Will was deathly quiet on the way out of Laurel Creek, his brow furrowed in concentration as he tried to keep the car on the road in the driving rain.

I didn’t trust myself to say anything that wasn’t stupid. I shivered silently in the air-conditioning, goosebumps all over me. It had taken me five minutes of sitting and breathing to slow my heartbeat, and I was pretty sure it wasn’t from the mad dash to the car. My lips still tingled.

He seemed to relax a little as we emerged onto paved roads again. The rain continued to beat an insistent staccato pattern on the roof, turning the car into the inside of a drum. I rolled my shoulder back a little. I winced at the pain, even though this morning seemed impossibly far away now, a past I hardly remembered living through. Being pinned against the tree hadn’t helped, but it wasn’t Will’s fault. He didn’t even know I’d hurt it.

He cleared his throat. “Do you mind if I take a little detour on the way back?”

“No,” I said. I had nowhere else I needed to be. Nowhere else I wanted to be.

He didn’t say anything else, just turned the stereo up. Did he regret kissing me? Had things gotten weird between us now? I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do. I’d never been here before.

Though I had been on the road we were headed onto. “Where are we going?” I asked, afraid I knew the answer.

“I want to do a drive-by of Alex’s house and see if the police have picked him up already or not after … after Shelley.”

“Do you think that’s a good idea?”

“Probably not.” He turned, a sad smile on his face. Then he slowed as he really took a good look at me, his eyes sweeping me from head to toe. “You look … cold.” He turned the air-conditioning off.

I crossed my arms over my chest. Maybe that wasn’t what he’d meant, but I blushed anyway.

“Just a little,” I said. “You know, you don’t have to drive all the way out to Alex’s house. You could just ask.”

“Oh,” he said, giving a little laugh. “Didn’t even think of that.” Lightning cracked again, and he was quiet for a moment as we both waited for the thunder to follow. “Okay, Aria, have the police arrested Alex?”

“No,” I said. Short and to the point. Direct but not useful.

Will pulled off to the side of the road. “Maybe they haven’t questioned him yet. Have they?”

“Yes,” I said, “So many questions, so many answers.”

“Did they believe his alibi?”

“Two for, two against, the jury is out, but the verdict is in.” I groaned. “I’m sorry, this isn’t helping.” I wished I hadn’t offered now.

He managed another smile and shook his head. “No, it’s okay. It’s not your fault.” He drummed on the steering wheel in tune with the rain. “You know what? We just need to get them to go dig up Alex’s rag.”

“How do we do that?”

“We have to be careful,” he said, his voice faraway.

I wondered if he was thinking of Jade. And I had to admit: I didn’t like that I was wondering that.

“I suppose I could leave a message from the pay phone again … telling them something like I told Delilah before, that I overheard Alex talking to himself or something.” It sounded lame, but it had worked before, more or less.

His eyes brightened. “Perfect.” He started up the car again, and we screeched back into the road with a sudden lurch. He drove fast, faster than I would have liked with the way the rain was still pouring down in solid sheets. I held onto the door handle with one hand the whole way.

“Are you sure we need to call now?” I gasped. Maybe we could wait until it wasn’t pouring rain?

He stared at me, his brow furrowed. “Aria, the police need to get on top of this as soon as possible, don’t you think?”

“They need all the help they can get,” I said. Ugh.

He was right to ask. Even if he still had feelings for Jade, that wasn’t just understandable, it was human. Besides, I needed closure, too. The questions would never end so long as Alex was free. Of course it was more important to get the information to them. It’s not like I wasn’t already wet anyway. I was being a baby.

Luckily I still had the slip of torn newspaper with the number. I read it over a few times to fix it in my head, grabbed some coins, and got out of the car. The rain had gotten so much worse. I was drenched through to the skin in seconds, my dress clinging to my body and twisting around my legs.

I dialed, wondering if the phone would even work in the rain or if they’d be able to hear me over the dull roar of it. As the line connected, I had a brief worry that an actual person would answer, but after a few rings it went to the automated message. I rushed through “Alex Walker” and “blue-and-white bandanna,” hoping it didn’t sound too incoherent and secretly wishing that maybe they wouldn’t even be able to recognize my voice as the one who had called before. Then I hung up and dashed back in Will’s car, dripping all over his seat.

“You did the right thing,” he said somberly. He drove off as I was putting my seatbelt on. I was ridiculously wet. I wiped my hand over my face trying to get some of the water off. “I hope so,” I said.

“We’d better get you warm and dry,” he added. “I can lend you some clothes if you want. You know, before you get your car back.”