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Cam. I want to tell him that he doesn’t have to worry about that, that my mom is already making sure I can’t have any contact with Cam. I tell myself I don’t want to talk to Cam anyway. Let Kaci take care of him.
    “So how did you find the car exactly?” I ask. I want to press the officer on what’s going on with Cam, but I know to do that will make me seem suspicious.
    “We didn’t,” the officer says. “A man brought it to your house.”
    “A man brought it to our house?”
    My mom nods. “He found it parked on some side street in Maine, and he knew it was abandoned. He called and offered to drive it here. So of course I said okay.”
    I shake my head, because that makes no sense. “A man found it? And he didn’t call the police?”
    “He wanted to drive it here. He was being polite. He said he’d been looking for an excuse to come to Santa Anna anyway. Apparently he’s going to be moving here for a job and is trying to get to know the area.”
    “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I say. There’s a sick feeling in my stomach. I turn to the policeman. “What is she talking about?”
    “Apparently the person who found the car drove it here,” Officer Peabody says.
    “And then he and your mom called the police.”
    “And you didn’t think that was a little strange?”
    “It’s not normal protocol,” the officer admits. “But your mother called us as soon as the car got here.”
    “Is he a suspect in the theft of the car?” I ask.
    “We haven’t determined that the car was actual stolen,” Officer Peabody says.
    “Since nothing was taken.”
    “You haven’t determined it was actually stolen?” My voice is rising and I force myself to keep a handle on my emotions. “Okay,” I say slowly. “So where is the man who found the car?”
    “He went inside to use the bathroom,” my mom says happily, like it’s completely normal that she’d just let a stranger into our house unaccompanied.
    “Oh, Mom,” I say. “You didn’t.”
    The sound of the front door opening echoes across the yard, seemingly reverberating through my ears. I know who it is even before I turn around.
    “Hello,” Reed says, smiling. “You must be Natalia.”

    DON’T MISS BOOK NINETEEN OF THE WITCHES OF SANTA ANNA, COMING SOON
    AND TURN THE PAGE FOR A SNEAK PEEK OF AARON
    GORVINE’S NEW NOVEL, THE FAMILY, AVAILABLE NOW…
    THE FAMILY
    By Aaron Gorvine
    © 2012, All Rights Reserved.
    UNO (1)
    My best friend is dying in the woods.
    He’s lying there on the ground, surrounded by a dark red patch of dirt and leaves.
    His face is waxen and pale, as if he were never alive in the first place.
    A gust of wind rocks the trees and ruffles my hair. I look around and see only trees and bushes, dirt and leaves. But no movement, not even a bird stirs in the branches, as if Jay’s death has scared every living thing from this place.
    It’s all very Miller’s Crossing. Jay didn’t like Miller’s Crossing as much as he liked Goodfellas or Scarface, or the mother of them all, The Godfather. He studied those films the way history nerds study famous battles. He made us study them, too. We discussed and dissected scenes, dialogue, attitude. Learned to emulate the characters we admired.
    To the north, in the distance, I can just make out our school, the flagpole, the baseball diamond. Barett field, where the football games are played. Jay will never walk across that field again, because he died in this clearing. He’ll never put on another helmet, never make another dig at someone else’s expense, or throw his arm around me and tell me I did good. This is real.
    I kneel down and check his pulse. The carotid artery in the neck. I remember from health class, that’s the proper place to check. There’s nothing, not even a glimmer.
    Jay’s eyes are glassy, shriveled somehow, like overripe grapes. His jaw is slack, teeth protruding unnaturally from his mouth in a kind of grimace.
    I remember his car. And my laptop