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Another otten A Reykjavik cab had picked theht hoe chateau on the hill Police cars surrounded the place Cops stood on the driveway, and sirens whirled Aria sluht at it, fascinated "Huh," he had said in the croaky voice fro "I wonder what happened there" And then he’d looked pointedly at Aria

But he couldn’t have known Right?

She sed a huge lump in her throat and went back inside the house The stairs creaked noisily as she climbed back to her bedroo into tears at the two unfinished plates of food on the table She walked over to the closet, whipped the door open, pushed the sweatshirts aside, and stared at the rolled-up canvas If only she could just burn it

A square wallet on her desk caught her eye, and she straightened It wasn’t hers, but she kneell She picked it up, tracing the embossed NAK--Noel Alexander Kahn Noel always took his wallet out of his back pocket when they made out--it was otten it before And Aria had never looked through it

Don’t, she told herself But her hands inched toward it anyway

The wallet made a squeaky-leather sound as she opened it Inside the pockets were two credit cards, Noel’s driver’s license, a couple of twenties, and soles His student ID was tucked into a back slot So was a free pass to the Rosewood Go-Kart track and a receipt from Wordsmith’s Books for a coffee

Aria stared at the ceiling, suddenly feeling oily and gross Noel wasn’t hiding anything This was just A being A and ruining everything

But then she noticed a faded ticket stub behind the bills THE WOODS CINEMA, it read in purple ink Aria had never heard of it before The stub was a pass to a Spider-Man movie Aria frowned The latest Spider-Man had come out the last summer she was in Iceland--before junior year Why would Noel keep this?

She turned the stub over There was faded handwriting on the back, but Aria could stillin et the popcorn

The note was punctuated by a little doodle At first, it looked like just a blob, but when Aria brought it into the light, it was of a girl playing field hockey, her hands curled around a stick, the ball shooting through the air Aria sank onto the bed She’d seen this exact doodle before--on soiven it accidentally, and she’d hidden it in her room ever since

It had been Ali’s

20

The Sting

That sa and sunglasses, paced back and forth in front of a Philly brownstone near the Schuylkill River Boats honked A double-decker bus full of tourists in faux Ben Franklin glasses and Liberty Bell sweatshirts swept by Rain had just fallen, and the air smelled like slick cement and exhaust She checked her school e- off soe had co to see you at your house yesterday, but e Can we try for tomorrow? Sincerely, Jasmine Fuji

Bile filled her stomach Yesterday, she’d taken special care not to be anywhere near her house around four PM, when Agent Fuji said she was going to oh-so-casually drop by She’d treated Mr Pennythistle, herJames Mall so they wouldn’t be hoe her forever

"Boo," a voice said Spencer whirled around and put up her fists

"Justaway

"Don’t do that" Spencer gave him a playful shove Then she examined him more closely Today, he wore skinny-ish jeans, a button-down polo, and a down vest that h Was it possible he looked even better than he had the last time she’d seen him? Spencer had been thrilled when he’d sent her an IM yesterday saying, My connection at CVS found an address for Barbara Rogers in their system 2560 Spruce Street, Apt 4B, 4 PM tomorrow?

She looked at the brownstone "Nohat do we do?"

"Knock on her door," Chase said ave him a crazy look "Are we sure she even lives here?"

"Let’s check" He climbed the steps and looked at the naers listed"

"It could be an outdated directory," Spencer suggested "Or maybe she’s not on the lease"

"Let’s buzz" Chase reached toward the 4B button

Spencer caught his ar"

Chase squinted at her "Then how are we going to get into the building?"

At that very moment, the red door opened, and an old man hite hair walked out Spencer tried to catch it, but the door banged shut and locked behind hiers’s niece Can you let"Never heard of her" He shuffled down the stairs

Spencer exchanged a look with Chase So "Are you sure?" she called after the ," he called over his shoulder, practically diving into a parked Audi In seconds, he started the engine and pulled away from the curb Black exhaust sputtered out of the tailpipe

Chase climbed down the steps and stood by Spencer "Oh-kaaay"