Emily, Aria and Hanna arrived at Spencer's apartment building in the trendy Hollis area of Rosewood and stared at the building. They knew Spencer went home after she left their group discussion, and now they knew A had her. They just needed to know what happened between Spencer getting home and A getting her. They each looked at each other nervously before they made their way into the building and over to the elevators.
"Do you think this is some sort of a trap? Like, A knows we'll come here to investigate, what if A is waiting for us up there?" Hanna nervously tucked her hair behind her ear and looked anxiously at the elevator as the floors ticked down closer to L. "I have pepper spray" Aria said and began to dig through her purse. "Oh yeah, that'll work. Sorry A, we don't have a gun or a bat or a knife, but don't blink or this shit will burn". Hanna never really learned how to control her sarcasm reflex. Emily shot her a dirty look just as the elevator doors opened, "Hanna, we have to figure out what happened to Ali and Spencer. If you don't want to help then go wait in the car." She and Aria stepped onto the elevator and then turned around and stared at Hanna. Hanna took a moment before she jumped on too, just as the doors were about to close.
The elevator ride up to the fourth floor was a quick trip, and as they arrived at Spencer's apartment they all walked closely together, Aria in the center with her pepper spray. Spencer's door wasn't closed all the way and as they pushed it in quietly they weren't sure what to expect. The room was pitch black, all of the shades closed, all of the lights off. Emily felt around the wall for the light switch and flicked it on. "Oh my god" Aria whispered. They all looked at the wall where photos of Spencer's life were now painted over. "All work and no play will get Spencer killed - A" scribbled in what looked like blood. The girls stared at the statement for what felt like an hour before Hanna finally spoke up, "We need to figure out what A means. Do you think Spencer was working on who A was?" Emily looked the apartment door behind them to make sure A didn't try to sneak in while they were all there and went to the kitchen getting the three of them large knives, just in case. "Lets split up and see if we can find anything. I'll check her laptop, Hanna you check for notebooks and Aria you check for her phone. Odds are, A didn't take her phone. Maybe he was sending her messages".
The three girls went about their duties. Emily opened up Spencer's laptop and began to search through all of her recent documents, which were all related to her law classes. "Doesn't look like she took any notes!" Emily called in and Aria walked out with her hands empty. "I don't see a phone in her room anywhere. I'm gonna try calling it, why don't you see if her email is logged in on that?" She disappeared back into Spencer's bedroom as Emily opened up Spencer's email app. Even her email was OCD and organized, actually it was color coded as well. "She has a folder that is just labeled A, but it's password protected". Hanna walked out and sighed, "no notebooks. It looks like A got her in the bathroom though while she was in the shower. There's some blood and hair on the wall like she hit her head." She sat down on the couch next to Emily and took the laptop, "if we were Spencer, what would we make our password?" She started to type in various dates that had significance to Spencer, Toby's birthday, her birthday, graduations etc. All of them were useless. "Do you think Caleb would be willing to help us hack it?" Aria had appeared in the hallway with a cellphone that had been properly stomped on, "Looks like A didn't want us to know what was on her phone". She put the phone down on the table, "I don't want Caleb to know what's going on. He's got a lot on his plate right now and with his new business starting to take off, I don't want him doing anything illegal that might jeopardize it."
Hanna shut the laptop and looked at the girls, "besides, it's Spencer. We know her better than anyone, we can figure this out ourselves." Aria nodded then looked down at the phone, "think we can get someone to help us figure out what was on the phone?" Aria knew that was a Caleb specialty. and eventually Hanna would have to realize they needed Caleb's help, but until then, they were left with two things they couldn't open and two friends locked in some nightmare. Emily put the phone in her pocket and grabbed Spencer's laptop bag, "lets just get this stuff back to my place and we can figure it out from there ok? Maybe we can hack her email with some kind of a program we find online?"
Hanna checked her phone and sighed, "I have to go home. Caleb made us dinner and I'm starving and he's gonna think something is up if I don't get home soon." Aria looked down at her watch and then to Emily, "alright we'll drop you off, then Em you come to my place. I have to write up a quick article then send it to my editor for a draft check. After than we can try and hack into this thing." Emily nodded and slid the laptop into the bag and stood up, "alright. I just want to find them soon." None of them wanted to admit this A seemed to be on a whole other level than what they were used too. A had attacked them all before, from Mona running Hanna over to killing people to protect the secret, but it usually took some building up before the monster in black to act out violently. This time A kidnapped two of them before they were even really sure A was real. They weren't dealing with an amateur.
"Hanna, can you come by tomorrow after work tomorrow? Hopefully by then we'll be in her email and have more clues?" Aria took the knives back into the kitchen before she came back out and looked at her friend who still seemed hell bent on pushing them all away. "Yea, maybe. I'll have to let you know. We're dressing a few celebrities for some events so I'm really busy right now." She knew if she said she wasn't sure she wanted to help she'd get attacked by both of them, so it was just better to shut her mouth and keep her thoughts to herself. "Alright good, call us tomorrow and we'll text you if we get anywhere." The three girls headed to the elevator together carefully carrying Spencer's things, a long night of sleuthing and coffee ahead of them. they stepped on the elevator and pressed L just as their phones all went off.
"This isn't high school, this is the big leagues. Step up your game or I'll have three- A".