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her warily. "Why are you glaring at me like that? You don't want to be Nancy Drew?"
    "Oh, I do, I do," Emily told her as she hauled her butt out of the plump couch cushions. "It's just that sometimes, even though you're my oldest friend and might-as-well-be sister, I really hate you."
    Gabby didn't even bat an eye. "You don't hate me—you hate running. Hate the game, not the player." This time the pillow hit its mark—right between Gabby's eyes.

CHAPTER FOUR
     
    Emily yawned so big her jaw cracked. She groped blindly in the fridge for her morning hit of caffeine. Popping the top, she glugged deeply. "Rough night?" a voice asked right next to her ear. Emily's eyes flew open and she saw Tad smirking at her. As usual, he was dressed in khakis with a crease so crisp it could slice paper. Today's button-down shirt was a deep blue that reminded Emily of ocean waves and starry skies. The color made Tad's eyes look even bluer than usual. Not that she noticed, of course. The same way she didn't want to reach up and brush his perennially too-long hair back from those gorgeous blue eyes. Okay, obviously she needed more caffeine. She gulped greedily from the can again, not bothering to answer Tad's question.
    Dropping down on the top of the small conference table in the teachers' lounge, Tad patted the space beside him. Emily swatted his legs aside and settled in a chair instead. "I can't believe you don't know how to sit in a chair correctly," she told him.
    Tad didn't budge. "Talk, Pit. Did you see the news last night? How're you doing?"
    Emily stared into her now-empty can as if offended that it dared to be empty. "Yeah, I was at Gabby's. I stayed later than I planned because I couldn't bear going home, knowing that Helen wouldn't be next door. But I got to help with the twins' baths and then bedtime stories, so it was worth the late night." Tad smiled—he too had a soft spot for those little girls. What Emily didn't tell him was how she had cowered under her covers, even after double- and triple-checking the lock on every door and window. Somewhere around 1:00 a.m., she had finally managed to get engrossed in a mystery she had been waiting to read. She didn't know when she finally dropped off to sleep, but it felt like only seconds before her alarm was blaring. Emily loathed alarms with a passion that was rivaled only by her hatred of running.
    "Oh, and get this," she told Tad. "Gabby called me at 6:00 this morning so that we could go for a run."
    Tad practically snorted soda out of his nose. He well knew Emily's aversion to running, as he had tried to talk her into going with him several times too. "What'd you tell her?"
    "That I would run when running shoes came in heels."
    "And…" Tad prompted.
    "She hung up on me," Emily admitted.
    "So why running today? Special occasion?"
    Emily debated how much to tell him, then decided he'd find out the truth eventually anyway. "We've decided that we have to find Helen. We know she's not guilty. Our plan is to visit Serenity Falls after school to see what we can find out. That's the nursing home where Helen's mother is a resident."
    Tad frowned. "Be careful, Em. There's a murderer out there."
    Emily grimaced. "As if I need to be reminded."
    Tad stood and held out a hand to help her up. "Better head to the gym. The bell's gonna ring any minute." As they headed out, he added, "You still didn't tell me why you were going running. Conditioning for outrunning the bad guys?"
    Emily attempted to bump his shoulder but got his arm instead. For the millionth time, she wished she were taller. "No, it's so I can fit into Nancy Drew's pencil skirts."
    Tad looked Emily up and down. Emily tried not to maintain eye contact, but the unmistakable heat in Tad's eyes made it difficult. "I like you just fine in what you have on, Pit."
     Now Emily looked down, taking stock of her outfit for the day—slim black pants, a tawny-colored sweater tunic, and leopard print heels, of course.
    "Do I get to be a Hardy