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A tall man in a tweed jacket with patches on the elboalked by next That wasn’t encouraging

But she had to go through with this Rolling her shoulders, she stepped out of the car and started toward the double doors Earlier today, she’d called the hospital asking if she could visit Iris Taylor The nurse had said that Iris could have visitors in the afternoon, so Emily knew that Iris was still a patient But when E Iris had been at The Preserve--she wanted to rule her out as Ali’s helper--the nurse wouldn’t give her any inforust of wind slithered down Emily’s back and lifted her coattails Before she went inside, she picked up her new phone and, after a pause, logged onto Twitter Yeah, it was breaking the no-Internet rule, but she had to check There was her prom invitation and note, but no one had responded or retweeted What made Emily think Jordan had even seen it?

She shut her eyes and tried to i at an Italian café in big sunglasses? Lounging on a deserted beach in the tropics? She longed to be stirring her coffee next to her or splashing her with sea foa, it physically hurt

Sighing heavily, she trudged inside the reeted her with a big smile "I’m here to see Iris Taylor," Emily said "I’m Heather Murphy" It was her default name; she’d used it when she was a waitress at the seafood restaurant on Penn’s Landing the suiven her baby to, only knew her as Heatheruntil A got involved, that was

The woesture of her arm, she directed E herself, and shuddered at the heavy click of the bolt on the door that separated the lobby froe carpet, and sh pealed fro the other direction When she caught E, she stared back at her blankly "Boo!" she shouted Ehed

Emily pulled open the double doors to the dayroom The same faux-cheerful construction-paper balloons and stars were on the walls frosaw puzzles were stacked on a shelf, and there were a few books on an industrial-looking n on top of the TV read NO CABLE

When Eirls, all dressed in white paja that Eirl who had a visible bald spot atteriirl lowered her head and muttered Emily looked around for Kelsey, but she didn’t see her anywhere She’d been too nervous to ask the nurse if Kelsey was still here

Then Eirl with ice-blond hair in the corner Sheher throat, Ehed , knowing look

"Your nah voice Her white pajama bottoms inched down her hips when she stood "You were one of her friends, weren’t you?" She moved closer Her breath smelled like sour candy "That bitch who stole Alison’s life"

E at her, but she didn’t want to give theht, I’m Emily," she said "I was Courtney’s friend" It was still weird to call Their Ali Courtney "And I heard you were Ali’s friend--and roommate I have a couple of questions about her Is there somewhere we could talk in private?"

Iris crossed her arms over her chest For a ed "I don’t knohat I can tell you about her, but sure Let’s talk"

Then she turned on her heel and headed for the door E eyes on her back She wondered if they were even allowed to leave the dayroom, but there were no nurses around, no one to stop them

Iris padded down a hall and opened a door near the fire exit Inside were two unmade twin beds One side had posters of teen bands on the wall--Justin Bieber and a few Disney Channel stars--and an assortment of pink stuffed animals on the bed The other side was bare and ieneric side and glanced disdainfully at the Bieber posters "My new rooreen eyes turned back to Emily "So? Why do you want to know about Ali?"

Emily perched on a scratchy corduroy chair "I think she’s still alive"

Iris snorted "Bullshit She was trapped inside an exploding house"

"Maybe not"

Iris crossed her legs Her bony knees poked through the fabric of the pajamas "Do the cops know this?"

Emily shook her head "We wanted to try to find her ourselves"

"Why?"

Eital clock across the room How could she make this sound innocuous? Iris didn’t see inside that house, then she’d probably also heard that Real Ali had tormented them as A Why else would they want to find her except to stop her forever? This was Iris’s friend E about She wouldn’t want to sell her out

"Forget it, I don’t really care," Iris said, as if sensing the reason for Eht came on in her eyes She inched closer to Eh Iris was sy

"So what do you want to know?" Iris asked "I could tell you all sorts of things about her"

"Really?" Ehter