“Say goodbye,” Lili growled.
Emma closed her eyes and pictured al the people she would say goodbye to. Ethan—she’d never even gotten to kiss him. She never realized exactly how much she wanted to kiss him until right now. Madeline, Laurel, and Charlotte
—no more laughing with them, no more gossiping. It struck her, suddenly, that these were people she knew in Sutton’s life, not hers. Was there anyone who would miss her from when she was Emma? Who did she have who would mourn her? Even Ethan couldn’t grieve for Emma in public. He would have to know her as Sutton Mercer, not Sutton’s secret twin. And Alex didn’t know she was pretending to be Sutton, wouldn’t realize that it was Alex’s friend who was now dead.
Sutton’s face, a face so identical to hers, flared in her mind. She’d wanted to know Sutton more than anything else in the entire world. And she’d wanted to solve this for her sister, to put this horrible crime to rest. Who knew what would happen now. I’m sorry, Sutton, she thought. I tried my best.
I know, Emma. I tried to place my hand over my sister’s to comfort her, to let her know I was right there. The cave was tomb-silent. Lili leaned down so her lips were next to Emma’s ear. And then, quietly, joyful y, she whispered, “Gotcha.”
Her hands went slack from Emma’s neck. When Emma opened her eyes, Lili was giggling hysterical y. “Gotcha!”
she cried again, louder this time, as though she were cal ing to someone.
Rocks began to shift, and suddenly, the big boulder that had wal ed Emma in disappeared. A bright flashlight shone into their faces. “Gotcha!” another voice cried from outside the cave. Emma shielded her forehead and stared at the wil owy blond. Was that . . . Gabby?
Emma scuttled out of the cave. As soon as her feet hit solid ground, Gabby cuffed her playful y on the shoulder.
“You were so scared! We got you so good!”
Madeline, Charlotte, and Laurel appeared behind Gabby, contrite looks on their faces. Emma’s heart raced, and she gasped for air. “Did you guys know about this?”
Laurel smiled sheepishly. “We found out at the dance.”
Emma gaped. She turned to Lili, who was climbing out of the cave, then back to Gabby. She tried to settle her nerves with a deep breath, but it caught in her throat. “How long had you been planning this?” she sputtered.
The Twitter Twins exchanged a glance. “Lili and I scoped this place out a couple of weeks ago on a camping trip with our dad,” Gabby admitted. “And then when you invited us to go camping, we put everything into action.”
Lili grabbed Gabby’s flashlight and shone it up the ridge.
“There’s a ledge just below where Gabs fel . She jumped there after you pushed her.” She put pushed in air quotes. “I made lots of noise down here to make it sound like she’d had a bad fal .”
“So you were here the whole time?” Emma asked.
“Yup. I only pretended to cal a cab,” Lili said. “I hid my car in the back of the Super Stop earlier today.”
“Oh, and we weren’t real y fighting about Kevin, by the way,” Gabby said with a grin. “Lili isn’t into him.”
Lili made a face. “He smel s like smoked salmon.”
“He does not!” Gabby’s plump lips pursed.
Lili shrugged and turned back to Emma and the others.
“When you guys left, I drove here and hid at the bottom of the ravine—there’s another parking lot nearby that got me here much faster. Once I knew Gabby pretended to fal , I climbed into the cave”—Lili pointed at the rocks—“which we actual y made. Wait ’til you see it in the daytime. It looks so fake and cheesy.”
“Lili waited for you guys,” Gabby went on, proudly rocking back and forth on her heels. “And then, when Sutton climbed in, I came out from my hiding place and wal ed you in together.” She wiggled her hands in front of her face as if to say Spooky.
“You should have heard Sutton!” Lili’s eyes gleamed.
“She was begging for her life! It was priceless!” Lili shone her flashlight on her iPhone. “I got a recording of it. We can all hear Sutton. ‘Please! Don’t hurt me, please! Can’t we talk about this?’”
Gabby grinned at Emma. “You’ve been freaked for weeks, waiting for us to prank you. I swear you were going to pee your pants when we drove you to the impound the other day.”
Lili wagged her finger at Emma. “I told you we were going to get you back for that car-stal ed-on-the-tracks prank.”
“Speaking of which, did you like our little choo-choo charm?” Gabby flicked Lili’s charm bracelet and it jingled. She turned to the others. “We sent Sutton a little present at the country club a couple of weeks ago. A little reminder that we weren’t even yet.”
“So it was you,” Emma said, more of a statement than a question.
“Of course it was us.” Lili grinned. “Who else would have?”
Gabby giggled. “Who knew the unflappable Sutton Mercer could get so frightened?”
Everyone turned and looked at Emma, waiting for her response. Her heart was stil thrumming fast. Her blood coursed with adrenaline. Just moments ago, she’d believed this was the end. She could have sworn Gabby and Lili were Sutton’s kil ers and the case was solved. But now, everything felt turned upside down. This was al just a prank? There was no malice, no murderous revenge? Her relief mingled with the sinking realization that once again, she had no idea who had kil ed Sutton.