At the same time on Wednesday, just as the moon rose over the trees and the big Hollis parking lot floodlights snapped on, Emily stood at the top of Chemistry Hill, holding a donut-shaped snow tube in her mittened hand. "You sure you want to race me?" she teased Isaac, who was holding his own snow tube. "I'm the fastest sledder in all of Rosewood."
"Says who?" Isaac's eyes sparkled. "You've never raced me before."
Emily grabbed the snow tube's purple handles. "The first one to that big tree at the bottom wins. Ready…set…"
"Go!" Isaac preempted her, jumping on his snow tube and whizzing down the hill.
"Hey!" Emily yelled, belly flopping on her own tube. She bent her knees, picking up her boots so they wouldn't drag on the ground, and angled her tube toward the steepest part of the hill. Unfortunately, Isaac approached him at a hurtling speed, and they collided in the middle of the hill, rolling off their sleds into the soft snow.
Isaac's snow tube continued down the hill without him, heading straight into the woods. "Hey!" he cried, pointing to the tube as it drifted past the tree they'd designated as the finished line. "Technically, I won!"
"You cheated," Emily grumbled good-naturedly. "My brother used to start races before me too. It drove me crazy."
"Does that mean I drive you crazy too?" Isaac smiled impishly.
Emily stared down at her red fleece mittens. "I don't know," she said in a quieter voice. "Maybe."
Color began to rise to her already pink cheeks. The moment Emily had pulled into the chemistry building parking lot and seen Isaac standing next to his truck with two sleds in his hands, her heart had started pounding wildly. Isaac looked even cuter all dressed up for playing in the snow than he did in his emo-rock T-shirt and jeans. His navy wool hat was pulled low on his forehead, smashing his hair over his ears and making his eyes look extra blue. Both his mittens had reindeer knitted on the palms. He'd sheepishly admitted his mom made him a new pair every year. And there was something about how his scarf was looped twice around his neck, covering every inch of skin, that made him both cuddly and vulnerable.
Emily wanted to think the zingy, snappy feeling inside her were merely excitement over making a new friend…or maybe side effects of acute hypothermia, as the little thermometer inside her mom's Volvo said it was only nineteen degrees out. But really, she had no idea what was going on with her emotions.
"I haven't been here in ages." Emily broke the silence, gazing at the brick chemistry building at the bottom of the hill. "My brother and sister found this place. They're in college now, in California. I don't understand how they could've gone somewhere where it never snows."
"You're lucky to have brothers and sisters," Isaac admitted. "I'm an only child."
"I used to wish I was an only child." Emily groaned. "There were always way too many people at my house. And I never got new clothes—only hand-me-downs."
"Nah, being an only child is lonely," Isaac said. "When I was little, my family lived in a neighborhood where there weren't many other kids nearby, so I had to entertain myself. I used to go on these walks all alone, pretending I was an explorer. I'd narrate what I did to myself. Now the Great Isaac forges a mighty stream. Now the Great Isaac discovers a mountain. I'm sure anyone who heard me thought I was crazy."
"The Great Isaac, huh?" Emily giggled, finding it unbelievably cute. "Well, siblings can be overrated. I'm not that close with my brothers and sisters. We've actually had some major issues recently."
Isaac propped himself up on one elbow, facing her. "Why?"
The snow was beginning to seep through Emily's jeans and long underwear to her skin. She was referring to how her family had reacted to the news that she liked Maya. Not only had Carolyn freaked, but Jake and Beth had taken her off their e-mail joke lists for a while.
"Oh, just normal family stuff," she finally said. "Nothing that interesting."
Isaac nodded, then stood up and announced he'd better go down and rescue his snow tube from the woods before it got too dark. Emily watched him tromp down the hill, an uneasy, gnawing feeling coursing through her. Why hadn't she just told Isaac the truth about who she was? Why did it seem so…difficult?
Then, her eyes moved to the empty building parking lot. A car was making a wide circle around the parking spaces, coming to a stop under a spotlight at the bottom of Hollis Hill, not that far from where she and Isaac had crashed. Rosewood PD was printed on the car's side. Emily squinted, recognizing the driver's familiar brown hair. It was Officer Wilden.
Wilden's forehead was creased with worry, and he was barking something into his phone. Emily watched for a moment. Back when she was younger, she and Carolyn used to haul the portable kitchen TV into their bedroom and watch late-night horror movies at ultra-low volume. Emily's lipreading was rusty, but she was pretty sure she'd just caught Wilden telling whoever was on the phone to "just stay away."
Emily's heart knocked in her chest. Just stay away? At that very moment, Wilden noticed Emily on the hill. He widened his eyes. After a second, he gave her a tight nod and then looked down sharply.
Emily shifted uncomfortably, wondering if Wilden had come here to get a little privacy to deal with something personal. It was silly to think that his entire life revolved around the Ali case.
When her phone, which was tucked into a little zippered pocket in her parka, began to ring. Emily let out a yelp. She pulled it out of her pocket, her body electrified. Aria's name flashed on the caller ID. "Hey," Emily sighed, relieved. "What's up?"
"Have you gotten any more weird texts?" Aria demanded.
As Emily shifted her weight, the snow beneath her crunched. She watched Isaac disappear into the thick pine forest, in search of his snow tube. "No…"
"Well, I did. Just now. Whoever it is took a picture of me, Emily. Tonight. The person writing these notes knows where we are and what we're doing."
A gust of wind knifed across Emily's face, bringing tears to her eyes. "Are you sure?"
"I called Wilden at the station twenty minutes ago," Aria went on, "but he said he was going into an important meeting there and couldn't talk."
"Wait." Emily rubbed her numb jaw, confused. "Wilden isn't at the station. I just saw him a second ago." She gazed back down the hill. The spot where Wilden's car had been was now empty. The knot in her belly tightened. Wilden must have told Aria he'd be driving around, not going into a meeting. She'd probably just heard him wrong.
"Where are you anyway?" Aria asked.
Isaac emerged from the woods with his tube. He looked up at her and waved. Emily swallowed hard, her heart pounding. "I have to go," she said abruptly. "I'll call you back."
"Wait!" Aria sounded worried. "But I haven't—"
Emily snapped her phone closed, cutting Aria off. Isaac raised the snow tube over his head, triumphant. "The Great Isaac had to wrestle this back from a bear!" he yelled. Emily forced a giggle, trying to settle down. There had to be a logical explanation for Aria's text. It couldn't be anything serious.
Isaac plopped down on his sled and examined her carefully. "So we never decided what my prize is for winning the race down the hill."
Emily sniffed, allowing herself to relax into the moment. "How about the title of World's Biggest Cheater? Or a snowball, right in the face?"
"Or how about this?" Isaac asked. Before she knew it, Isaac was leaning in to her, kissing her softly on the lips. When he pulled away, Emily put her hands on her mouth. She tasted the wintergreen Tic Tac Isaac had been sucking on, and her lips tingled, as if they'd just been stung.
Isaac's eyes widened, registering Emily's expression. "Was that…okay?"
Emily smiled goofily. "Yeah," she said slowly. And as soon as the words left her lips, she knew that somehow, it was okay.
Isaac grinned as he took her mittened hand in his. Emily's head spun like it had just been on a few rounds of a carnival Tilt-a-Whirl ride.
Suddenly, her phone chirped again. "Sorry. My friend just called," she explained, reaching for it. "It's probably her calling back." She turned slightly away and looked at the screen: One new text message.
Emily's heart leapt to her throat. She looked around the vast, dark hill, but she and Isaac were the only people there. Slowly, she opened the text.
Hi, Em! Doesn't the Bible say good Christian boys shouldn't kiss girls like you? So WWAD—What Would A Do? I won't confess your sins if you don't confess mine. XX, A