Free All the Little Liars by Charlaine Harris

unpredictability.
    â€œSo you haven’t heard from any of them since Phillip’s text?” Robin asked.
    â€œNo,” Sarah said. “I mean, no sir.”
    I saved that for later. Robin rated a “sir,” which meant either he looked more formidable than I did, or he looked older than I did.
    â€œSarah, thanks so much for coming over and filling us in on the situation,” I said.
    â€œMy dad didn’t want me to,” Sarah said. “But my mom thought it was only right.”
    â€œI can see both their points of view,” Robin said diplomatically. “But I know when we get Phillip back, he’ll be grateful.”
    She grinned. “Well, I hope so. On both counts. Oh, before I forget, I passed another car coming into the parking lot when I was pulling out. At the soccer field.”
    â€œWho was in it?” I asked.
    For the first time, Sarah hesitated. “I’m not sure,” she said slowly. “And I don’t want to get anyone in trouble. Not with something this big.”
    I tried coaxing the information out of Sarah by telling her I wouldn’t tell anyone else, but she had dug her feet in. She didn’t want to implicate anyone who might have a legitimate reason to be at the soccer field that afternoon.
    Sarah left, and I watched her go, feeling bleak. But better informed.
    â€œSo,” Robin said, after the door closed. “Did this bullying of Liza have something to do with their disappearance, or not?”
    â€œYou mean, is that the right track or a diversion?” I shook my head. “I don’t know, but it’s all we’ve got. Do you think the police know all of this?”
    â€œWhy wouldn’t the Scotts let them know?” Robin said. “But then, why didn’t they explain it to us? Why didn’t they let us know that Liza was actually with Joss when she got in the car? It seems to me that Phillip being there was simply random.”
    â€œI don’t think I can call them up and say, ‘Why the hell didn’t you tell us all this?’ right now,” I said. I tried the idea on for size, and shook my head. “I just can’t.”
    â€œThey already feel as bad as they can,” Robin agreed after a moment, and I couldn’t tell whether he was hinting that such a phone call could not make them feel any worse, or that we should not add to their bad feelings. Either way, I wasn’t going to make the call. I was definitely out of the school loop for gossip, and my mother was, too. She liked the Scotts; she would certainly have told me about the persecution of Liza.
    I sat on the couch beside Robin and put my head on his shoulder. Poor Liza. The cruelty of children could not be denied. They were pack animals, or at least some of them were. I remembered we were going to have one of these for our very own, and I promised myself that we would bring up our child to be better than that. It really bothered me that Phillip had a problem he hadn’t had a chance to tell me about. Had it been Liza’s crush? But I was so tired …
    The next thing I knew, Robin was putting my feet up on the couch. And then, though I struggled to wake up, I sank back down into sleep.
    *   *   *
    It was daytime. The sun was just peeking through the front windows. My eyes felt glued shut, but I managed to pry them open and look around me. I was still in the same clothes I’d worn the day before, and there was a blanket spread over me. Robin was asleep in one of the chairs, and the house phone was ringing. I struggled to sit up, but Robin suddenly erupted from the chair as if a puppeteer had yanked his strings, and he grabbed the phone from the table between us. “Hello?” he said hoarsely.
    â€œYes, this is he,” he said next. “What happened?”
    Then something terrible passed over Robin’s face, and all the sleep left me as if I’d never closed my eyes. I tossed