❝ I genuinely thought the worst of this nightmare was over ❞
Halle Brewster told a lie, and the secrets kept growing. After slaying one stalker, another reared its nasty head, and Halle was starting to wonder if she'd ever be free from the friendshi...
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It felt a lot like Alison's funeral — what happened afterwards. In a shared state of worry — with the weight of A's last explosive text in their inboxes — they gathered. They weren't in their funeral attire like they had been a year ago, but it happened within the first few hours after Wilden's funeral like before. This time, their discussion took place in The Brew, having become their favourite haunt; it helped that they could stay really late thanks to Emily and had a fast-track supply of coffee to ease them throughout the late hour.
Aria wanted to set the record straight first — cancel out every possible suspect they could before the police accused them of murder. The first was Ashley Marin. Aria asked Hanna, "So, when was the last time your mom called you from New York?"
"I don't know—" Hanna was immediately frustrated at everything. She slammed her hand down on the table and said irritably at her friend, "The day before yesterday, I haven't really been keeping track."
"You should," Halle advised. In the middle of the high-top table they sat at, they had a collection of half-drunk drinks and an assortment of foods. Halle had just finished her sweet potato fries when she spoke. "Just in case."
Emily agreed, holding onto her cappuccino cup. She asked, "Have you checked your phone?"
"She called me from the hotel room, Emily." Hanna bore her deadly stare at the girl next to her, raving lowly as she flung up her hand clutching her mother's mobile. "She has no cell!"
Coolly, Halle reasoned, "Okay — we need to know how A got from New York and planted that—" she glanced at the phone Hanna set down, "in Wilden's coffin."
"And who was that freaky woman at the funeral," Hanna put in, still irate.
"Which freaky woman?" Aria asked, her eyebrows arched with her pointed comment. "There was a couple, Han."
"Jenna for one," Halle inserted, most obviously.
"Yeah," Aria jumped in to gossip. "Like who was the new guy? I thought she was with Shana," she said.
"They're not in the open yet," Emily considered.
"Like..." Halle made a show of sticking out her hand and forcing her wrist to go limp. "...in the open?"
"I was talking about with people knowing they know each other," Emily responded. "But, yeah — that too."
"Oh, god!" Hanna groaned, stressed beyond belief. "You guys are so frustrating! No — I meant the one in black, with the veil, and she was just diving into that town car."
"I don't know," Halle replied, causing Hanna to groan again and pinch the bridge of her nose at the half-dismissal. "But I sure as hell got freaky vibes from what Barry said about Wilden."
