Lurker Read Online Free PDF Page A

she meant. Without some idea about the cause or the killer, there wasn’t much to hold on to in the way of comfort.
    â€œGod, it could be anyone ,” Drew said with more than enough drama to exasperate Mandy.
    She was about to say something logical, like It couldn’t be our parents or your brothers or Laurel , just to contradict Drew’s über-paranoia and keep her from bursting into tears again, but her cell phone trilled. Drew leaped off the bed with a yelp. Her hand fanning the air in front of her face like she was trying to get rid of a bad smell, Drew danced from foot to foot.
    â€œOh my God! That scared me so bad.”
    â€œYou need a pill,” Mandy said, sliding over the bed to grab her phone from the nightstand. Shechecked the caller ID to make sure Dale wasn’t getting his stalker on and saw that the name was blocked. Not Dale. His name came through bright and shiny whenever he called.
    â€œGirl, where are you?” Laurel asked before Mandy finished saying hello.
    â€œI’m at home, where we’re all supposed to be. Where are you?”
    â€œI’m in the chat with, like, everyone .”
    Of course, Mandy thought. That was why her mailbox wasn’t choking on e-mails. Everyone she knew was logged in to one of the school chat rooms. There were two: one that was actually moderated by school staff, and one that was independent of the Lake Crest website, which was the best place to learn about parties and anything else parents and teachers weren’t supposed to know about.
    â€œOfficial or un?” Mandy asked.
    â€œPlease,” Laurel said. “Only bottom-feeders use the official site. Now log on. Is Drew with you?”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œWell, slide your butts to the screen. I’ve never seen this place bangin’ so hard.”
    And Laurel was right. More than thirty kids had logged in to the room. Mandy told Drew to slidethe bench at the end of her bed over so she could see. Once she had, they both scanned the user-names and found they recognized all of them.
    â€œJacob’s signed on,” Drew said, all but gushing the name of the boy she’d been crushing on for the last two years.
    â€œStill needing that pill,” Mandy said, bumping Drew with her shoulder.
    â€œWhat are they saying?”
    The truth was, Mandy couldn’t tell. Lines of text were rolling up the screen so fast she couldn’t keep up with it all. She saw variations of Nicolette’s name—Nicki and Naughty Nic—and words like murdered , stabbed , shotgun , but just as her eyes would lock on to a line, it was gone.
    â€œIt’s like they just want to get it all out,” Mandy said. “They don’t care if anyone can read it or not.”
    â€œSay hi to Jacob.”
    â€œNot.”
    â€œWhat did that line say? Something about her being raped? Oh God. She was raped!”
    â€œThey don’t know, Drew. Calm down. None of us knows anything yet.”
    An IM window opened on the screen; it was from Laurel.
    Laurel2good4u : Do I speak truth or what?
    MC9010025 : This is crzy
    Laurel2good4u : Best Beleev. U going 2 vigil 2nite
    MC9010025 : ???
    Laurel2good4u : Candlelight vigil 4 Nic. Elmwood Park. 7
    â€œI’m not going out in the dark,” Drew exclaimed right into Mandy’s ear. “Are they crazy? Why don’t they just hand us over to the guy with a chainsaw and say ‘Happy birthday, Chucky’?”
    â€œThere are going to be a billion people there, Drew.”
    MC9010025 : R U?
    Laurel2good4u : Y. But dad’s taggin. Meet by fountain?
    MC9010025 : Y
    Laurel2good4u : Kewl. TTFN dads freakin AGAIN. I’m out
    MC9010025 : TTFN
    Mandy closed the window, returning her attention to the rolling lines of text filling the chatroom. She decided to scroll to the top and read what had come in since signing on; she’d never be able to keep up with the new comments. But as she read through, she discovered