CHAPTER SIX
"Why did you take this sheet?" Melissa asked, her voice laced with annoyance.
"There's blood on it." Garret explained. "I didn't want them testing the DNA."
"Who's blood?" Melissa asked after spotting the stains.
"Probably S-"
"Emily's." Ian interrupted before sending a look to Garret that said shut the fuck up. "Jason stabbed her." He explained. "Look, Melissa, don't worry about any of this. I'll take care of it." He smiled and put a hand to her stomach. "Can't be good for the baby to worry right?"
"No." Melissa smiled before kissing his cheek. "Keeping this baby safe is the most important thing to me now."
"Me too." He kissed her back. "I'll finish up while you go get lunch."
The smile fell from Ian's face the moment Melissa's back was through the door.
"Her parents didn't tell her what you did?" Garret asked in disbelief.
"Not yet."
"Yeah, dude, not yet. She's gonna find out you know that right."
"Look, me and Melissa have an understanding. She knew I was fucking Alison and she won't care that I fucked Spencer. But if D's plan works, I won't have to bring it up at all or I can at last deny it and that's better for everyone." Ian casually explained. "You fixed that rape report right."
"No D had to do it since I got caught up at Jason's house." Garret said and then stuck his hand back in the duffel back. He then pulled out a gun.
"That Jason's?" Ian asked.
"Yep."
"Is it registered?"
"No." Garret shook his head. "He said he would have used this to get rid of the girls that night."
"You talked to Jason?" Ian asked, surprised. "When?"
"Today actually. They needed someone to follow up with Jason and I volunteered. Convenient right."
"Hell yeah. Man I hate that we have to cool it for a while. We have such a good thing going and with two cops on the inside we are untouchable."
"Don't worry. It's only for a little while. They've been arrested for breaking and entering. It's only a matter of time. Once those bitches go down for her murder we'll be off scot free. They'll be no one else who can prove it was one of us."
Miles away, A sat back in a chair and smiled. After hearing a 'see you later man' followed by a door closing, A took out the ear phones and turned off the recording.
They scheduled the arraignment for the next afternoon. The Montgomery's and Pam were surprised they were meeting at the police station instead of the courthouse but Veronica explained that was a good sign.
The Marin's and the Hastings' were already at the station when Aria and Emily arrived. The police officer led them into the conference room.
All the girls' heads hung low after they took their seats and waited for their fate.
Alavez and the prosecutor walked in right after Byron and Ella. Alavez had a stack of folders under the crook of his arm and he spread them out on the table before taking his seat. It was quiet for a moment. He was mostly staring at the girls one by one running down the line. He settled on Spencer in the end.
"We got an anonymous recording." He began. The girls immediately looked up and stiffened upon hearing his words. "On the package it had a date and said to check a certain call so we went back and listened to the 911 call that Ms. Marin made from her cell phone in the car a few weeks ago," he said, opening a folder. It looked like he pulled out a transcript. "Ms. Marin never spoke, but after we enhanced the tape and isolated the background noises we heard the same thing we heard on the anonymous recording. It was the voice of Ms. Hastings." he nodded at Spencer. "From what we could tell, Spencer's phone dialed one of your phones and you had her on speaker. When we isolated the noise, we were able to hear most of the conversation between Mr. Thomas and Ms. Hastings. Some was, of course, too distorted and inaudible but," his voice was gravely and rough. He cleared his throat and peered at the papers through his old eye glasses. "we have determined that Ms. Hastings was telling the truth, at the very least, that Mr. Thomas was attempting to hurt her the night in question."
Everyone except the prosecutor and Alavez gasped in relief. But all of them didn't feel very free for long; they were all thinking the same thing. Would this be enough to drop the charges of breaking and entering?
No one voiced any questions so Alavez continued. "From the phone call, we can, with certainty, say that on that night Ian was hurting Spencer. I can't comfortably say murder-"
"Her screaming and begging him not to do it wasn't enough for you?" snapped Hannah.
"Hannah, please." Mrs. Marin said. "What do we do now, officer?"
"As of now, we are placing a warrant in Ian Thomas' name for the assault of Spencer Hastings."
"What about what else he did to her!" Pam asked. Everyone tried not to but all their eyes eventually landed on Spencer. Spencer's eyes moved back down to the table. Intellectually she knew what Ian did to her wasn't her fault but she couldn't help the surge of embarrassment she felt from everyone in the room knowing what happened. "And Jason, can he be arrested too?" Pam continued.
"To be perfectly honest ma'am, no." Alavez sighed, well aware of the tension in the room. What happened at the bell tower is being treated as separate from what happened at Jason DiLaurentis' house at least for now."
"So wait, are the girls still being arraigned for breaking and entering?" Veronica asked.
Alavez sighed again. He wasn't sure how much he was ready to lay on the table. They had theories that pointed to the girls being the one to kill Alison DiLaurentis but that was before they listened to the 911 call. Sure the girls broke into Jason's house but they were honest about that. It stood to reason that the rest of what they said was true too. Thomas was being suspicious by refusing to speak about anything including where he had disappeared to after the bell tower and why he suddenly reappeared. But that was his right. There was no evidence of Thomas from the rape kit and the videos the girls claimed he made didn't link Ian Thomas to Alison either. There was no proof he made those videos at all. They had to let Ian go.
But now that they had proof he assaulted Spencer Hastings once, he would have a motive to go after her again which meant the girls' version of events at the DiLaurentis house was more likely the true one. Like he said before, they were the key. He had them all in front of him now so now was the time to get their truth. He suspected that even though they were not lying about the big picture, they were lying about some things that they feared would get them in trouble. The breaking and entering charge had to hang over their head in order to get them to talk.
"I'm not going to give your girls false hope. Breaking and entering is still on the table." Alavez looked back at Spencer. "But we're going to take your accusations against Ian seriously, make no misunderstanding. The night of the incident at the bell tower, you said Ian confessed to killing your friend, Allison."
"Yes, that's what I said." Spencer answered softly, her eyes still downcast. Aria, Hannah, and Emily shared a look. They knew Spencer was struggling. She wasn't ready to say Melissa killed Allison. They were hoping that would come from Ian and Jason since they had no proof.
"What else did you hear on the tape?" Hanna blurted out. Aria shot her a look.
"The tape was primarily Ms. Hastings screaming for help and conversing with Mr. Thomas. A lot of the audio was garbled," he passed the transcript to Spencer's mom. "We have enough to know that Spencer's life was threatened. It's enough to corroborate most of her story." Alavez looked back at Spencer. "If you could recap the night for us,"
"How many times do I have to tell you?" Spencer said tiredly.
"Please." Alavez added not un-immune to how broken the girl in front of him looked. But everything about this case rested on veracity. He needed to hear if the story stayed the same or if any other clues surfaced.
Spencer sighed and looked up for the first time before beginning. "I went to the church to find Melissa's phone. He..Ian snuck up behind me." God she hated saying his name. "I tried to tell him that Melissa was hurt and in the hospital and he told me he knew. He told me he was waiting for me to leave. He chased me. I ran up into the stairwell because it was the only place that was left to go. As I was going up the stairs, I called Emily. That's how you got the call."
"And I called 911," Hanna said quietly. "Right after we heard Ian's voice. We knew what was happening."
"Do you recall what Ian said?" Alavez asked while looking at his notes.
"She told him that her mom knew she was there," said Aria.
"And he said it was the perfect place for her suicide." finished Emily. The night stuck in the girl's mind like glue.
"We struggled on the platform. He told me I had to kill Alison. He told me it was an accident and that she fell." Spencer could feel the walls closing in on her. Reliving the night in her dreams was bad enough. Now having it blend in with the night Ian raped her was becoming too much for her. The pain of Ian strangling her only a few days ago was resurfacing causing her throat to burn with every word she spoke. Underneath the table she gripped the handle of her purse. The feel of the leather straps oddly comforting especially since she knew inside the purse was something that would make most of the pain and memories of those nights go away for a while.
"And then?" Alavez prompted when Spencer stopped talking for over a minute. Her eyes darted back up to the officer.
"He told me he left a note on my computer," she murmured, her voice more raspy than usual. "It was a suicide note. It said that the guilt was just too much for me and I couldn't handle it. It said that I killed Alison. I checked my computer later to see if the note was there, but it wasn't. Either it got erased or he was planning on doing it after my death, I don't know. He pushed me against the banister and it broke. He said he was doing it because he loved Melissa. I fell and managed to hold onto both the railing and Ian. He yelled at me to let go and that was when someone else showed up. Ian acted surprised, like he knew them, and whoever it was pushed Ian. I struggled and pulled myself up. I looked down and Ian was swinging from ropes. I thought he was dead. Hanna, Emily and Aria got there right after that. They found me upstairs and helped me."
"Look," Alavez loosened his tie and smiled meekly at Spencer. "We got him on the assault charge, at least. But so far there's no proof that backs up your story about what happened at Jason DiLaurentis' house."
"What about the videos!" Hannah cried.
Alavez shook his head before opening a box on the table. He pulled out a flash drive and a small digital video tape. "Nothing on this drive corroborates what you told us that night in the hospital."
"No." Emily said suddenly. "That's not the drive I took from Jason's. Maybe when you copied it over some of the footage didn't transfer."
"This is the only flash drive we found in your belongings. And it matches what's on this tape from the camera we pulled from your closet." Alavez explained looking at Spencer.
The girls' mouths dropped open in surprise before looking at each other. The same thought then ran through all their heads and they wanted to scream in frustration.
A did this. A replaced the flash drive and planted the camera in Spencer's closet.
"No." Emily shook her head. "That's not the flash drive I took. It was red and we heard Ali on it after Jason...we heard her." Emily said as tears leaked from her eyes. The other girls nodded.
"And I don't have a video camera." Spencer added.
"We've never seen her use one." Veronica spoke up.
"And my daughter wouldn't lie." Pam also came to the girls' defense.
"The forensic sexual assault exam report was inconclusive." He said ignoring both mothers.
Veronica closed her eyes and then opened them. "Let me see it."
"Veronica, maybe now is not the time for-" Peter Hastings began.
"Now is the perfect time to get to the bottom of this, Peter." Veronica raged, not at him but at the situation. "When Spencer's room was searched the first time, they thought she killed Allison, no camera was found. When they said they found fibers from Toby's shirt, I knew then someone was trying to frame her. Now they search her room again and find a camera with a tape that matches the flash drive the police have that has no proof on it. Emily is saying the drive you have is different from the one she found at Jason's. And where have her clothes been since that night? Here at the police station."
"Wait a minute, what are you saying?" Alavez interrupted. "You think someone here is framing them."
"It would certainly explain a lot." Veronica stated while glaring at Alavez.
Several minutes passed with no one speaking. Instead they were either in their own head contemplating what Veronica Hastings said or looking around the room at each other trying to see if the person they looked at found her explanation plausible.
"Why would someone here want to frame these girls?" Alavez asked the million-dollar question.
"Why does anyone try to frame someone, officer?" Veronica responded. "When the police thought the girls were trying to frame Ian, what was your next move? Who moved up on the suspect list for Allison's killer?"
"That is a very serious accusation, Mrs. Hastings."
"Let me see the report." Veronica replied slowly making sure she enunciated every word.
Alavez exhaled in annoyance before pushing the file over to her. She reached between Emily and Spencer and grabbed it off the table before moving to a corner of the room to look at it. She didn't want anyone reading over her shoulder and seeing what her daughter suffered through that night.
A passerby would be amazed to look in and see how many people were in the room. No one talked, moved. They barely breathed. The only sound heard was Veronica Hastings furiously flipping through pages.
Less than 3 minutes later she slammed the report back on the table. "What the hell is this?"
"What do you mean?" Alavez asked, genuinely confused by the question.
"The only correct information on this report is the top half of the first page that has her name, the date of the assault, where it happened, who she said did it, and whether or not she went to the bathroom afterwards." Veronica continued furiously. "I was there, officer. I sat in that room with my baby girl and saw and heard everything that monster did to her." Peter moved closer to his wife while everyone else stared at her in shock. "And none of that is in this report." Veronica grabbed the folder back up and turned a few pages before slamming it back down. "Look at the body map." She continued. "It's blank." Alavez peered at the diagram and scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. "My daughter's stomach is covered in bruises, her rib is broken, her thighs are bruised. Look at her neck!" Alavez did as he was told and saw the discoloration on Spencer's neck where her hair wasn't covering. "Why aren't these injuries notated on the diagram?" Alavez looked down at the diagram again and then back up at Spencer. "I guess whoever did this really didn't think Ian would get arrested because they couldn't even be bothered to handle the photographs properly."
"What photographs?" Alavez said as he quickly flipped through the pages of the report but finding none.
"Yeah." Veronica let out a humorless laugh. "What photographs indeed. There are none but the idiot who doctored this report forgot to change the part that says 'photographs taken, from yes to no." She pointed out on the report.
"A cop in this department is trying to frame our daughters." Byron spoke up after several minutes of stunned silence. "What are you going to do about that officer?"
"Alright listen." Alavez said before lowering his voice. "This has to stay between us for now." He mentally cringed as he looked around at the amount of people in the room, he was expecting to keep a secret including the prosecutor. "I've got to turn this over to internal affairs and it could take weeks before they can dig up who's behind this. In the meantime, we are going to issue a warrant for Ian Thomas' arrest. Do you know where he is now?"
"Yes." Peter answered. "He's at our place in Bucks County with my other daughter."
"With enough pressure on him, he may tell us who in this department is trying to frame your daughters."
"Pressure, officer, no deals. He is not going to get away with what he did to Spencer in exchange for a lighter sentence in some plea bargain." The steel in Veronica's voice leaving no room for argument.
Alavez nodded and then stood. "I'm going to call IA right now. You're free to go." He left the room quickly.
Everyone looked around at each other for a moment before beginning to file out of the room. The girls looked around at each other and the empty conference room unsure of what even just happened. But then their phones went off.
You're welcome. And there's more where that came from.
A…
"What does this mean?" Aria cut the silence. "'A's the anonymous person who gave the cops the recording of that night in the bell tower?"
"Guys," Spencer said quietly. So quietly, that none of them heard her. Hanna spoke next, completely oblivious to the fact that Spencer said anything at all.
"Of course. That's such an A move. Question is why?"
"Guys-" Spencer said again. Again, she was ignored.
"It doesn't make sense. This helped us. We are all thinking A was the one that switched the drive and planted the camera in Spencer's closet." Emily ranted. She then shook her head and sat back in her chair before continuing less frantically. "But what am I thinking? A gives so A can take away. I'm sure this serves their grand plan somehow." She then stood abruptly and snatched her bag off the floor, annoyance and frustration coloring every movement. As she made to exit the room, Spencer grabbed her arm. Emily flinched.
"Sorry, Em." Spencer muttered. "Just wait guys, please." Spencer seemed spacey. She was staring at the wall passively. She then grabbed up a marker from the table and Alavez' notebook. The girls gathered closer as she began furiously writing. "There may be reporters out there now and I just can't deal with that. Can we stay here a little while longer?" She said but this is what she wrote.
Our phones are bugged. A is using them to listen to our conversations. Put them in the box and let's quietly leave them so I can explain.
"Sure, Spence, we can sit here a while longer." Aria caught on. "My head is killing me after all this."
"Mine too." Spencer nodded while motioning her hand towards herself to say keep going.
"Yeah this was too much. I feel like my brain is being trampled by an elephant." Hannah added.
"Reporters would be too much to deal with on top of this. Let's just put our heads down and take some deep breaths." Emily added while opening the box Alavez had left and quietly placing her phone in it. The other girls added theirs to the box and then stealthy stood up and left the room. They avoided their parents by dashing into the closest restroom and shutting the door.
"We don't have a long time." Spencer began immediately. "But it's the only thing that makes sense as to why A can be everywhere. When I was with Toby spying on Jenna in that hotel room, I had downloaded an app that turned my phone into a listening device. A must have done the same thing at some point."
"You're right Spence." Aria agreed. "I used to think that I never let my phone out of sight, but A is relentless. She or he could have broken into our lockers during gym or even our houses while we were sleeping to get at our phones."
"I think A was the one that sent the police to Jason's that night. Think about it who else could have called them?" Spencer continued when she was met with doubtful looks. "None of us had a chance to and why would Jason or Ian?"
"So, you think A heard what was happening at that house and knew we were in trouble?" Emily said.
"Guys, they were going to kill us." Spencer explained. "They said it enough times and if A was listening, he, she, knew we were in real danger."
"Like the bell tower." Hannah offered.
"Exactly."
"So, A saved our lives and yours again, Spencer." Hannah said. "I just wish A would have called sooner before-"
"I know." Spencer cut in.
"So we know A doesn't want us dead because they like playing with us too much but does that mean they don't want us in jail either because that tape from the bell tower really helped us by putting Ian back on their radar." Aria pointed out.
Then Emily added. "But what about switching the flash drive and the camera in your closet. And the report from your-"
"Maybe A didn't do that." Spencer cut in again. "My mom thinks it was a cop. I think she's right."
"Do you think Ian will tell the cops when they arrest him?"
"I don't know but he, Melissa, and Jason are responsible for Allison's death and they know we know that but can't prove it. If they have a cop on their side, we are in a lot of danger. You guys, we have to be really careful." Spencer implored them.
"Our only hope is to find more proof." Hanna said.
"Exactly." Spencer nodded. "I think it comes back to those videos. Ian was willing to kill me over them and so was Jason. They said they used to watch them at his house. Well what if it wasn't just Jason and Ian? Jason had a party there every time his folks went away which was a lot. What if that was how he entertained his guests?"
"So, figure out who went to these parties and we can see if any of them are cops now?" Aria suggested. "How are we going to do that?"
"I'm going to start with Melissa's yearbook. She, Ian, and Jason were all the same class. Maybe I can find pictures of them together with more of their friends. It's a start right."
"And we should have Caleb look at our phones to see if he can find out about that app." Hanna contributed. "If nothings there for all we know A could have bugged all our clothes or put chips in our heads and that's how he she it knows everything we do."
They all nodded. "Look, we should hurry and get back before our parents come looking."
"Good idea." Spencer said before walking towards the door. "And remember we all need to be really careful." She turned and added soberly before turning back around and heading out the bathroom.
They snuck back into the conference room and grabbed their phones just as their parents came looking for them.
The girls all decided to go to Aria's to wait for news about Ian. Peter and Veronica were driving up to Bucks County knowing that Melissa would need them after Ian was arrested. The idea that Ian was the father of their grandchild did not sit well with them, but they did not blame the baby for that.
"My parents are gone and so is Melissa." Spencer whispered to Aria as they rode in the backseat on their way to Aria's. "Now is the best time to sneak back to the house and look for that yearbook."
When the girls got back to the house, they put on a movie in Aria's room, put their phones on her bed, changed into sneakers, and left out the back door.
"You really think there are trackers on our cars." Hannah questioned.
"We can't be too careful. "Spencer replied as they casually walked around the block to Spencer's house. The quad was silent for nearly the rest of the walk. It didn't matter that it was the light of day, they were all thinking about the last time they journeyed on foot from Aria's to this part of their neighborhood on a mission.
"He's still in the hospital, right." Aria whispered as they came up on Jason's house.
Spencer nodded. "Come on." She then mumbled setting her gaze on her gate rather than looking at Jason's house. The other three quickly followed her lead.
Hannah found the yearbook in a box amongst Ian's things forty minutes later. "What's nat club?" She asked after flipping to Ian's page and then Jason and seeing the same club.
"I've never heard of it and I know every club." Spencer said reaching out her hand. "Lemme see."
"Was Melissa in it?" Emily asked.
"Good question." Spencer mumbled. "N A T club." She then flipped through more pages. It's not listed as an official school club and no Melissa wasn't in it." She informed them before turning more pages. "But Garret Reynolds was!" She exclaimed.
"Officer Reynolds." Hanna jumped in.
"He's gotta be the cop trying to frame us or at least shift the blame from his fellow club members." Aria chimed.
"Wait, NAT?" Emily said before turning around to dig in a box. "Guys look at this. I found it earlier." Emily held up a plain dark shirt. On it, it said
Nos Animadverto Totus
"NAT. We see all." Spencer breathed. "It's Latin."
"Their peeping tom club had a name?" Aria said
"I guess perverts are us was taken." Hanna quipped.
"And Garret was a part of it."
"Guys, we should head back." Spencer said after looking at the clock on the stove. "Ian's probably been arrested by now and my parents might be trying to call me. We'll take the yearbook with us and see if anyone else is a part of that club."
"Right and I told Caleb to meet us at your house in an hour and that was like an hour ago." Hannah turned towards the door but then abruptly turned back around almost causing Emily to run into her. "Wait." Hannah said suddenly. "I just had a thought."
"About?" Emily prodded when Hannah didn't continue.
"It's just," she began slowly. "If Ian's been arrested, we maybe can find out who A is."
"What?" Aria said with a face scrunched up in confusion. "How do you figure that, Han?"
"The bell tower." Spencer breathed. Hannah nodded right before both Emily and Aria's eyes widened in realization. It was Emily who spoke next.
"You said Ian seemed like he knew the person that pushed him off that platform."
"And if that person was A, Ian can identify them." Hannah finished.
There was nothing left to add after that since they would still have to wait and see what Ian would end up saying about the bell tower so the four left to head back to Aria's.
They waited for Spencer to lock up but then Hanna rushed ahead to make sure she was there for Caleb.
Aria made it a few paces before looking back surprised to see Spencer far behind. She jogged back to her friend. "Hey you okay?"
"Sorry." Spencer apologized. "Just hurts to walk too fast." She added softly. Aria stared up at her friend who was looking everywhere except Aria's face. She then moved towards her and linked their arms.
"Then we'll go slow."
Emily and Hannah made it back to Aria's way ahead of the other two, but they didn't want to go inside without Aria since it was her house.
"Mona?" Hanna asked surprised to see the stylish brunette heading towards Aria's house.
"Oh, there you are." Mona called out. "I went by your house to see how you were doing after, you know, being arrested at the Brew the other day. Since you weren't answering your phone, I decided to see if you were with any of your cell mates."
"Cell mates?" Aria and Spencer arrived and caught Mona's last words.
"You know I kid." Mona smiled. "So, what, out for an evening stroll. No ankle bracelets I see, that's a good sign. Did they drop the charges?"
"It's complicated Mona. Kind of a long story." Hanna said.
"Well do you mind, Aria, if I get a little water to go with this long story. That walk from Hanna's to here has me parched."
"Ugh sure, Mona, come on in." Aria led the way. Once in the kitchen she took out 5 glasses and set them on the table. Everyone but Spencer took a seat. She instead went upstairs to check her phone for news on Ian.
"So, what was jail like?" Mona asked wide eyed.
"We never went to jail, Mona." Hanna explained. "We were arrested but Mr. and Mrs. Hastings got them to let us go and wait to be arraigned the next day. But then today, they pretty much dropped the charges and let us go."
"Wow." Mona beamed. "Why did they do that?"
"What do you mean gone!" All heads turned towards the stairs after hearing Spencer suddenly shout.
The girls quickly put down their waters and rushed up the steps.
"Yeah, yeah. No, I'll be careful." They heard Spencer say before hanging up and facing them. Even though they had seen it many times since the bell tower, the look of terror on Spencer's face was something they couldn't quite get used to.
"Um Ian...and Melissa are gone. My parents think someone at the police station tipped them off and they fled."
"How do they know they fled? What if they just went out to eat or something?" Hanna wondered.
"Their cars were at the house, but they weren't. A bunch of clothes were gone, and it looked like they left in a hurry." Spencer explained. "He could be anywhere."
Aria went to her friend and gently took her arm. "Spence, don't worry." She soothed. "Here sit down." She continued as she led Spencer towards her bed. "You're shaking."
"What if he comes after me...us...again?" Spencer whispered.
"They'll catch him...both of them." Emily added as she sat on the other side of Spencer and wrapped her arm around her shoulders. "We can tell the police, Garret's the one that tipped them off, so they'll have no more help to give them a heads up."
"With what proof?" Spencer asked, the desperation in her voice heartbreaking. "A yearbook that says him, Jason, and Ian were a part of some made up club in high school? Without the videos, we can't prove what the N.A.T. club was doing."
"We'll find something else." Hannah assured as she joined the others on Aria's bed. "We've come this far right and, in the meantime, everyone will be looking out for us now. Our parents believe us about Ian and Jason. Toby's not going to let anyone else hurt you and Caleb's got our back too."
Speaking of which, Caleb stopped at Aria's doorway and took in the scene. Mike had let him in and told him the girls were upstairs a minute ago.
"What are you doing here, Mona?" Caleb said nastily, still not forgiving her for keeping his letter from Hanna. Five pairs of eyes quickly looked towards the voice before four pairs of eyes shifted towards Mona. Frankly, they were so wrapped up in their own saga that they had forgotten she was there.
"I was invited, Caleb." Mona returned just as nastily. She then turned to the four on the bed. "But hey look, this seems really...heavy. I...ugh...I'm happy to help in any way...I...ugh...just don't...I mean...I really don't know what I could do...I mean first being arrested and now there's a crazy guy on the loose after you...I-"
"Mona!" Hanna interrupted quickly knowing her vapid friend had a bigger tendency to stick her foot in her mouth than even she did. "It's okay. I'll call you later, okay."
"Sure Han. Ugh bye ladies. I hope everything will be okay with um...Yeah bye." Mona gave a little wave before turning and fleeing Aria's room.
The five in the room stared at the doorway in silence until they heard the front door shut.
"What's going on?" Caleb spoke first.
"A lot." Hannah sighed. She and Emily then proceeded to tell him about what happened at the police station. Aria and Spencer moved back against the wall on Aria's bed and cuddled together while they looked through Ian's yearbook to see if anyone else had NAT underneath their photo or if there were any other cops who joined the police force that were friends with Ian, Jason, and Garret.
Somewhere along the way Caleb had settled down on the floor with his laptop and had Hanna's phone hooked up to it as he searched it for software similar to what Spencer had described. They had to tell him everything about A and although Hanna was reluctant at first because of the danger he would be in, if they wanted any advantage with A they had to be a step ahead. Knowing how A was listening to them would give them a huge edge. Caleb was the only one that could do that.
It took about an hour, but Caleb found the sophisticated app on Hanna's phone. Once he found it there, it was easy to locate it on the rest of the girls' phones. They had their edge.
Aria ransacked her closet and found notebooks for all of them to use to "talk" while they came up with a plan on how to use their edge.
Several scraps of paper later, they decided that Caleb would go get them each a new phone to communicate with each other. They would keep their old phones to use as decoys and to feed A fake information.
After Caleb left to get the phones the girls decided the safest thing to do was to stay put, stay together, and stay quiet. Aria popped on another movie and the girls huddled together watching it. Both Emily and Spencer periodically dozed on and off while the movie played because of their meds. Aria did as well because of boredom. Hannah was the only one seemingly engrossed in the film but really her alertness had more to do with worry over Caleb.
They were halfway through a second movie when Caleb returned. He just had time to hand out the new ones when Ella appeared in the doorway with a somber expression.
"I need you ladies to come down to the den. Hanna you can join us after you walk Caleb out." Her tone of voice and expression left no room for argument, so the teenagers immediately did as they were told.
When Hannah entered the den, her three friends were seated on the couch. Ella was seated on a chair on the other side of the table in front of the couch. Byron was standing by the window, staring out of it with a phone in his hand. He turned towards the girls when he heard Hannah tell Aria to scoot over so she could slide between her and Emily.
"Good you're all here." Byron began. "Officer Alavez wanted us to bring you all down to the police station again but we demanded to know what for before we made another trip only to be told some news that you could hear in the comfort of your home instead of there with the cop trying to frame you listening in."
"What did he say?" Aria asked her dad.
"He said he could tell me over the phone for now." Bryon moved to sit next to Ella before speaking again. "Earlier today, the police received another anonymous package. It was a red flash drive."
The girls all sat up and their eyes widened at this. Could it be?
"On it were several videos. They were...the videos were of...they had…"
"They were mostly of you girls and Alison." Ella cut in to help her husband out. "Alavez said you clearly did not know you were being filmed. In some, there were all five of you. Some you were alone in your bedroom...changing clothes...sleeping. He said in some you look much younger meaning this had been going on for years. Others were of Alison...and Jason." Ella stopped there to let that sink in knowing the girls knew exactly what Alavez saw on that flash drive.
Despite being vindicated, the girls could not get past how creeped out they felt by how much they had been violated over the years. After a few more minutes of uncomfortable silence, Aria spoke again.
"What happens now?"
"Alavez assured us they will arrest Jason today." Byron answered. "As soon as he gets discharged from the hospital, they'll bring him straight to the precinct."
"When will he be discharged?" Hannah asked.
"That I don't know." Byron said. "Hopefully real soon."
The four exchanged looks. Being friends this long and going through what all that they went through seemed like it gave them hive minds. "Should we…?" Hanna started looking at Spencer.
"They're looking for Ian." Emily continued looking from Hannah to Spencer.
"And now they have Jason." Aria added her eyes also now on Spencer. Byron and Ella watched the interplay in fascination. Spencer took a deep breath and then nodded. Emily, Aria, and Spencer then all looked at Hanna. A nanosecond later she looked away from her friends and towards the confused adults.
"Garret is the cop that's been trying to frame us." She stated without preamble.
"Reynolds?" Ella asked having seen him many times at the High School helping out.
"They started a club." Aria nodded. "They called it the NAT club. Spence?"
"Nos Animadverto Totus." Spencer supplied. "It means 'we see all' in Latin."
"Ian, Garrett, and Jason were the founding members." Emily said. "They were the ones watching and filming us for years."
After the girls explained about the yearbook and the videos they knew about, Byron called Alavez and the girls returned to Aria's room.
All their phones were blinking.
Told you there was more to come.
Ally
Author's note: The part where they are in the police station discussing the bell tower was also from "Home" by It'sLisey. I changed a good bit of it to fit my story, but some of the dialogue is the same and the whole idea of the police having a 911 call of that night that was recorded from Hanna's phone is from "Home."