Page 79 of No Place Left to Hide

With her gone, her accomplices will either be tracked down and arrested for their part in tonight, or they’ll have no choice but to back off after their little plan cost Jena her life.

As soon as I find a goddamned rock. Seriously, it shouldn’t be this hard. I look around, weighing my options. Maybe there’s something inthe car I can use. Or I could smash her head against the door until she’s out… That sounds really unpleasant though.

Oh!I have a car full of canned goods. I start back toward the Subaru.

That food drive is saving my ass over and over tonight.

That one lone headlight blinds me until I’m on the other side of the car, but when I come around Jena’s door, she’s no longer lying on the ground.

Panic slices through me and I duck to look inside. It’s empty.

“Jena?” I yell, spinning in a circle to look behind me. My voice echoes again and again across the open field.

Where thefuckdid she go?

I spin around, walking faster now, circling the back of the car. “Jena!”

I look from the road to the car, to the trees at the back and side of the field. She’s nowhere out in the open, but I can’t fathom how she would have been able to make it all the way to the trees so fast. It doesn’t make any sense, but there’s nowhere else she could be.

My phone beeps in my hand.

Jena’s name appears on the screen.

I frown, totally confused. First of all, how the hell is she texting me when her phone is lost at the beach somewhere? Second of all, what is this, agame? I don’t have fucking time for this.

When I tap open the thread, the remnants of our friendship fill the screen. Our texts from earlier today take on a new, more sinister meaning now.

12:19 p.m.

Did you hear about Beau’s party? ????

Hello?

We should drive together. I don’t think my car will make it. ??

12:23 p.m.

If you’re ignoring me on purpose, it won’t work. I know where you live. ???

3:02 p.m.

I mean it. We’re going to that party.

?????????

Wait for me in the parking lot after school!

And there at the bottom:

12:31 a.m.

No hard feelings, okay?

I’m confused and irritated at the same time. Is she trying to be funny? Is this a last laugh situation? And seriously, did she have her phone the whole fucking drive? Is someone else texting me from her number?

My phone pings again.

12:32 a.m.

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