Hi all! Sorry it's been a while since I updated! I have just been so busy lately! I've been working 10 and 11 hour work days for the past week because i work for a professional football club and our first home game is this weekend so it's pretty crazy!
Hope you all had a great Easter. Thanks so much for the reviews, I really appreciate the feedback and the support as well. Thank you to the Anon/Guest reviewers who i can't reply to via PM, I really appreciate getting the reviews. It makes the writing worth it and it encourages me to keep going.
Hopefully you guys like this chapter! Sorry if the editing isn't that great! I'm exhausted and I know i won't have a chance to upload this for another few days if i don't get it done now. Straight to sleep after this! Please let me know what you think! :)
"Someone has come forward with security footage of that night to clear Garrett and they're witnessing that he was just outside of Rosewood on the night Ali was
killed" Veronica said with a frown "The lady who came forth was working at a gas station just on the fringe of town. He has an alibi, apparently he is innocent"
"What?" Emily replied shaking her head "No, he was the last person to see Ali alive…we… we found her bag in his police car. He is guilty"
"If they have security footage and it checks out like they're saying it does; then his story that he gave Ali a lift back to Rosewood, dropping her off outside her
house before he returned to go visit Jenna will be deemed true. The lady who was witness to Garrett being around said that he cleared out her store of some people
making trouble, she was scared to come forward before but all of a sudden she just approached police with a tape" Veronica said "At least an innocent man is free"
"Why now?" Emily asked "I don't understand"
"I have no idea" Veronica shook her head with a sigh
"He can't be innocent" Spencer replied looking to her mom "We looked at this time and time again, we were tormented by this"
"If it wasn't him, then who was it?" Hanna asked "And what are they going to do so I feel safe tonight with my son sleeping at home?"
"We'll figure it all out once we know more" Veronica said calmly
"How did he get out so quickly?" Aria asked sharply
"He's a cop" Emily shrugged in defeat with a sigh
"We'll go inside and find out what is happening" Veronica said as she started walking up the stairs towards the police station
Hanna, Spencer and Aria all followed Veronica up towards the station but Emily hesitated, turning back to Paige.
"You okay to wait out here?" Emily asked
"Yeah, of course" Paige nodded "Are you okay?"
"I'm not sure" Emily said shaking her head "But I'm glad you're here"
"I won't move" Paige replied leaning over and placing a gentle kiss on Emily's cheek
"Thanks" Emily nodded
Emily followed the other girls into the station while Paige leaned back onto Emily's car with her arms folded; just waiting to see what was going on. She was
confused but she also knew that she needed to be there for Emily and not ask too many questions but instead she knew she just needed to be there to listen to
her, be her shoulder if need be. Emily would tell her whatever she thought that Paige would need to know in time, she just had to be patient.
"I heard you were back in town" She heard a soft voice speak next to Emily's car
Turning her head she saw a girl who she hadn't seen since middle school; a girl she hadn't expected to see again. She found herself looking at Toby's arguably evil
step sister Jenna.
"Jenna?" Paige asked furrowing her eyebrows
"So you do remember me" Jenna replied removing her sunglasses from her eyes to rest them on the top of her head
"I didn't know you were still living here" Paige said shaking her head "Toby told me that you left town"
"I'm not, I'm only here for today" Jenna shook her head
"So why are you back?" Paige asked "In front of the police station?"
"I got here as soon as I could" Jenna shrugged, clearly not wanting to give Paige too much information too quickly "You're lucky you got out of here when you did"
"Why do you say that?" Paige asked curiously
"A lot of things have happened here that shouldn't happen in a small town like Rosewood" Jenna said "Things that aren't normal or coincidence like people say they
are"
"Like what?" Paige asked
"Like my accident" Jenna said quickly "But I don't think you would know about it"
"No, I don't" Paige shook her head "What happened?"
"You should ask your girlfriend about that one" Jenna replied with a smirk as she folded her arms tightly "She was there. She wouldn't have told you that though.
Those girls can keep a secret, I will give them that"
"What do you mean?" Paige paused
"You should just ask her about it" Jenna replied "Then maybe you can come back and explain to me why they just stood where they did when it happened…why
they didn't try and do anything to stop it. I mean I knew we weren't friends or anything but what happened to me was beyond cruel"
"Stop what?" Paige asked shaking her head "Jenna, what happened?"
"It doesn't matter" Jenna shook her head as well "I'm not here to discuss that"
"Why are you here?" Paige asked "If you hate this place so much?"
"I don't hate Rosewood, I hate the people in it" Jenna replied "I'm here because I'm taking Garrett away from here when he gets out for spending years in prison
when he was innocent. He shouldn't have to look at the people who charged him wrongly for something he didn't do"
"How can he be innocent though?" Paige asked "He was convicted"
"Because the town was on a witch hunt" Jenna snapped looking to Paige "They didn't look at the evidence properly and they wanted someone to blame, someone
had to pay and they didn't care who. As long as they got the town off their backs"
"But why would they do that?" Paige asked "Why would the police do that?"
"People aren't who they say they are here" Jenna shrugged "Everyone here has a secret. It's just the people who come off second best when they're not willing to
do whatever it takes to keep it"
"So what's yours then?" Paige asked
"I'm not that easy" Jenna smirked "Listen, you were always a nice girl. Garrett didn't do it and the person who did is going to get scared because they have covered
their tracks and now they're in danger of being exposed. You need to get out of Rosewood soon, get Emily and get out of here. We're leaving and so should you"
The doors of the police station opened and out walked Garrett with a bag in his hands and a smile on his face. Pausing for only a moment to look at Jenna; he
rushed down the stairs, embracing Jenna in a tight hug as she hugged him back tightly.
"I can't believe that I'm out" Paige heard Garrett mumble
"I knew we could prove you were innocent" Jenna replied "I knew someone would have seen you, it just took me a while to get that footage"
"That was you?" Paige mumbled
"She was terrified" Jenna said to Paige as she pulled away from the hug "The lady who had the footage was being scared off by someone. You don't even want to
know how much I had to pay her…how much it cost us Garrett"
"I don't care" Garrett replied happily "I'm out, they transferred me here for a few questions and now I can go. We're free Jenna, we can go wherever we want"
He looked to Paige curiously and he paused for a moment
"She is with Emily" Jenna explained
"You should get out of here like we are" Garrett said "And I suggest you do that quickly. Who knows who this has upset but I'm not staying around to find out"
"Paige, step away from him" Emily called protectively from the bottom of the stairs
Paige looked over to Emily who was holding her hand out for her at her side and Paige walked over, taking Emily's hand without question.
"What's going on?" Paige asked quietly ducking her head to look Emily in the eyes
"I'll explain later" Emily nodded as she kept her eyes on Garrett
"I'm not angry with you girls" Garrett said as he looked at the 4 of them "I'm angry at the police department for overlooking such prominent evidence of my
innocence though. I'm leaving Rosewood and I suggest you do the same. Be careful of the company you keep, I think one of you is going to find out the hard way"
With those last words Garrett and Jenna got into the car, driving away while the girls and Veronica all stood watching in disbelief.
"That happened quicker than I expected" Veronica said with a disappointed look on her face
"So he just gets to walk away?" Paige asked looking helplessly between the girls
"They looked again, they were ordered to" Emily said scattered "They found a fabric sample on her sweater they found her in and for some reason they didn't pick
that up the first time"
"They missed that evidence the first time" Veronica shook her head
"Or maybe someone is covering up for whoever did it" Aria shook her head "You can't miss that unless it's on purpose"
"We can't draw such heavy conclusions without knowing" Veronica warned
"Well it's pretty difficult to miss something like that" Spencer said honestly to her mom "How did they not find that sample the first time? They said that they
found nothing on the sweater"
"Okay so what happens with that fabric sample?" Paige asked returning to the relevant topic of conversation
"They'll run some tests and see if they can find who it belongs to or at least find out what type of material it was" Emily replied "We'll hope for the former"
"And what if it's the latter?" Paige asked
"Then we're back to square one and whoever killed Ali is still out there" Emily said as she leaned her head against Paige's shoulder quickly "We should get you
home, I don't feel safe right now"
"Either do I" Hanna replied shaking her head "I need to get home to Brax"
"My house, tomorrow" Emily said looking to all the girls "We need to talk about this"
"Yeah, okay" Aria nodded
"Get home, I'm going to go to the office and see what I can find out" Veronica said
"Should I come with?" Emily asked
"No, you go home and stay with Paige tonight" Veronica replied shaking her head "We'll get to the bottom of this girls"
Paige had decided that she and Emily should stay at her house that night so they went straight from the Police station to Paige's. She made sure that she locked
the door as soon as they both walked in the house behind them. The whole Garrett leaving prison incident made them both feel unsafe, Emily especially and Paige
wanted to make sure that Emily felt at protected and guarded.
"You okay?" Paige asked as she watched a spaced out Emily stare a hole into her floor
"No" Emily shook her head, keeping her eyes on the ground "And I know you have questions, I'll answer them but I just need a minute"
"You don't have to answer anything you don't want to right now" Paige shrugged "I just want to make sure you're okay"
"I can't believe that Garrett got out" Emily shook her head "That almost makes me question what I work for…I mean what kind of justice system lets a convicted
murder out of jail. He is guilty, without a doubt in my mind. That man who just walked free is guilty of Alison's murder"
"He was vindicated" Paige replied quietly "They had enough evidence to free him"
"He had more than enough evidence against him to convict him years ago" Emily replied quickly
"The fact is Em that he is out and someone is out there who actually hurt your friend" Paige said truthfully
"I just…how did we get the wrong person?" Emily asked turning to look to Paige "What did we miss?"
"He looked pretty guilty to me as well" Paige shrugged "You can't blame yourself"
"But we had him put away for years for something he didn't do" Emily said shaking her head "What if he really is innocent Paige and we put him away for almost 7
years of his life?"
"It wasn't just you four though. It was a jury and a judge too" Paige tried to reassure Emily
"I guess" Emily said furrowing her eyebrows "I don't know where we go from here though. I don't know if I can put myself through that process again…trying to
find out who did it"
"You don't need to worry about it right now" Paige shook her head
"I can't believe this"
"Em, you did nothing wrong and you know that. You did what you thought was right at the time" Paige shook her head as she grabbed Emily's hands "You have
done nothing wrong here"
"Paige someone is still out there" Emily said quietly "Someone is still out there who killed my friend and I've failed as a lawyer but a friend too"
"I know you feel that way but you weren't a lawyer back then Em. You were a high school student and just going after that guy the way you guys did means that
you're a great friend. I also know that you and Veronica are going to work on this with the Police and you're going to catch whoever it was" Paige reassured her
girlfriend "You're going to get whoever did this, I know you will"
"We didn't get them the first time, how will we get them this time?" Emily asked shaking her head "What am I supposed to do differently?"
"I don't know what you're supposed to do but you will figure it out. You always figure these things out and this is nothing different" Paige replied confidently "I
don't doubt it and you shouldn't either"
"How do you know all this?" Emily asked shaking her head
"Because you are brilliant and you will do it" Paige nodded "Believe in yourself like everyone else does you"
Emily sighed, letting go of Paige to place her head in her own hands.
" So what did Jenna say to you?" Emily asked as she rubbed her eyes
"Nothing important" Paige shook her head
"No, honestly" Emily replied "What did she say to you?"
"Em it wasn't important, you don't need to worry about it" Paige answered shaking her head once again "You have enough on your mind"
"I wasn't expecting to see her" Emily replied looking up to her girlfriend once again "Did you remember her?"
"Yeah I did" Paige admitted "I remember her from middle school"
"We went to high school together, she was in and out of Rosewood" Emily explained "She was out of here for good as soon as Garret was convicted"
"She just left him here?" Paige asked raising her eyebrow
"She came back to visit him but she hated this place and she hated us" Emily said with a sigh
"Well you guys only did what you thought was right" Paige shrugged "You can't keep blaming yourself, you found evidence and you did the right thing by taking
that to the police. It was their fault that their processes were apparently wrong at the time"
"She had another reason to hate us" Emily replied "A real reason to hate us all"
"Does this have to with some kind of secret about her accident?" Paige asked curiously
"Accident?" Emily asked
"Jenna said to me that she had an accident and to ask you about it" Paige replied a little more cautiously than she had spoken previously "Something about how
you guys could all keep a secret well"
"She said that to you?" Emily asked raising her eyebrows as she spoke to herself more than anything "You have nothing to do with this, why is she dragging you
into that?"
"Into what Em?" Paige asked "What is between you girls and her?"
"This happened a long time ago" Emily replied "When we were in high school and young"
"You don't need to tell me anything you don't want to" Paige shook her head as she looked at Emily with a concerned expression, she could see that something
was really bothering her girlfriend
"You're going to think I'm a monster" Emily replied looking to Paige's shoes, not even being able to look into her eyes
"Emily Fields, how could I ever think that?" Paige asked shaking her head as she used her index finger to tilt Emily's chin to gain eye contact with her
"After this story you might think it" Emily replied
"You don't have to tell me" Paige repeated quietly, moving her hand away from Emily's face
"Ali didn't like Jenna at all. I don't really know why. Jenna had been pretty intimidating sure, but she never actually did anything to her" Emily shook her head as
she began to tell the story
"Okay" Paige nodded
"One day Ali thought it would be funny to play a prank on her so we went over to her house and Ali pulled out some firecrackers" Emily said "Of course we didn't
think it was a good idea but Ali threw the fireworks into garage and then just ran off. We were stunned, at least I was so we just ran off with her and we heard
Jenna scream. I don't know what I thought would happen but I certainly think she was going to be blinded, I didn't even know she was actually going to be in
there"
"She was blinded?!" Paige asked raising her eyebrows
"For a while, yeah" Emily replied and she laughed bitterly at herself "I mean I don't know what else I thought was going to happen. The police asked us what
happened and we just said we had no idea, that we just came after the incident happened"
"You were scared" Paige reasoned
"Don't make excuses for me Paige" Emily shook her head "I could have said anything at any time but I didn't and I still could but it's still scary. Ali didn't want us to
say anything but now she's dead and the reason why she is dead is still out there…still around. I'm terrified to do anything right now. Jenna always knew it was us,
but for some reason, she never said anything about it to the police or to anyone but she hates us and as I said; she had every reason. I could have stopped Ali at
anytime but I stood there and did nothing"
"Do you really think if you said something to her, she would have actually stopped?" Paige asked
"Well I'll never know" Emily shrugged "I didn't even try"
"Em, people make mistakes. You realize now that you made a mistake" Paige replied "Jenna is fine now, okay? You're not the guilty one here"
"I am though" Emily objected "Yeah, we were all scared of Ali so we didn't want to speak up and yeah we didn't know anyone was going to actually be in there but
I should have thought about it"
"How old were you when this happened Em?" Paige asked raising her eyebrow
"Sixteen"
"Okay, you were sixteen. You're looking back at it now as a twenty five year old with life experience and an a college education" Paige replied shaking her head "You
made a mistake by not coming forward or trying to stop Ali but everything is okay now, Jenna can see"
"But what if she couldn't?" Emily asked
"Em, it's been a long day. Should we just take a shower and watch a movie in bed?" Paige asked "Maybe take your mind of it?"
"Yeah" Emily nodded with a frustrated sigh "I'm sorry Paige"
"You have nothing to be sorry about. Thank you for trusting me to share that" Paige shook her head "Come on"
So what did we all think? I hope you guys like where this is going, I'll have a new chapter up as soon as I can. I think I'm just starting to get into the interesting part of this story to sit tight while I try and get this written. Please let me know what you thought!
Have a great weekend!
Dani :)