**Chapter 44**

***Aria's POV***

I didn't have to stay overnight at the hospital at least. I did however have to go to the police station right away. Apparently, they wanted me to talk with Tanner after all. Though that might have been because of the microchip that used to be in my neck, now it was in an evidence jar. The officer taking me to the station had informed me that my parents would take care of my prescriptions, since they wouldn't be allowed to see me until I'd talked with Tanner.

"How are you feeling, Aria?" Tanner asked, actually sounding concerned for once.

I looked up, the detective looked slightly more worn than she had the last time I saw her, though that might have been because it was almost 10 and she should probably have gone home already. She held a cup of coffee in her hand though, so it seemed she would be going for a while yet.

"I'm alright." I lied, not knowing how else to respond.

"Would you like something to drink? Coffee, tea, water?" she offered.

"Coffee would be great." I replied.

This was the most awkward conversation we'd had surprisingly, considering she'd interrogated me before. But at least then I knew not to tell her anything. Now I knew I'd have to explain why I was with Jason at the arcade and why I knew about the microchip in my neck and hadn't told them about it. She'd flagged down an officer while leading me to her office, which was a large room with evidence boards up on the walls. I could see my name and the names of my friends on the walls, along with Mona's. She took a seat on one side of the table, a notepad set up already for her. There were files spread across the table, dozens of them. It was kind of amazing how much information they had collected about the case. Though I guess that that's what they do. There were probably a dozen files that had my name on them from all the investigations

A minute later an officer came into the room, placing a cup of coffee on the table in front of the chair that I guess I was supposed to sit in. He also put down a couple of creamers and sugar packets. I took the seat once he left, adding all the creamer and sugars before stirring with the little red stir stick in the cup. My hands were shaking as I focused on my coffee, not wanting to have this conversation but needing to get this over with.

"So what happened today?" she opened, leaving it up to me to tell her everything that she needed to know.

"I had a doctor's appointment this afternoon, when I got back there was a box sitting on the porch waiting for me. As soon as I saw it I knew it was from A, even though the cops had been sitting outside my house. They've left us stuff like that before. Inside the box were pictures of my family and a note. He threatened them if I didn't go over to Jason's and go with him. There was also a dress, the same one that he made me wear in the… down there." I tried to explain as briefly as I could, not wanting to stumble too much on the words.

"How did Jason know where to take you both?"

"I guess he got a note too, with directions to take me along."

"The police officer reported that you'd said you were going to Philly, to see a movie. Is that right?" Tanner didn't even pretend to look at a file, it sat closed on the table between us.

"Yeah, Jason told the cops that we were heading to Philly so that they wouldn't follow us."

I took a drink from my coffee, not wanting to look at the detective. This would undoubtedly result in some extra cracking down and I doubted they would let me leave Rosewood without an escort ever again. I could feel my eyes start to water when I thought about being trapped like this.

"Where is the box that you got in the mail?" she questioned, drawing me from my thoughts.

"The outside package with the photos and the note is sitting on my bed at home, the inside box with the dress is over at the DiLaurentis house."

"How long have you known about the tracking chip, Aria?" Tanner asked bluntly.

"I found out last night, the girls and I, we have a friend who works at a college lab. We went to see her and this wand went crazy when we got near it. Apparently, they use it on the test subjects in case they need to remove their chips. I guess he put them into our necks while we were unconscious."

"So do the other girls still have their chips?"

"No, they took them out today, they figured he would try and contact Jason and followed us, I guess. But they must have taken the chips out before they left. Otherwise he would have known where they were."
"Why did you still have yours in, while the others took theirs out?"

I took another drink from the coffee, needing the moment it gave me. "We were going to leave them in, figured it was an edge that maybe we could use against him. Maybe have Alison or Jason waiting for him if we went outside of Rosewood together."

"Then why did they take them out without letting you know?"

"I wasn't answering my phone. I had turned it off at the doctor's office and forgot to turn it back on after." That was more of a white lie.

I had intentionally left the ringer off, fully meaning to ignore the world and wallow in my misery for the whole afternoon. If Charles hadn't left an actual package I probably wouldn't have known to go to Jason's at all. I looked up, seeing if Tanner caught on to that little secret. She didn't seem to have, but I could never tell what she was thinking.

"So what happened at the arcade?" she apparently accepted that answer.

"It was all dark when Jason and I got there, we went inside to see if A was there. I knew he'd know that I was there." I absentmindedly rubbed at the stitches that were on the back of my neck. "We thought he might not be there, but suddenly he came out. He was wearing the same mask that he used to wear down there and his voice was modulated with a machine or something. He tried to grab me but Jason wouldn't let him pull me away. Then the cops showed up and it all went crazy."
"You keep referring to him as A, Aria. Why haven't you called him Charles?" she asked after a moment of silence.

It took me a moment to think of what to say, obviously Alison had told her everything that we had uncovered and that left me feeling very vulnerable at the moment, since I didn't know exactly what all she knew and what she just suspected. But beyond that, I couldn't help but think of that photo that Clark had accidently taken, where the figure following me clearly had a chest that was in no way male.

"I guess I was hoping that it wasn't true." I replied, to which she only raised her eyebrow. "There was a small part of me that thought it was just someone pretending to be their brother, you know. I mean, Charles DiLaurentis is supposed to be dead. I guess I was just hoping that it wasn't the brother of my friends who hurt me like that."

She took a long drink of her coffee, obviously thinking about what I had said. I was hoping that she would let that be it for the night. I just wanted to go home and not think about what had happened anymore, my body ached all over and even though I was drinking coffee I was still exhausted from how little sleep I had gotten the night before and what an emotionally draining day this had been.

"Thank you for your help, Aria. Would you be willing to come back in and talk to us another day, once you've had a little bit of rest?" She almost phrased it as though I had a choice.

"Yeah, just let me know." I answered, assuming we were done for the night.
I got up from the table, grabbing my now half empty coffee cup to take with me. There was something tugging at my mind though as I did, something about today that set me on edge. It hit me as I headed for the door, leaving Tanner sitting at the table.

"There's one thing." I started, turning around at the door. "The voice tonight, it didn't sound like it did before. Underneath the modulation it was just… different."

Tanner's face scrunched up in thought when I said that, obviously confused that there might be two people involved in this. Either that or she was doubting that I was able to tell the difference.

"Get some sleep, Aria. I'll let you know if we find anything."

I took the dismissal and headed out of the office for the entrance of the police station. I was almost hoping that the girls would be there, but afraid of what they would say if they were. Instead, standing there were my parents with Mike. I felt my stomach drop out when I saw them, not even thinking about what they would have to say about this, the fact that I had recklessly and deliberately evaded my police supervision so I could go and meet my tormentor.

Mike spotted me first, getting up from his seat and rushing over to hug me. For once, I didn't flinch as he came over. It seemed like a lifetime had passed since I had dropped him off at Mona's this afternoon before my doctor's appointment. I wanted to ask how that went, seeing as he hadn't been there this afternoon when I got home.

"Aria," my mom called once she saw me, I could hear the worry in her voice as she came over and took over Mike's hug.

I glanced over to look at my dad who was hanging back. His face was tight in an expression that I knew well. He was furious but keeping it together so he wouldn't cause a scene in front of the whole town. As soon as we got back to the house though, I knew he would blow up. I wasn't sure I wanted to be there for that.

"Let's go home." My mom declared, breaking the tension.

***End Chapter***

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