After Emily caught Trista hooking up with Noel, she ran out of the pool room, searching frantically for Spencer or Hanna. She needed to tell them that Aria had told the police about A…and show them the doll she'd just found. As she round the craps table for the second time, Emily felt a cold hand on her shoulder and yelped. Spencer and Mona stood behind her. Spencer was clutching a small, square photograph tightly in her hands. "Emily, we need to talk."
"I need to talk to you, too," Emily gasped.
Spencer wordlessly pulled her across the dance floor. Mason Byers was in the middle, making a jackass out of himself. Hanna was talking to her father and Mrs. Cho, her photography teacher. Hanna looked up as Spencer, Mona, and Emily approached, her face clouding over. "Do you have a sec?" Spencer asked.
They found an empty booth and piled in. Without a word, Spencer reached into her beaded purse and pulled out a photograph of Ali and Ian Thomas. Someone had drawn an X over Ali's face and had written, You're dead, bitch, in spiky letters at the bottom.
Emily clapped a hand over her mouth. Something was very familiar about the photograph. Where had she seen it before?
"I found this in my purse when i was in the bathroom." Spencer turned the photo over. Better watch your back…or you'll be a dead bitch too. Emily recognize the spiky handwriting immediately. She'd seen it scrawled on a PFLAG application just the other day.
"It was in your bag?" Hanna gasped. "So does that mean A is here?"
"A's definitely here," Emily said, looking around. The male model cocktail waiters swirled. A bunch of girls in minidresses flounced by, whispering that Noel Kahn had smuggled in alcohol. "I just got a…a message, sort of, saying so," Emily went on. "And…you guys. Aria told the cops about A. Some cop came up to me saying he wanted to ask me questions. I think A knows about that too."
"Oh my God," Mona whispered, her eyes wide. She looked from one girl to the other. "That's bad, right?"
"It could be really bad," Emily said. Someone elbowed her in the back of the head, and she rubbed her skull, annoyed. This party wasn't exactly the right venue to be talking about this.
Spencer ran her hands along the velvet couch cushion. "Okay. Let's not panic. The cops are here, right? So we're safe. We'll just find them and stick by them. But this…" She tapped the big X over Ali's face, then You're dead, bitch. "I know who wrote this part of it." She looked around at them, taking a deep breath. "Melissa."
"You're sister?" Hanna squeaked.
Spencer nodded gravely, the party's strobe lights flickering against her face. "I think…I think Melissa killed Ali. It makes sense. She knew that Ali and Ian were together. And she couldn't take it."
"Rewind." Mona it down her can of Red Bull. "Alison and…Ian Thomas? They were together?" She stuck out her tongue, disgusted. "Ew. Did you guys know?"
"We only figured it out a few days ago," Emily mumbled. She wrapped her coat around her body. Suddenly, she was freezing.
Hanna examined Melissa's signature on her cast against the writing on the photo. "The writing is similar."
Mona stared at Spencer fearfully. "And she was acting so weird in the bathroom just now."
"Is she still here?" Hanna craned her neck to look around the room. Behind them, a waiter dropped a tray of glasses. A crowd of kid clapped.
"I've looked all over for her," Spencer said. "I couldn't find her anywhere."
"So what are you going to do?" Emily asked, her heart pounding faster and faster.
"I'm going to tell Wilden about Melissa," Spencer said matter-of-factory.
"But, Spencer," Emily argued. "A knows what we're doing. And A knows Aria told. What f this is just some sort of mine game?"
"She's right," Mona agreed, crossing her legs. "It could be a trap."
Spencer shook her head. "It's Melissa. I'm sure of it. I have to turn her in. We have to do it for Ali." She reached into her sequined bag and found her phone. "I'll call the station. Wilden's probably there." She dialed and pressed her phone to her ear.
Behind them, the DJ shouted out, "Is everyone having a good time tonight?!" The crowd on the dance floor screamed, "Yeah!"
Emily shut her eyes. Melissa. Ever since the police had deemed Ali's death a murder, Emily hadn't been able to stop herself from imagining just how the murderer had done it. She'd envisioned Toby Cavanaugh grabbing Ali from behind, hitting her on the head, and throwing her into the DiLaurentises' half-dug gazebo hole. She'd tried to picture Spencer doing the same thing to Ali, distraught over Ali's relationship with Ian Thomas. Now she saw Melissa Hastings grabbing Ali's waist and dragging he toward the hole. Only…Melissa was so thin Emily couldn't quite believe she'd had the strength to coerce Ali into doing what she wanted. Perhaps she'd had a weapon, like a kitchen knife or a box cutter at Ali's delicate throat.
"Wilden's not answering." Spencer threw her phone back into her bag. "I'm just going to go down to the station." She paused, smacking herself on the forehead. "Shit. My parents drove me here. We came straight from New York. I don't have a car."
"I'll take you." Mona leaped up.
Emily stood up. "I'll go too."
"We'll all go," Hanna said.
Spencer shook her head. "Hanna, this is your party. You should stay."
"Seriously," Mona said.
Hanna adjusted her sling. "This party's been great, but this is more important."
Mona bit the edge of her lip awkwardly. "I think you should stay for a little while longer."
Hanna raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
Mona rocked back and forth on her heels. "We got Justin Timberlake to come."
Hanna clutched her chest as if Mona had shot her. "What?"
"He was my dad's client when he was just starting it, so he owed him a favor. Only, he's kind of late. I'm sure he'll be here soon, but I wouldn't want you to miss him." She smiled sheepishly.
"Whoa." Spencer widened her eyes. "Seriously? You didn't even tell me that."
"And you hate him, Mon," Hanna breathed.
Mona shrugged. "Well, it's not my party, is it? It's yours. He'd going to call you up to the stage to dance with him, Han. I wouldn't want you to miss it."
Hanna had liked Justin Timberlake as long as Emily had know her. Whenever Hanna used to talk about how Justin should be with her instead of Cameron Diaz, Ali would always cackle and say, "Well, with you, he'd sort of get two Camerons for the piece of one—you're twice her size!" Hanna would turn away, hurt, until Ali insisted that she shouldn't be so sensitive.
"I'll stay with you, Hanna," Emil said, grabbing Hanna's arm. "We'll stay for Justin. We'll stick really close together, next to that cop over there. Okay?"
"I don't know," Hanna said uncertainly, even though Emily could tell she wanted to stay. "Maybe we should go."
"Stay," Spencer urged. "Meet us there. You'll be okay here. A can't hurt you with a cop nearby. Just don't go to the bathroom or anywhere else alone."
Mona took Spencer's arm, and they slid through the crowd toward the tent's main opening. Emily shot Hanna a brave smile, her stomach churning. "Don't leave me," Hanna said in a small, terrified voice.
"I won't," Emily assured her. She took Hanna's hand and squeezed hard, but she couldn't help scanning the crowd nervously. Spencer had said she'd run into Melissa in the bathroom. That meant Ali's murderer was here with them right now.