his dog. âHave you ever seen anyone coming and going out of this place?â she dared to ask. âAnyone at all?â
âNope, not even a light on,â the man said. âBut itâs private property. You should move along.â He gave them another long look, and for a moment, Spencer wondered if sheâd trusted him too quickly. But then he whistled at his dog, and the dog stood. As they passed, the dog stiffened and turned its head toward the realtorâs office across the street. Spencer sucked in her stomach. Did the dog sense a presence? But then it loped off and lifted its leg on a clump of dandelions. The man and dog disappeared, all footsteps and jingling tags.
Spencer waited until the man was a safe distance away before turning to look at Chase. âThis was definitely the unit in the photo.â
âDo you think Ali knew we found it?â Chase whispered, his eyes wide. And then, suddenly, a terrified look crossed his face. âDo you think it was possible that Ali planted that video? Maybe she was never here in the first place. Or maybe she sent us here to hurt us.â
Spencer couldnât believe it hadnât occurred to her. She darted off the porch, certain something horrible was about to happen. It didnât, but for a split second, she swore she could hear someone snickering. She squinted hard at the trees, then peered worriedly at the realtorâs office, desperate to make out Aliâs shape at the window. What if she was close? What if she realized what theyâd discoveredâand she was furious?
Spencer took Chaseâs hand. âLetâs get out of here,â she said hurriedly, darting back to the car. She hoped, suddenly, that they hadnât made a horrible mistake.
3
HANNA LOSES IT
An hour later, Hanna Marin and her boyfriend, Mike Montgomery, sat in Hannaâs Prius, in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the way from the hospital back to Rosewood. Mike fiddled with the radio, first choosing a rap station, then flipping to sports. He let out a sigh and stared out the window, looking just as exhausted as Hanna felt. Heâd hung around for a long time at the hospital last night, partly for Noel and partly for Hanna. Hanna wasnât even sure when heâd left, but she was pretty certain it had been after midnight, and heâd showed up again shortly after Noel had woken up this morning.
Hannaâs phone, which was connected to the carâs Bluetooth system, bleated loudly. She pressed the ANSWER button on the center console without looking at the caller ID. âHanna?â a familiar voice rang out. âItâs Kelly Crosby from the burn clinic.â
âOh.â Hannaâs finger hovered over the HANG UP button on the steering wheel. She could feel Mike staring at her. âUh, hi.â
âI was just calling to let you know that thereâs no need for you to come in next week,â Kelly went on. âThe clinic is closed until further notice because of the . . . murder.â
The murder . Hanna swallowed hard.
âI also wanted to let you know that Graham Prattâs funeral will be tomorrow,â Kelly went on. âYou were such good friends, I thought you might be interested.â
âUm, great,â Hanna said loudly to Kelly. âGotta go!â
She hung up and stared straight through the windshield as though nothing were amiss. The only sound was the clunka-clunka-clunk of the uneven pavement on the off-ramp. Finally, Mike cleared his throat. âI thought you said Graham was the Unabomber, Hanna.â
Hanna gripped the steering wheel hard. Mike had been suspicious about her volunteering stint at the burn clinic, first certain she wanted to reconcile with her ex, Sean Ackard. That was ridiculous, but she couldnât exactly tell him the whole truth, eitherâthat would mean explaining about A. Sheâd finally admitted that Aria and Graham had been in the boiler room of
Cindy Holby - Wind 01 - Chase the Wind