chapter twenty seven
the devil you know
⎯⎯⎯⎯

The girls and Richie were looking over Ian's suicide note, a photo that Hanna had managed to get. "Is this a suicide note or a confession?" Aria asked. "It's both." Spencer answered. "Emily... How do you have this?" Josie asked. "I sent it to her. I took a picture with my phone before we called the cops." Hanna admitted. "It's weird why would Ian kill himself just as he was about to skip town with Melissa?" Richie asked, confused as he looked at the girls. "Maybe he realized he was gonna get caught, he couldn't hide forever, even with Melissa and Wren's help." Spencer said.  "He was probably desperate." Aria added. "Look, who cares why Ian did it? The important thing is, Ali's killer is dead and we're no longer people of interest." Hanna said, making Josie sigh and rub her forehead in stress.

"Why am I not feeling relieved right now?" Emily asked as she looked around at her friends.  "Oh, Em, come on. For months, we've been about as welcome in this town as a cold sore, and plus, now people know that we've been telling the truth." Aria said in a hushed whisper. "And Ian is out of your lives for good." Richie added. "Yeah... but 'A' isn't." Emily said, making Josie roll her eyes. "Can we please just slay one dragon at a time?" she asked as Spencer noticed Garrett walking their way, making Spencer turn the ipad off. "Hey." Spencer said as she leaned her head on her hands. "Hey." Garrett said, greeting her back.

"What are you doing here?" Spencer asked. "I just came to return some evidence we took from the field hockey office." he said, making her nod as she looked at her friends for a split second. "Hey, um, look, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry you all had to be the ones who found him." he said, looking at the girls. "Melissa's the one who found him." Josie corrected. "I'm sorry," he said. "Then again, it could have been worse." he added, making the girls confused. "What do you mean?" Aria asked. "Bodies decay. He'd been dead for at least a week." Garrett informed them before looking at Spencer.

"Give my best to your family." he said, making her nod. "Yeah." she said, not listening to him anymore. Once he was out of sight the girls started talking again. "A week!? No, that's impossible. He was texting Melissa." Hanna said. "No, he wasn't. I'm betting it was 'A'." Emily said she looked at her friends wide-eyed. "Why would 'A' pretend to be Ian and then lead us there to his body?" Josie asked as Richie grabbed her hands from under the table. "Does it matter? The guy was scum, and now he's dead scum, who cares if 'A' found him first?" Spencer said, making Josie nod in agreement.

"What does 'A' want?" Emily asked rhetorically. "You know what I want? I want to enjoy my life again before 'A' finds another way to ruin it." Hanna said before she began getting up, as well as everyone else. Richie and Josie had headed off in the direction of his locker, needing to get textbooks. "You okay?" he asked and she nodded in reply "Yeah, just tired, couldn't sleep last night, seeing a dead body in real life is nothing like it is on t.v," she said, making him nod.

⎯⎯⎯⎯

"This entire thing is insane!" Josie exclaimed as she paced around her living room as Richie sat on the arm of her couch. "Jo, i know okay," he said calmly, hoping Josie would stop pacing, it was freaking him out. "What would 'A' get out pretending to be Ian?" she asked, confused as she crossed her arms as Richie stood up. "I don't know but you need to calm down, okay," he says as he pulls her into his chest, holding her there as she calms down.

"How about we watch a movie, you pick." he said as she pulled away, but stayed at arms length and nodded her head. "Yeah," she said with a smile before Richie walked away to get a selection of movies, one's he knew she liked as she gets the food and drink. This is what she needed, a calm day, she felt like she hadn't slept properly in weeks, or at all. With everything going on, she felt she was permanently running on caffeine and no sleep, but as she sat down next to Richie on her couch, she felt peaceful, but she knew, deep down, it wasn't going to last long.

⎯⎯⎯⎯

The next day, the girls were in their classroom, waiting for the bell when Emily walked up to them. "Ian didn't commit suicide. that entire suicide letter is made up of 'A' texts." Emily rushed out, making Josie sit straight. "what? How do you know that?" she asked. "When I read it again, a couple of words stuck out to me, on a hunch, I checked my old text messages. come here." Emily said and the girls followed Emily to a table in the back corner, where no one else would hear them as she handed Aria a piece of paper and the girls read over her shoulder.

"I killed alison. I lost my temper because she knew too much. There's only so much you can bury. It won't be that easy but I know how to get rid of the pain. I can't run from the law. Come and find me. Ian." Aria read out, as the girls recognized the parts from the 'A' texts. "So these are the parts from the texts." Josie said, pointing over the paper. "There are only five people that know about these texts. Us and 'A'. it means that 'A' wrote that suicide note." Emily said. "How did you figure this out?" Aria breathed out in shock.

"Please. I've been watching Wheel of fortune with my mom since I was three, If 'A' wrote this, that means that Ian never actually confessed to killing Ali in writing." Spencer said frustrated. "It gets worse." Emily said, making Josie sigh and mutter 'of course it does'. "Logan Reed, the guy who dropped off the money for Ian the night of the sting? Well, I know where he works. we need more answers." Emily said, making the girls share a look.

⎯⎯⎯⎯

Hanna and Josie were walking the halls, when they overheard someone talking, and when the girls looked over it was Caleb and some lady, who Josie assumed was his foster mother. Hanna had told Josie what his situation was, but made her promise not to tell anyone. The two girls hid behind a wall quickly, so they weren't seen. "Thanks so much for your concern. I will be sure to have all these forms back to you by tomorrow." the lady said as she sent an obviously fake smile towards a staff member. "What happened to giving me a head's up? Do you know how stupid it makes me look when I can't answer questions about you?" she questioned, making Josie clench her jaw. This lady seemed like an ass.

"Here's a crib sheet. I like kung-fu flicks, my favourite colour is blue, and I once went four days without a meal." Caleb said, fakely making the lady send him a glare. "Cute. don't let it happen again. It is a serious pain in the ass for me to come all the way down here just to drop these off." she said as she gestured to the papers in hand before leaving Caleb alone in the hallway before he walked off, Josie and Hanna hid again, not realising they could have been caught because of how much they leaned forward to be able to hear.

⎯⎯⎯⎯

Josie, Richie and the girls walked into the church as the Bell tolls. "Who's ringing it this time?" Hanna questions as they stop and look at Ians's casket before Spencer walks up to them. "Hey." Spencer greeted them softly.  "Hey." Aria responded as Emily, Hanna, Josie and Richie sent her smiles. "Thanks for being here." she said as she looked at her friends. "How's your family doing?" Richie asked softly, arms looped with Josie's, making Spencer look back at an upset Melissa. "What are the cops doing here?" Emily asked, making Spencer sigh.

"Um...my parents wanted them here in case any uninvited guests showed up." she answered. "I thought my no-party-crashers policy was strict." Hanna mumbled. "I think Spencer means "angry mob with torches"-type guests." Aria corrected her. "I should probably get back to my family. Thanks." Spencer said and the girls said goodbye before leaving her to go with her family. When the ceremony started, the girls stuck by Spencer's side, while Richie stood with Jennifer Carmen, who had come to show her support to Spencer and her family.

⎯⎯⎯⎯

Later that night Emily had sent out an S.O.S, which was why the girls were meeting at the graveyard. "Okay, if we get caught, we are in so much trouble!" Aria whispered urgently to the others. "Oh, please. Like we're the first teenagers to sneak in a graveyard?" Hanna asked rhetorically. "It's like chapter one of every Stephen King book." Josie added. "Guys! Not helping." Spencer said, trying to make them focus. "Okay, I think we're close." Emily as she looked at the map.

"Wait. Stop." Aria said, making the girls stop and look at her. "I'm-I'm not going any further until you tell me why we're here." she stammered. "I told you, I think 'A' set us up." Emily said. "And I do too." Spencer added. "Emily's right. This isn't over. I thought I'd feel differently once we buried Ian, but I don't, and it's because 'A' is still alive and calling the shots." Spencer said before going to walk off. "B-but what does that mean?" Josie asked, still confused as to why they were taking a late night stroll in a graveyard.

"I think 'A' took the body and made it look like a suicide." Emily explained. "Why would 'A' do that?" Hanna asked as they continued to walk through the graveyard, following Emily's directions. "So that the confession in the suicide note makes Ali's murder look like an open-and-shut case." Spencer explained. "But that would mean that 'A' was helping us this whole time, we've been trying to convince the police that Ian killed Ali." Josie said as she looked towards Spencer. "Exactly, and why would 'A' help us when we know that 'A' ultimately wants to hurt us?" Spencer asked.

"Ugh! I'm confused, and I'm stepping on something mushy." Hanna said, cringing as she continued to walk. "What Spence means is, how do we know for sure that Ian is Ali's killer?" Emily asked, explaining Spencer's theory. "What do you mean? The 'kissing rock' video." Josie said, confused. "And-and the missing tree." Hanna continued, "'A' gave us those things. 'A' is the one who handed us Ali's killer on a silver platter." Emily said, turning to the girls. "And whatever 'A' gives, the bitch takes back." Spencer added.

"Guys, look." Emily said, pointing her flashlight towards something on the ground, making the girls share a look before walking towards it before Emily shunned her flashlight onto a headstone. Alison's headstone just before a video started playing, making the girls gasp and look up, hearing Alison's laughter. "I know you want to kiss me." Alison said in the video, as she sat upon the kissing rock before getting up and turning the camera on Ian. "Come closer." Ian asked.

"Where's it coming from?" Spencer asked as the girls looked around for any sign of people or something before they looked back at the video, seeing Alison's hand gripping the ground but gasping as it continued to grip the ground before they heard Alison laugh before she picked the camera up off the ground and pointed it towards herself. "Oh, my God!" Emily exclaimed. "She was still alive!" Josie said in shock as the video points towards Ian, who was putting his jacket back on. 

"Thanks for meeting me." Alison said as Ian leaned over her, covering the camera and kissed her, before she giggled as the video ended, making the girls turn around, huddled together, trying to find where this video was playing from. Few moments later the girls were running around the graveyard. "I definitely think the projector's over here." Spencer said as they walked toward another part of the graveyard.

"I don't know. Had to be closer." Aria said, voicing her thoughts. "Are you sure it wasn't further away?" Hanna asked. "Wasn't it on the ground?" Emily asked. "No, it was definitely up in a tree." Josie and Spencer said in unison, having the same thought as the five of them continued walking, not even noticing someone was standing there, with a camera.

⎯ AUTHORS NOTE
new chapter !