Spencer limped to the back of the squad car with Aria and Wilden's help. They asked her again and again if she needed an ambulance. Spencer said she was pretty sure she didn't—nothing felt broken, and luckily, she'd fallen on the grass, knocking herself out for a moment, but not damaging anything. She dangled her legs out the squad car's back door and Wilden crouched in front of her, holding a notepad and a tape recorder. "Are you sure you want to do this right now?"
Spencer nodded forcefully.
Emily, Aria, and Hanna gathered behind Wilden as he pressed the Record button. The headlights of another squad car made a halo around him, backlighting his body in red. It reminded Spencer of the way bonfires used to silhouette her friends' bodies at summer camp. If only she were really at summer camp, right now.
Wilden took a deep breath. "So. You're sure she told you Ian Thomas killed Ali."
Spencer nodded. "Ali had given him an ultimatum the night she went missing. She wanted them to meet…and she said if Ian didn't break up with Melissa by the time she went to Prague, Ali would tell everyone what was going on." She pushed her greasy, mud-caked hair off her face. "It's written in Ali's diary. Mona has it. I don't know where, but—"
"We're going to search Mona's house," Wilden interrupted, placing a hand on Spencer's knee. "Don't worry." He turned away and spoke into his walkie-talkie, radioing other cops to locate Ian to bring him in for questioning. Spencer listened, staring numbly at the dirt caked under her fingernails.
Her friends stood around for a long time, stunned. "God," Emily whispered. "Ian Thomas? That just sounds…crazy. But I guess it makes sense. He was so much older, and if she ever told anyone, well…"
Spencer pulled her arms around herself, feeling goose bumps rising on her skin. To her, Ian didn't make sense. Spencer believed that Ali had threatened him, and she believed that Ian might've gotten angry, but angry enough to kill her? It was eerie, too, that in all the time Spencer had spent with him, she hadn't suspected Ian one bit. He hadn't seemed nervous or remorseful or pensive whenever Ali's murder came up.
But perhaps she'd misinterpreted the signs—she'd missed plenty of others. She'd gotten into the car with Mona, after all. Who knew what else was right in front of her face that she didn't see?
A beep came over Wilden's walkie-talkie. "The suspect isn't at his residence," a female cop's voice called. "What do you want us to do?"
"Shit." Wilden looked at Spencer. "Can you think where else Ian might be?"
Spencer shook her head, her brain feeling like it was plodding through a swamp. Wilden threw himself in the front seat. "I'll drive you home," he said. "Your parents are on their way home from the country club, too."
"We want to go to Spencer's with you." Aria indicated for Spencer to move over, then she, Hanna, and Emily all crammed into the backseat. "We don't want to leave her alone."
"You guys, you don't have to," Spencer said softly. "And anyway, Aria, your car." She motioned to Aria's Subaru, which looked like it was sinking into the mud.
"I can leave it overnight." Aria smirked. "Maybe I'll get lucky and someone will steal it."
Spencer folded her hands in her lap, too weak to protest. The car was silent as Wilden rolled past the Floating Man Quarry sign, the along the narrow trail that led to the main road. It was hard to believe that just an hour and a half had passed since Spencer left the party. Things were so different now.
"Mona was there the night we hurt Jenna," Spencer mumbled absently.
Aria nodded. "It's a long story, but I actually talked to Jenna tonight. Jenna knows what we did. Only, get this—she and Ali set it up together."
Spencer sat up straighter. For a moment, she couldn't breathe. "What? Why?"
"She said that she and Ali both had sibling issues or something," Aria explained, not sounding very confident in the answer.
"I just don't understand that," Emily whispered. "I saw Jason DiLaurentis on the news the other day. He said he doesn't even speak to his parents anymore, and that his family was really messed up. Why would he say that?"
"There's a lot you can't tell about people, looking in from the outside," Hanna murmured tearfully.
Spencer covered her face with her hands. There was so much she didn't understand, so much that didn't make sense. She knew that things should at least feel resolved now—A was really gone, Ali's killer would soon be apprehended—but she felt more lost than ever. She took her hands away, staring at the silver of moon in the sky. "You guys," Spencer broke the silence, "there's something I need to tell you."
"Something else?" Hanna wailed.
"Something…about the night Ali went missing." Spencer slid her silver charm bracelet up and down her arm, keeping her voice to a whisper. "You know how I ran out of the barn after Ali? And how I said I didn't see where she was going? We'll…I did see. She went right down the path. I went up to her and…and we fought. It was about Ian. I…I'd kissed Ian not long before, and Ali had told me that he only kissed me because she told him to. And she said that she and Ian were really in love, and she teased me for caring."
Spencer felt her friends' eyes on her. She gathered up strength to go on.
"I got so mad…I shoved her. She fell against the rocks. There was this awful crack nose." A tear wobbled out of the corner of her eye and spilled down her cheek. She hung her head. "I'm sorry, guys. I should've told you. I just…I didn't remember. And then when I did, I was so scared."
When she looked up, her friends were aghast. Even Wilden's head tilted toward the back, as if he were trying to listen. If they wanted to, they could throw the Ian theory out the window. They could make Wilden stop the car and make Spencer repeat exactly what she'd said. Things could go in a horrible in reaction from here.
Emily was the first to take Spencer's hand. Then Hanna placed hers on top of Emily's, and then Aria laid hers on top of Hanna's. It reminded Spencer of when they used to all touch the photo of the five of them that hung in Ali's foyer. "We know it wasn't you," Emily whispered.
"It was Ian. It all makes sense," Aria said forcefully, gazing into Spencer's eyes. It seemed like she believed Spencer wholly and completely.
They reached Spencer's street, and Wilden pulled into her family's long, circular driveway. Spencer's parents weren't home yet, and the house was dark. "Do you want me to stay with you guys until your folks get home?" Wilden asked as the girls got out.
"It's okay." Spencer glanced around at the others, suddenly relieved that they were here.
Wilden backed out the driveway and turned slowly around the cul-de-sac, first passing the DiLaurentises' old house, then the Cavanaughs', and then the Vanderwaals', the big monstrosity with the detached garage down the street. There was no one home at Mona's, obviously. Spencer shuddered.
A flash of light in the backyard caught her eye. Spencer cocked her head, her heart speeding up. She walked down the stone path that led to her backyard and curled her hands along the stone wall surrounding their property. Then, past the deck, the rock-lined pool, the burbling hot tub, the expansive yard, and even the renovated barn at the very back of the property near where Ali had fallen, Spencer saw two figures, lit only by moonlight. They reminded her of something.
The wind picked up, tiptoeing up and down Spencer's back. Even though it wasn't the right season, the air briefly smelled like honeysuckle, just as it had that horrible night four and a half years ago. All at once, her memory broke free. She saw Ali fall backward into the stone wall. A crack rang out through the air, as loud as church bells. When Spencer heard the girlish gasp in her ear, she turned. No one was behind her. No one was anywhere. And when she turned back, Ali was still slumped against the stone wall, but her eyes were open. And them, Ali grunted and pushed herself to her feet.
She was fine.
Ali glared at Spencer, about to speak, but something down the path distracted her. She took off fast, disappearing into a thicket of trees. In seconds, Spencer heard Ali's signature giggle. There was rustling, and then two distinct shapes. One was Ali's. Spencer couldn't tell who the other person was, but it didn't look like Melissa. It was hard to believe that, only moments after this, Ian would push Ali into the DiLaurentises' half-dug gazebo hole. Ali might've been a bitch, but she didn't deserve anything like that.
"Spencer?" Hanna said softly, her voice sounding far away. "What's wrong?"
Spencer opened her eyes and shuddered. "I didn't do it," she whispered.
The figures near the barn stepped into the light. Melissa's posture was stiff and Ian's fists clenched. The wind carried their voices to the front yard, and it sounded like they were fighting.
Spencer's nerves felt ignited. She wheeled around and looked down her street. Wilden's car was gone. Frantically, she fumbled in her pocket for her phone, but remembered—Mona had thrown it out the window.
"I got it," Hanna said, pulling out her own BlackBerry and dialing a number. She handed the phone to Spencer. Calling WILDEN, the screen said.
Spencer had to hold the phone with two hands, her fingers were trembling so badly. Wilden answered after two rings. "Hanna?" He sounded confused. "What is it?"
"It's Spencer," Spencer bleated. "You have to turn around. Ian's here."