"Hey!" Lily called as she ran over to Spencer, Emily, Aria and Hanna who were gathered outside the school "What's going on?"
"Spencer hasn't shown her sister the mask yet," Hanna said, glaring at Spencer
"What why?" Lily asked "That's the only lead we have,"
"It might not be," Spencer said "All the mask does is place her there,"
"Yeah but we don't know why or when she was there," Lily said
"And apart from that, my dad's home because Family Services called my parents," Emily added "Someone saw my mum and I fight and now I have to lie about taking my mums pills and why I needed them,"
"It'll blow over," Lily shrugged
"That might but my mum being involved in Wilden's case won't," Hanna said "My dad told Caleb his gun is missing and he thinks my mum took it so if Wilden was shot with the same type of gun then I don't know how to even ask her about it,"
"God our lives are twisted," Lily shook her head
What the five girls didn't notice was two police officers sitting in a car across the road watching them closely "Those are the ones you told me about?" A female officer was asking her partner, staring at the five girls
"That's them." Holbrook nodded
"If I dressed like that when I was in high school, my dad woulda had a stroke." She said
"I coulda gotten used to it." Holbrook said and looked out the window, pointing at Lily "I don't mind seeing her in a short top,"
"Don't make me sorry I picked you for this. We're not here to get cozy."
"I know." Holbrook grinned "We're here to solve a couple of homicides the locals keep tripping over."
"And find out what it is about those five pretty girls that attracts so many corpses."
The school bell rang so the five girls walked inside for the day and after school Lily decided to go along to Ashley's office with Hanna since she too was worried about how this Wilden case was going along
Plus also they were still trying to figure out why Ashley hadn't told anyone that she had actually been in Rosewood the night Wilden had been killed
When they got into her office it was empty so Hanna immediately went for the calendar book on her mother's desk, rifling through to find the date Wilden had died but before they could find it they heard footsteps coming so they stepped away from the desk and suddenly Ashley, Detective Holbrook and a female detective walked in from the corridor that led to the safety deposit boxes
"Oh. Hello, Hanna, Lily." Holbrook said
"Officer Holbrook." Hanna nodded and Ashley looked at her daughter in surprise that they knew him already "We met him at Wilden's funeral."
"This is my partner, Lieutenant Tanner." Holbrook said, gesturing to the female officer next to him
"Hanna Marin."
"Lily Jackson." The girls introduced themselves
Hello, Hanna, Lily." Tanner nodded politely
"Hello." Hanna said and Lily just nodded in reply
"Hanna, I'll call you." Ashley said, desperate to get the girls away from the officers
"Oh, that's all right, they can stay." Holbrook said, his eyes on Lily again who just rolled her eyes "This isn't gonna take long."
"Whose box is that?" Hanna asked, gesturing to the box they had brought into the office
"Darren Wilden's." Holbrook said and they opened it, pulling out stacks of money
"Oh, nice nest egg." Tanner said
"The bank discourages depositors from keeping cash in their safe deposit boxes." Ashley added
"That's a good policy." She nodded
"Two passports." Holbrook added, holding them up "One American, and one Canadian."
Tanner nodded and pulled something else out, but it was covered in a cloth until she pulled it off to reveal a gun "You should warn your customers about keeping firearms, too."
"You think that's his drop gun?" Holbrook asked
"Let's not speak ill of the dead, Gabriel, but the serial number's been filed off." Tanner explained
"So would you have been the one to take Wilden into the vault?" Holbrook asked Ashley
"Uh, if I was here, yes." Ashley nodded
"So as far as you know, no bank employee has ever seen the contents of this box?" Tanner asked
"That's right." She replied nervously
"Except for you." Tanner said and Ashley, Hanna and Lily were all afraid of the implications behind her words "I mean, just now... When he opened it."
"Yes, that would be the first time." Ashley nodded
"Take everything, including the box." Tanner told Holbrook and turned to Ashley "Would you mind if I have a butterscotch?"
"Please." Ashley gestured to the small bowl of sweets on her desk and Tanner took one
"Hanna," Lily said "Come on we have to get to Aria's," It was a lie, they had nowhere to go, Lily just wanted to get out of this situation
"I'll see you later," Hanna said to her mother who shot her a relieved smile and the girls began to leave the office
"Goodbye Hanna." Holbrook said before his eyes settled on Lily, glancing her up and down quickly "Lily."
Hanna looked between them. She had noticed the way his eyes had lingered on her at Wilden's funeral, but it appeared his interest in her was definitely more than official work business.
Lily felt a shiver run up her spine as his eyes bore into her. But she knew this was definitely not the right setting for anything inappropriate, so she sent him a quick smile before dragging Hanna out of the office with her
Lily dropped Hanna off at home before she went back to her own house and she and Caleb went for a quick run with Teddy before making dinner together
The next day was a Saturday and Lily had been planning to just spend today alone relaxing but her plans were disrupted when there was a sharp knock to her front door so she had to get off the sofa to answer it
"Hi," She said, surprised to see Mike outside her door
"Hey," He said "I realised that I never apologised to you for the way I acted at school, I shouldn't have taken it out on you, this whole thing with my mum moving on has been pissing me off,"
"Yeah don't worry," Lily smiled "I get it,"
"Well," Mike revealed something he had been hiding behind his back "I brought over the Karate Kid DVD as an apology,"
"Come in," Lily chuckled "You can get the movie set up I'll go make popcorn,"
Mike headed into the living room while Lily went to the kitchen and put some popcorn in the microwave and when it was done she put it all in a bowl and went to the living room to join Mike who had made himself comfortable on the sofa
"How's everything gone since that detective died?" Mike asked "And don't say it's fine because I've watched Aria and she's always still looking over her shoulder,"
"Yeah there's a new one in town," Lily sighed "He seems to be working a lot harder to solve this which is better but he stares at me a lot,"
"Well let me know if he bothers you," Mike said
"Yeah I think you've gotten in enough fights before," Lily chuckled "I can't have you getting arrested for hurting a state officer,"
"Come on, I could easily beat him in a fight," Mike grinned and Lily rolled her eyes
"Keep telling yourself that," Lily said "Besides I can deal with a few creepy stares,"
"You shouldn't have to," Mike said
"Don't worry about it," She shrugged "Cops in Rosewood don't seem to last long anyways so he'll probably be gone in a week,"
"True," Mike laughed
The next day when it got dark Aria, Spencer and Lily were going back out to Hector Lime's studio because Spencer had finally had the guts to show Melissa the mask and they were following her to the studio to see what would happen
"So, I take it this is Hector's place." Spencer said as she took a look at the creepy house
"Yep, in all its creepiness." Aria whispered
As the trio walked towards the house the front door opened so all 3 of quickly ducked behind the side of the house so as not to be seen. It was Melissa leaving the house, dragging a sack behind her on the ground
"Is that sack big enough for Hector?" Spencer whispered
"No." Lily replied
"Good." Spencer nodded "Okay, I want to follow Melissa. Can you two keep an eye on Hector?"
"Yeah, sure. I've had all of three martial arts lessons." Aria said sarcastically
"I have a knife," Lily shrugged and Spencer laughed quietly before creeping off into the dark to follow after her sister so Lily turned to Aria "Come on," The two girls walked around the front of the house and peered into the open front door
There was no sign of Hector yet so they decided to enter the house and look for not only Hector but also any other clues that could link him or Melissa to Alison
Aria took our her torch and the pair of them walked into the back room Hanna had gone into during their last visit, they searched the room but didn't find anything until Aria stopped and stared at the mirror.
Lily looked at what she was seeing and in the reflection they could see another mask of Alison's face, they headed over to the shelf it was on and sure enough it was Ali. Lily peeled back a sheet covering the other masks on that shelf and every one on the shelf was of Alison's face
"Oh my god," Lily whispered. The lights in the main room switched on which meant Hector was in there so Lily grabbed one of the masks and headed into the room where Hector had his back to her "Knock knock." Hector jumped when he heard her voice
"I'm closed for business right now." Hector said
"Well, you probably should have locked your doors." Aria replied and Lily held up the mask "You told Emily that you destroyed all of these."
"I said I destroyed the mould." Hector corrected her "I kept the casting."
"So you lied." She said
"I didn't have the heart to destroy them." Hector took the mask from Lily, almost caressing the mask "I mean, look at her. She's beautiful."
"Did Alison ever come out here with anybody else?" Lily asked
"No." Hector answered "She was always alone. Except-"
"Except what?" Aria asked
"She once came here demanding the money in return for me using her face," Hector explained "She seemed panicked, anxious to leave and then I watched her leave the house and get into the passenger seat of someone's car. And that was the last I saw of her."
"Did you see who was driving the car?" Lily asked
"Bad angle." He shrugged
"When was this?"
"That summer she disappeared." He answered
"What about Melissa?" Lily asked "That woman that was just here, that woman that left with the sack. What was she doing here?"
"She wanted to know about those." Hector gestured to the masks "I made her the same deal."
"She traded her face for information?" Lily asked and Hector nodded "What did you tell her?"
"Less than I told you. " Hector replied and examined her closely "You know, you have a very interesting face."
"Yeah, I'm gonna keep it, too." Lily said "Thanks for this," Aria and Lily hurried out of the house and they looked around the lake, finding Spencer standing alone on a pier so they hurried around the lake and rushed over to her "Where's Melissa?"
"She's gone." Spencer mumbled, almost numbly
"Well, where'd she go?" Aria asked
"It doesn't matter. She's gone." Spencer said "Let's go," They followed her back to her car and during the ride she told them everything Melissa had said
It had been Melissa in the other costume on the Halloween train, she hadn't been working with Wilden though, he had been blackmailing people into helping him. And Jenna and Shana had been at the lodge that night to try find out who red coat was as well
But Melissa neither confessed to or denied to killing Wilden, and now Spencer couldn't find her
"Her car's gone and she's not in the barn." Spencer told them
"Do you believe what she told you?" Aria asked Spencer after she put the kettle on "Part of it? Any of it?"
"Enough of it." Spencer nodded "For now."
"Then you believe that she didn't kill Wilden." Lily added but Spencer was saved from answering by their phones all chiming in unison so they all read them
Melissa's guilty of plenty, but she's not A material. Kisses. - A
"I'll call Emily, one of you call Hanna." Spencer said so Aria began dialling Hanna's number but before she could press call Hanna walked into the house
"Okay, I dial fast, but I'm not that good." Aria said in surprise
"Hey. We know how Mona got the Ali mask and who burned down the lodge." Spencer told Hanna "At least we think we do."
Lily could clearly see the fear and nervousness in Hanna's eyes and posture "Hanna, what's wrong?"
"I think my mum killed Wilden, and "A" knows it." She told them