Disclaimer: Still don't own it
Happy Birthday to MM!
It wasn't a good night for anyone right now.
As Officer Garret Reynolds sat back and watched as they entered Rosewood proper, he knew there was even more drama to come.
It was only a matter of time before Wilden's obsession in taking down Alison DiLaurentis would cause something bad to happen to him; though Garret never would have figured it would be his death. Ever since the blonde had threatened him over the NAT tapes stolen by her last year, the older man had a goal to repay her ever since; especially when Ian died. Despite their many issues with one another, the two men were friends Wilden always took the death hard. Though it was technically Melissa that broke things off because of the affair with Alison, others blamed the blonde for seducing Ian in the first place that led to her dumping him. It was rather pathetic that Ian would even date a minor and risk everything, though Alison had a tendency to somehow seduce older men with great skill. She had tried to pull that off a few times in Cape May but Wilden had been strong; more because of his hatred for her then a lack of will. Besides, the man was somehow into Ashley Marin and wanted to date her.
When Bethany Young was first discovered on the DiLaurentis property, Wilden had jumped at the chance to lead the investigation from what Garret observed. Jenna had been prodding both he and the detective for months to do something about Alison ever since she had arrived back in town; moving in across the street with her girlfriend. While she had enough info to have a way to keep Alison from forcing her from Rosewood, thus entering into a stalemate, the blind teen wanted to end their rivalry for good by putting the blonde behind bars; which they two cops were tasked into doing. Garret wasn't exactly sure when she became their de facto leader but they were complying thus the desire for further the investigation. Even Garret knew it wasn't a coincidence that Bethany's body happened to be where it was found nor did that someone deliberately set fire to the Gazebo to expose it; him concluding that it was done by one of Alison's many enemies to help create the investigation in the first place. Being part of the investigation revealed that there were links between Alison and Bethany but not enough to make the blonde a suspect.
It wasn't until Radley that Wilden had enough evidence to go after Alison; Garret being there when the evidence had been discovered. While the young man was content to just being a patrol officer for now, especially given the annoying politics of the Rosewood Police Department, he was skilled enough to see that something was off on the evidence they had discovered, while it seemed authentic and there wasn't anything physically wrong with the documents themselves, Garret had a gut feeling that they were more than they appeared though he stayed silent. Like Wilden, he knew there was an invisible hand guiding their actions as of late and was more than curious on who it could be. There were no shortage of enemies that Alison had and he even wondered if her friends were behind it; he had noticed that they had been incredibly distant as of late during his surveillance of the blonde. He even suspected that Spencer Hastings and Mona Vanderwaal were involved somehow though there simply was no proof that was the case; though it was just too interesting that they were always there when something major happened. If the two teens were involved, he had to admire them for their dedication and sympathized since besides Jenna, they had more reason to hate Alison than anyone else.
He had been late in getting to the dance; he and Barry forced to deal with a DUI involving a bunch of teens not too far away from the school. After that had been dealt with and the teens taken to jail to spend the night, they had arrived during the chaos of the power outage with both Alison as well as Wilden missing from the dance. He had then discovered that both Spencer and Mona were also missing from a much panicked Melissa, who he still had a thing for despite her being married, and demanded that they be found. Again, he found it a little too coincidental that the two were missing along with Alison and Wilden; though the blonde and his friend were the priority though he had to placate Melissa somehow. After they had left the dance to look for the blonde, trying Wilden's phone multiple times with no answer, there was a call of shots fired at the Lost Woods Resort on the edge of town. He knew full well that the place was a popular hangout for the blonde and he suspected that Wilden had gone there to look for her in the first place; though something had clearly gone wrong.
When he and Barry arrived, they had discovered his friend's body in the woods.
Wilden was already dead when they found him; shot in the chest and had bled out as revealed by the CSU's who were now at the scene. The gun that was suspected of killing him was discovered not too far way with tracks of someone running from the scene. The ground though was too damp from the rain to properly reveal what had happened. It was currently believed that Wilden had attempted to arrest Alison and she turned on him with a gun; catching the cop off guard and then killing him. It did seem that his gun had been fired in return given that there were bullets missing as well as the powder burns on his clothing; though it currently wasn't know if he had hit anything. The gun used to murder Wilden was recently revealed to be owned by Kenneth DiLaurentis and Alison's own fingerprints were found on it; as well as some DNA from her since she seemed to have been scratched in the kickback from the top of the gun. Now there was an all point search for the blonde for murder and she was considered to be dangerous; though her family was protesting that particular point. They had been looking for her when they discovered the broken down car containing Spencer and Mona; shocked to discover them making out since no one knew they were that close.
"You are going to have to answer a few questions at the station," Garret told the two teens as he drove towards Rosewood Police Department. Though the two were found nowhere near where Wilden had been found, it was still too coincidental that they were missing from the dance at the same time Alison had fled.
"Why; we just got stranded," Mona stated a little defensively and appeared not to know what was going on. She and Spencer did actually know everything going on but had to pretend not too in order to get out of all this.
"Detective Wilden is dead and we are questioning all people who could be involved in his murder," Barry answered the teen in a neutral voice; though he did seem to come across a little too harsh. From what he could see in the rearview mirror, the two teens appeared to be shocked by the news but he couldn't tell if it was real.
"Wilden's dead?! How?!" asked a seemingly surprised Spencer; using the most fake tone she could muster. Her friend next to her also looked to be equally surprised and the two cops believed their reactions to be real.
"Well talk about that at the station; where your parents are waiting," Garret answered and noted that the two now looked worried. This was understandable given that the teens were looking suspicious under the circumstances.
The patrol car pulled up to the police station through the back entrance so they could avoid the reporter frenzy in the front. Ever since the news had broken on both Wilden's death and Alison DiLaurentis's involvement, there had been an army of reporters in front of the police station wanting answers. It wasn't just the police department too; there were reporters in front of the DiLaurentis household even though both Jessica and Kenneth were not home. Jason was there to make sure no one would break and to monitor the police who were conducting a search of the property for evidence against the blonde; as well as a small team of family lawyers to boot. From what Garret had heard, Alison's friends had been recently interviewed to see if they knew anything or was even connected to what happened; which they denied. The teens were giving a story that the blonde had been secretly harassing them in an attempt to control them; which Garret could see and wanted to know more about. All three were back home with their parents but he had no doubt there would be more questions in weeks to come.
After pulling up to the back entrance, all four got out and proceeded to inside the building. As they walked through the halls, there were very few officers encountered and Mona suspected that every available officer was looking for Alison or playing crowd control. The teen had no doubt that there was going to be a great deal of activity in town for the weeks to come; thus there would be more than the usual buzz at school. The teens were escorted to the interrogation rooms and they started to get a little worried when it appeared that they needed to get their stories straight rather quickly. Once inside the room, they were seat while the two cops left; given a couple of towels and promised something hot to drink. They sat there in silence as they took in their surroundings; both seemingly nervous. The floor was pure grey and hard to the touch; obviously concrete with matching-colored brick walls with a large overhead lamp that provided the sole illumination for the room. The table for which they were seated at was made of metal and bolted to the floor while there chairs was of similar make.
After about ten minutes, a female woman dressed in a business suit came into the room.
"Hello; my name is Sargent Tanner with the Pennsylvania State Police and I have a few questions for you regarding tonight's events," stated the older woman and Mona was taken aback that the State was involved in the investigation. She had been expecting one of the local detectives and wondered if they had somehow been sidelined because of who was involved in the case.
"How? We had nothing to do with Wilden's death," Spencer protested as Mona looked equally offended. Both teens were thinking fast on how they were going to get out of this given that a higher authority was now involved.
"And yet you left the dance at the same time Alison fled; that cannot be a coincidence," Tanner observed as she leaned back in her chair and stared at the teens. Before Spencer could respond, the room's door opened violently and Veronica Hastings as well as her husband appeared.
"I trust you were not interrogating my daughter without us present? Not only is she still a minor but it being illegal as well," Peter said to the woman as he looked angrily at her. Tanner just sighed as Garret gave her an apologetic look and indicated that there had been nothing he could do to stop the parents from storming in.
"I was simply having a chat with your daughter and Ms. Vanderwaal about why they left the dance; that is all," answered the female sergeant neutrally as she motioned for the parents to take a seat. Spencer looked nervous when her parents took either side of the teen while Mona was next to her father.
"Our daughter and her friend were nowhere near when Wilden was murdered and are not even friends with Alison in the first place. There is also evidence that Alison was the one who murdered him so why all the questions for them," Veronica demanded to know in her full on lawyer mode. Peter looked equally as if he was arguing for a client and all Spencer could do is try to look small.
"Your daughter and Mona vanished from their school dance and have a history with Alison DiLaurentis; that is not a coincidence," Tanner pointed out as she faced down the two parents with a blank look. She had dealt with hundreds of lawyers and parents in the past so she was ready to deal with the Hastings would throw at her.
"I am sure my daughter has a valid explanation for what happened and that doesn't give you the right to treat her like a criminal. They were found with their vehicle broken down, not moving a body," Peter told the woman angrily as she stared at the woman. Mona wondered if her mother was at the station and dreaded what was to come from her regarding everything.
"I am not treating them like suspects; just simply wondering why they left. If it was simply for some alone time for their relationship, it seems a little strange that it would be somewhere so far away from town," the female officer pointed out and catching the two parents by surprise which caused them to look at their daughter and then Mona. Both teens knew their secret was out of the bag now and anticipated the conversation was obviously to come.
"Alison grabbed me at the dance by force and had a gun," Mona said suddenly; causing everyone to look at her. All three Hastings appeared startled at her statement while even Tanner seemed put off. While she had been expecting a crazy story from the teens, both she and the other detectives behind the glass had not been expecting that.
"What do you mean grabbed you and had a gun?" Tanner almost demanded to know once she composed herself. Mona looked at the woman sheepishly as the lie she was about to tell formed in her mind.
"When the lights went out at the dance, Alison was at my back and had a gun poked into my skin. She then ordered me to lead her to the back exit and knocked me to the ground once we entered the parking lot," stated the shorter teen as the words rolled out off her tongue. She was taking a huge risk by not vetting the story but there was just no time to do so.
"I found her a few minutes later and we watched Alison leave with her car," Spencer continued and hoped she and her friend could be of like mind on this. What they were now doing was dangerous and had to be precise or they would fall hard.
"Why didn't you go to the police? Why leave the dance given what just happened?" Tanner asked, both curious and somewhat disbelieving of her story. She was also hesitant to believe that the blonde teen had carried a gun into the school but given it was a small town as well as the size of her purse, it wasn't impossible to happen.
"We were angry and wanted to know what was going on. She was pretty desperate when she grabbed me and muttered something about A. So we decided to follow her so we could tell the police where she was hiding," Mona explained as she looked nervously over at Spencer's parents. She couldn't tell what they were thinking and was glad that her own mother wasn't here; especially since she might see right through her lie.
"What happened next?" inquired the older detective as she glanced at the glass window; wondering what her peers thought of all this. She wished the school's cameras had been operational to confirm the story being told.
"We followed her and she met up with someone dressed in a hoodie so we couldn't tell who she was other than she was driving a black SUV," answered Spencer while her friend nodded. By tag teaming the story, they were hoping to make it plausible for it to be believed.
"Can you give a description of this vehicle?" asked Tanner as she pulled out a notebook and pen from her jacket. Both Mona and Spencer gave her the make and model of the car but stated that the license plate had been missing.
"We weren't sure what to do then until we saw Wilden a few minute later following Alison. We then decided to follow the other car to see where it went," Spencer told the woman and that caught Tanner by surprise. She was curious on why Wilden was following the blonde instead of simply arresting her; if that was true.
"You are sure it was Wilden you saw?" inquired the State Police Officer as her phone buzzed indicating a text. She made a slight nod to the glass window where her colleagues were watching from the other side.
"Yes; we then followed the other car until we got the flat tire," Mona answered and Spencer motioned with her head that was the case. Tanner looked at them for a minute while she determined if they were telling the truth.
"Why follow in the first place? It seems to me that you girls should have stayed out of this and simply let the authorities do their job," Tanner wondered out loud, curious to what the answer was. She wasn't sure if she believed their story or not, though it was plausible, and was going to let the evidence back up their story.
"Because Alison was running from the police and they are pretty incompetent here; especially when it comes to Alison's family. If we could help them in order to prevent her from escaping whatever she did to have the police after her, then we both wanted to help," Spencer announced with conviction and full sincerity. Tanner was once again taken aback by what she hear and actually believed the teen on what she said.
"As you can see Officer, my daughter and her friend displayed bad judgment but for benign reasons. They should be allowed to come home since you don't have a legal reason to keep them here," Veronica stated and Spencer can almost hear the subtle threat in her mother's voice; slightly shivering. Tanner nodded and motioned for her hand that they could go and the group then headed outside.
Mona was about to thank Spencer's mother when once they were out of ear shot before spotting her own mother; who did not seem happy at all.
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