get to his private page and find out anything more. She did notice that Laurel interacted a lot with Thayer—there were shared pictures of them horsing around, YouTube posts on their Walls, and comments back and forth about upcoming rock shows at the U of A. But Laurel’s page didn’t tell her much else. In fact, Laurel didn’t even comment on Thayer’s disappearance—her only entry the day he went missing was a post that said, “I’m going to see Lady Gaga in November! Super psyched!”

  The windshield wipers squeaked and groaned. The rain had cleared, stopping almost as quickly as it had started, and the pavement glittered. A rainbow appeared on the horizon. Emma pointed it out. “Look. That’s good luck. ”

  Madeline sniffed. “Luck is for dumb bitches. ”

  Emma eyed the rabbit’s foot swinging on Madeline’s keychain, wondering if she really believed that. “You know, runaways usually do okay,” she said gently. “Wherever Thayer is, he’s probably found other kids like him. They’re probably taking care of each other. ”

  Madeline’s eyes flashed. “Where did you hear that?”

  Emma ran her fingers along the hem of the striped dress from Anthropologie she’d picked from Sutton’s closet that morning. She knew tons of foster kids who’d run away to escape their crappy situations. In fact, she’d even run away once, escaping from the violent Mr. Smythe. After a particularly volatile night, she’d packed a bag and took off, hoping to get to Los Angeles or San Fran or somewhere far away. She’d run into a couple of other kids hanging out in an abandoned trailer park on the way there. They had set up a little campsite with several tents, blankets, and pots and pans. Somehow they found food, and they’d even foraged a couple of bikes, a skateboard, and a PSP whose battery they regularly recharged at the local Dunkin Donuts. Because Emma was barely eleven, the older runaways took her under their wing, always letting her sleep in a tent, always making sure she had enough to eat. In some ways, they’d taken better care of her than most foster parents had. The police had come on the fourth day, just when Emma was getting comfortable. Everyone got sent back to various foster homes or juvie.

  “I guess I saw it on TV,” Emma finally explained.

  “Yeah, well, it doesn’t matter. ” Madeline flicked a lock of long, shiny hair over her shoulder. Her face snapped back into its hard, beautiful expression. “It’s nothing a little credit card damage can’t fix. I want to wear something new to Charlotte’s sleepover tomorrow night. Maybe one of those short shirt-dresses from BCBG. And didn’t you want new J. Brands for your birthday party?”

  They pulled into the big parking lot at the sprawling outdoor mall. Madeline found a space and shut off the engine. The two of them started toward the escalators to the upper level. The air felt fresh and clean after the rain. Muzak played softly over the mall speakers. As they emerged on the ground level, Emma spied a storefront in the very back of the mall: BELLISSIMO SECONDHAND. A butterfly flapped in her chest.

  “Can we stop in there for a sec?” Emma pointed.

  Madeline followed her finger and made a face. “Ew. Why?”

  “Because you can find amazing things in secondhand stores. ”

  Madeline narrowed her eyes. “But we never go in there. ”

  Emma linked her arm in Madeline’s. “Chloë Sevigny’s really into vintage. So is Rachel Zoe. ” She pulled Madeline down the corridor. “Come on. We need to break out of our comfort zones. ” In truth, there was no way Emma was shopping for two-hundred-dollar skinny jeans. That was way out of her comfort zone—she’d feel terrible spending the Mercers’ money on something so frivolous. Besides, she couldn’t let all of her personality disappear just because she’d stepped into her sister’s life.

  The bells jingled as Emma pushed through the front door. The store smelled like all vintage shops did, a little like moth balls and cardboard boxes and old ladies. A bald, smooth-skinned black guy wearing what looked like a snow leopard–skin jacket sat behind the counter thumbing through Cosmopolitan. Clothes jam-packed the racks, and there was a large wall of heels and boots on the back wall.

  Emma sifted through a rack of dresses. Madeline stood motionless near the door with her arms close to her sides, as if she were afraid of germs. “Look. ” Emma pulled a pair of gold-tone wraparound sunglasses of the rack on the wall. “Vintage Gucci. ”

  Madeline took dainty ballerina steps until she was next to Emma. “Those are probably fakes. ”

  “They aren’t. ” She ran her hand over the interlocking Gs and pointed at the label that said MADE IN ITALY. “These are a total find. And a steal, too. ” She flicked the price tag hanging from the nose bridge. Forty dollars. “I bet they’d look awesome on you. And think of it this way—no one else has them. You’d be special. ”

  She unfolded the arms of the glasses and placed them on Madeline’s face. Madeline let out a little note of protest, then adjusted the glasses and stared into the mirror. Emma smiled. She’d been right—they accentuated Madeline’s round chin and high cheekbones. As Mads pivoted to the right and left, she looked like a glamorous heiress on holiday.

  Her expression softened. “They are kind of nice. ”

  “I told you. ”

  “Do you really think they’re real?”

  “They’re real, okay?” the shopkeeper lisped exasperatedly, dropping his Cosmo to the counter. “Do I look like I carry fakes? Now either buy them or take them off your grimy little face. ”

  Madeline lowered the sunglasses down her nose and gave the shopkeeper a cool, indifferent stare. “I will buy them, thanks. ”

  The shopkeeper rang them up silently, his lips in a prissy pucker. As soon as Emma and Madeline got out of the shop, they both grabbed each other and exploded into giggles. “What was that coat he was wearing?” Madeline shook her head. “A dead cat?”

  “‘Now either buy them or take them off your grimy little face!’” Emma imitated.

  “So unreal. ” As Madeline slung her arm around Emma’s shoulders, there was a lift in Emma’s chest. For a moment, she’d actually forgotten the situation she was in.

  They cruised to the upper floor, arm in arm. At the top of the escalator, Emma spied the top of a familiar dark head on the level below and stopped cold. A girl
stood outside Fetch, the high-end pet store, browsing a table of squeak toys and studded leashes. She craned her neck upward, as if she sensed someone staring at her. Nisha.

  Madeline eyed Nisha, too. “I heard she’s next,” she whispered in Emma’s ear. “We’re going to get her tomorrow. ”

  “Get her?” Emma frowned.

  “Charlotte thought of something brilliant. We’ll pick you up at seven-thirty tomorrow morning. Be ready. ”

  Nisha gave the girls a final look, then tossed her hair over her shoulder and walked in the other direction. Be ready? Emma wondered. For . . . what? She gazed questioningly at Madeline, but Madeline’s eyes were obscured behind her new Gucci sunglasses. All Emma could see was her own reflection staring back at her, looking more confused than ever.

  She wasn’t the only one. Something about Madeline’s voice put me on edge. I had a feeling that whatever they were going to do to Nisha was going to be . . . trouble. But both Emma and I would have to wait until tomorrow to find out exactly what it was.

  Chapter 15

  THE SCENE OF THE CRIME

  The following morning, Charlotte’s SUV roared to the curb in front of the Mercers’ house, nearly taking out a trash can. Laurel scuttled into the backseat fast. Madeline handed her a giant Starbucks cup. “Thanks again for letting me in on this,” Laurel gushed.

  “You had some good ideas with this one,” Charlotte murmured while typing on her BlackBerry. “You deserve some credit. ”

  Emma climbed in behind Laurel. Madeline handed her a hot coffee, too, though Emma didn’t remember giving her an order. She took a sip and winced. It was black with Splenda, yechh. Twins must not share the same taste buds. “What’s this all about, anyway?” she asked.

  Charlotte waved the little stirring straw that had come with her latte at Emma. “Don’t you worry about a thing. It’s our turn, Sutton. This is for you. ”

  Charlotte turned out of Sutton’s neighborhood, passing the park where Emma and Ethan had played tennis. “It’s all timed perfectly,” she said in a low voice. “I’ve been watching Nisha since Monday. ”

  “And you set up everything last night?” Madeline was wearing her new Gucci sunglasses. The sunlight caught the gold frames and sent reflections around the inside of the car.

  Charlotte nodded. “You girls are going to love it. ” She wheeled around and peered at Laurel. “And you talked to . . . you know?”

  “Yep. ” Laurel giggled.

  “Perfect. ”

  Within minutes, they were pulling into a space in the school parking lot. School didn’t start for another half hour, so the bus lanes were empty and the boys’ soccer team, who practiced both before and after school, were still galloping on the field. The girls grabbed Emma’s arms and pulled her through the courtyard and a side door. The hallways were deserted. Posters for student council elections flapped in the air-conditioned breeze. Big swirls from the janitor’s mop gleamed on the floor.