Free The Good Girls by Sara Shepard

aren’t on it. It doesn’t prove anything.”
    â€œWhat happened to the legal pad?” Caitlin asked. “Do you know?”
    Julie tried to think, but they’d been in such a rush to get out of there when Mr. Granger surprised them by returning home so soon. “I’m not sure,” she admitted.
    Parker looked confused, too. “I thought I grabbed it, but I have no idea where it could have gone.”
    â€œWhich means it’s still out there somewhere.” Ava looked worried. “The police could have found it in Granger’s house. Or someone else could have it now. The person who actually killed Granger.”
    Mac had flopped back onto the bed while they talked, her dirty blond hair splayed out around her. “Guys,” she said, “we’re getting worked up over nothing. Parker’s dad’s death has nothing to do with this—with us. He was probably a prime target considering what he did to Parker. I mean, aren’t people who hurt their kids usually ganged up on in prison? This is the last thing we should worry about. And how impossible would it be forsomeone in high school to arrange to have a prisoner killed?”
    â€œShe’s probably right,” Julie said.
    â€œYeah.” Caitlin pulled her arms inside her sweatshirt and hugged herself. “Sorry I brought it up.”
    â€œIt’s fine,” Mac said, squeezing her arm. “It’s good to think about all the angles. But right now, we should be looking at the bright side in all this. It sucks that Alex was arrested, but it means we’re okay. We can put this all behind us.”
    â€œYou’re right,” Julie said softly. They should be thrilled and happy and relieved right now, not worrying about random, crazy theories that didn’t make sense. They weren’t going to jail. Parker was still with her. She had good friends, too—friends who cared about her, no matter what.
    And maybe that was all they needed right now. But as she sat back, she couldn’t help saying one more thing. “Coincidence or not, I’m really glad Markus Duvall is dead.”

CHAPTER SEVEN
    WEDNESDAY NIGHT, MAC STOOD IN front of her bedroom mirror, holding up a brand-new dress patterned with splashy vibrant peonies. Her mother had presumably bought it that afternoon, and she’d laid it on her bed with a note that said, Wear me tonight! Mac wrinkled her nose. With Mac’s chunky, dark-framed glasses and wild, untamed blond hair, it made her look half librarian, half Little House on the Prairie— in other words, totally not cool. Why couldn’t she just wear jeans? Was the Juilliard party that fancy?
    But maybe it was. It was the official Juilliard welcome event for Washington State, after all. And she was excited about meeting some of her new classmates.
    She was less excited about coming face-to-face with Claire.
    Mac hadn’t seen Claire all week. She’d been avoidingher at school, going down different hallways if she knew their paths would cross, opting for the library during lunch. She’d even considered ditching orchestra, but strangely, Claire hadn’t been there at all. Normally it would have been a big deal, but practice was optional this week, since the orchestra was just learning a series of new pieces and not really rehearsing for anything in particular. Mac wondered if Claire was avoiding her, too.
    And she’d been avoiding Blake, as well—every time she saw him in the halls, she ducked into a classroom so they wouldn’t have to see each other. As for that gummy-worm cupcake, she’d let Sierra eat it, never telling her where it had come from. She’d watched numbly as Sierra licked the icing off her finger, declining even the tiniest bite. And that card Blake had given her? Mac had thrown it in the glove compartment of her car, along with expired insurance cards and a bunch of outdated road maps. She hoped she’d come