Sara Shepard - Killer

HarperCollins Publishers June 2009

ISBN-13: 9780061919718

ISBN-10: 0061919713

SOMETHINGS SKETCHY, INDEED

The following morning, Emily cinched the hood of her pale blue anorak tight and ran across the icy blacktop to the Rosewood Day Elementary School swings, her friends special meeting spot. For the first time all week, the long driveway was free of news vans. Since everyone now thought Emily and the others had made up seeing Ians body in the woods, the press had no reason to interview students.

Across the courtyard, Emilys friends were gathered around Spencer, staring at a sheet of computer paper and her cell phone. Last night, Spencer had called Emily to tell her that Ian had IMed her and that A had sent a text. Afterward, Emily hadnt been able to sleep a wink. So A was back. And Ian...maybe...wasnt dead.

Something hard hit her shoulder, and Emily whirled around, her heart leaping to her throat. It was only an elementaryschool boy pushing past her, running for the ball field. She placed one hand in the other, trying to stop it from trembling. Her hands had been shaking like crazy all morning.How could Ian have faked his death? Emily blurted when she reached the circle. We all saw him. He looked...blue.

Hanna, bundled in a white wool coat and fauxfur scarf, raised her shoulders. The only color in her face was her redrimmed eyes; it looked like she hadnt slept much last night, either. Aria, wearing a thin, trendylooking gray leather jacket and green fingerless gloves, shook her head, saying nothing. She wasnt wearing her usual sparkly makeup. Even neatasapin Spencer looked disheveledher hair was in a greasy, lumpy ponytail.

It fits, Spencer croaked. Ian pretended to be dead, and he called us to the woods because he knew wed go to the police and tell them we saw him.

Aria sank down onto one of the swings. But why wouldnt Ian just run? Why would he put on a show for us?

When the cops found out he was missing, they started searching for him immediately, Spencer explained. But then when we saw his body, they turned their attention to the woods instead. We distracted them for a few days, long enough so Ian could really escape. We probably did exactly what he wanted us to. She gazed up at the clouds, a helpless expression on her face.

Hanna sank onto her left hip. What do you think A has to do with this? A lured us into the woods so wed see Ian. A is obviously working with him.

This text makes it pretty obvious that Ian and A were in cahoots, Spencer said, shoving her phone at them. Emily read the first two lines again. When I said he had to go, I didnt mean he had to die. Still, theres something really sketchy in this case...and its up to you to figure out what it is. She bit her lip hard, then gazed at the dragonshaped slide behind them. Years ago, whenever something or someone at school scared her, she would hide inside the dragons head at the top until she felt better. She felt an overwhelming urge to do that now.

It seems like A helped Ian bust out, Spencer went on. They worked togetherwhen Ian met me on my back porch last week, A threatened that if I told the cops, Id get hurt. If I wouldve told them, they wouldve rearrested Ian...and he couldnt have escaped.

A was worried about any of us saying anything, Emily piped up. All of my notes said that if I didnt tell As secret, A wouldnt tell mine.

Hanna looked at Emily, a curious smile on her lips. This A knows some secrets about you?

Emily shrugged. For a while, A was taunting Emily about how shed kept her sexuality from Isaac. Not anymore, she said.

What if Ian is A? Aria suggested. It still makes a lot of sense. Emily shook her head. The texts werent from Ian. The cops checked his phone. Just because the A notes werent coming from Ians phone doesnt mean they werent coming

from Ian, Hanna reminded her. He could have had someone else send them. Or he could have gotten a disposable cell or a phone in another name.

Emily put her finger to her lips. She hadnt thought of that.

And all those tricks he pulled the night we allegedly saw his body are pretty easy if you know how to use a computer, Hanna went on. Ian probably figured out how to delay sending a text so that wed get it the moment we saw what looked like his dead body. Remember how Mona sent herself an email from A to throw us off? Its probably not that hard.

Spencer pointed at the piece of computer paper. It was a printout of the IM exchange between her and Ian. Look at this, she said, pointing to the lines that said, They hated me. They found out that I knew. That was why I had to run. Ian signed off before I could ask who they were. But what if this is much bigger than Ian planning an escape? What if Ian really did find out something huge about Alis murder? What if he thought that if he went on trial, explaining what he knew, hed be killed? Faking his own death wouldnt just get the cops off his back, itd get whoever wanted to hurt him off his back too.

Aria stopped swinging. Do you think whoever was after Ian might come after us if we figure out too much?

Thats what it sounds like, Spencer said. But theres something else. She pointed to a few lines of text at the bottom of the computer printout. It was the IP address of where the Instant Messages were from. It says Ian IMed us from somewhere in Rosewood.

Rosewood? Aria shrieked. You mean hes still...here? Hannas face paled. Why would Ian stay here? Why wouldnt he skip town? Maybe hes not done searching for the truth, Spencer suggested. Or maybe hes not done with us...for turning him in, Aria said. Emily heard a whoop behind her and jumped. A crow was slowly circling the playground. When

she turned back to her friends, their eyes were wide, and their jaws were tense. Arias right, Hanna said, picking back up on the conversation. If Ians alive, we dont know

what hes up to. He still might be after us. And he still might be guilty. I dont know, Spencer protested. Emily faced Spencer, confused. But you told the cops it was him! What about that memory you

had of seeing Ian with Ali on the night she died? Spencer shoved her hands in her coat pockets. Im not sure if I really remember that...or if it

was just what I wanted to believe. Emilys stomach burned. What was true...and what wasnt? She stared across the playground. A

group of students were marching down the sidewalk into the sixthgrade wing. More students passed in front of the long line of classroom windows, walking to the coat closet. Emily had forgotten that sixth graders didnt have proper lockers; they had to put their stuff in cubbies in that tiny coatroom. The coatroom used to get so stinky by midmorning, smelling like everyones bagged lunches.

When Ian talked to me on my back porch, he told me that we had it wronghe didnt kill Ali, Spencer went on. He wouldnt have hurt a hair on Alis head. He and Ali always flirted, but she was the one who escalated it to the next level. Ian thought for a while that she was doing it to make someone angry. At first I thought she meant mebecause I kind of liked him. But Ian didnt seem to buy that theory. And the night she died, he saw two blondes in the woodsone was Ali, one was someone else. At the time, I thought he meant me. But he said maybe it was someone else.

Emily sighed, frustrated. Were going by Ians word again.

Yeah, Spence. Hanna wrinkled her nose. Ian killed Ali. Then he tricked us. We should go to Wilden with the IMs. Let him deal with it.

Spencer snorted. Wilden? Hes done a good job convincing all of Rosewood that were crazy. Even if by some miracle he does believe us, no one else on the police force would.

What about Ians parents? Emily suggested. They got a note from him too. Theyd believe us.