"If you had that much cash lying around, you'd probably also have a bomb shelter and like five years' worth of dehydrated meat." -Spencer Hastings
Isabel was making herself a milkshake in Spencer's kitchen while Spencer typed up April Rose. Supposedly, when Hanna read the note, it and the name April Rose on it. It seemed like such a pretty name. April Rose. Isabel wished it were her name.
Toby was also in the kitchen, trying unsuccessfully to engage Spencer with his news.
"So I went and showed her the place, and she said she loved it," he said proudly. "I think I did a good job." He walked over to the couch where Spencer was sitting with a bottle of water in his hand. "Once I finish putting the beams in the loft, she said they'd be interested in me doing some custom work for them."
"Wow, that's incredible," Isabel agreed, wide-eyed.
"That's great," Spencer muttered with no less energy.
"She even gave my name to an architect she knows," Toby added, looking back over at Isabel. Spencer's phone beeped, and she checked it.
"An architect? Gee, Toby, that is so impressive," Isabel replied, and Toby beamed. Isabel cleared her throat pointedly, and Spencer spoke up.
"That... that's great," she stammered, her eyes still glued on her laptop.
"Spencer," Toby sighed as he sat down next to her. Isabel took this as her cue to leave.
"I'll be back later," she smiled, and Toby waved goodbye.
"That's great," Spencer said, obviously not paying attention.
-
Later, Spencer texted Isabel to meet her in the town square. Isabel obliged, seeing no reason to dodge it, but it still seemed strange. The town square? Why not at her house, or Isabel's apartment?
"Hey, what's up?" She frowned, walking over. The wind blew her hair around, and she spit it out of her face.
"Hi," Spencer said, looking past Isabel. Isabel turned around and groaned.
"Really, Spence?" She huffed as Jason walked up to her.
"Bear with me, I know you don't want to be reminded of his... past, but it may be the only way we can find this April Rose girl," Spencer pleaded as Jason sat down next to her. "Please?"
"Yeah, whatever," Isabel sighed. She sat down in between Spencer and Jason.
"So, what's up?" He asked them.
"Like I know," Isabel muttered under her breath, and Spencer gave her the 'seriously?' look.
"We need to talk to you about Garrett. His case," Spencer replied.
"Then you know... about the evidence," Jason nodded.
"So it has been thrown out?" Isabel asked, recalling the message Spencer had sent her a couple hours ago.
"Not yet, but it will be," Jason shrugged.
"Look, I think I might have a way to make sure that Garrett's case doesn't fall apart," Spencer said. "But I'm at a dead end, and at this point the only person who might be able to help me is you."
"What can I do?" He responded.
"Do you know somebody named April Rose?" Spencer questioned, and Jason shook his head. "So you've never heard of her?"
"But to be honest, there were so many girls hanging around us at the time, I could have met her and not even known it," he added.
"And by 'us,' you mean..." Spencer frowned.
"Garrett, Ian and I," Jason nodded.
"Right. The NAT Club," Spencer agreed, and he stared at her, then at Isabel.
"How'd you know about that?" he frowned, and Isabel looked away pointedly.
"I may or may not have... ranted about it to her," she muttered, and Jason gave her the 'really?' look. "Hey, I was pissed when I found out about you and your secret film club," she added, and he was silent.
"Do you think that she could have been one of the girls that you filmed?" Spencer pressed.
"Well, I didn't film any of those videos," Jason replied, sparing Isabel a sheepish glance.
"Yeah, but you watched them. Didn't you?" Spencer asked as he cowered under Isabel's glare. Not the best subject to dredge up. "How did you get that honor without doing any of the grunt work?"
"It was his idea," Isabel laughed humorlessly.
"Look, like I said before, I was messed up," Jason said, more to Isabel than Spencer. "High school was just one big blur. And it's not an excuse, Isa."
"I never said it was," Isabel shrugged. "Look, I was messed up, too. I did a lot of things that I'm not proud of, and I get that you did, too." She grabbed his hand, and he smiled down at her.
"Do you think she could have been in one of the videos?" Spencer asked, ruining the moment.
"It's possible," Jason shrugged as the wind blew his hair around. Damn, he looked hot. "Or maybe she was just one of their 'employees.'"
"What does that mean?" Spencer frowned.
"I think Ian and Garrett were paying girls to set up their friends. I don't know. At that time I had kind of walked away from it all," he replied.
"So were you guys the only members?" Spencer pressed.
"Officially? Yeah," he nodded. "But Ian had help. There's no way he could have filmed it all on his own. At times, I even thought maybe he was filming it for someone else."
"Like Ali?" Isabel muttered under her breath, and Spencer gave her the death stare. "Sorry, sorry."
"I'll catch up with you later," Spencer finally sighed, getting up.
"Yeah," Jason agreed, also getting up. They both stared at Isabel expectantly.
"What- are you kidding me?" She scoffed, picking up her bag and walking over to Jason.
"Meet us at the Grille," Spencer called, and Isabel nodded before walking off with him.
-
Later (not saying how much later), Isabel met up with the girls at the Grille.
"There you are," Spencer said as she sat down. "Where were you?"
"Does it matter?" Isabel shrugged as Hanna chuckled at her. Yeah, they all knew where she was.
Spencer resumed her explanation of what they got from Jason (what Spencer got).
"I can't believe you asked him that," Hanna scoffed when Spencer was done.
"Me neither," Isabel agreed, and Spencer sighed at her.
"We have to find this girl, and if anybody knows who she is, it's Jason," Spencer insisted.
"Well, he doesn't," Isabel snapped. "'A's already mad at me for getting back with him, imagine what she's gonna do when she learns about this!"
"Look, I'm sorry," Spencer apologized. "He might not have recognized her name, but he could recognize her by a picture."
"I wonder if April was the type of girl who pimped out her friends," Hanna mused.
"I don't know. All I know is that the prosecution's case is crumbling, and we have to get to this girl before 'A' does," Spencer sighed as Hanna looked at Isabel for help. "Whatever Garrett wants destroyed could be the only thing left that keeps him in jail."
"Do you think Maya found those tapes with Ali's stuff?" Isabel asked, changing the subject, and Hanna looked at her gratefully.
"It's possible. Maybe that's what Garrett was after all along,"Spencer shrugged. "Maybe April Rose has a tape. Maybe that's what Garrett wants 'A' to destroy."
"What I don't get is why would 'A' take direction from Garrett?" Hanna scoffed.
"It might be the other way around," Isabel muttered, and they looked at her. "I mean, think about it. Garrett might have done whatever 'A' told him to and that's how he wound up behind bars."
"Hey. Sorry I'm late," Aria said, sitting down next to Hanna and across from Isabel.
"Finally. I'm starving," Isabel complained.
"Me too," Spencer agreed, looking at her. "Do you want to split some cheese fries?"
"No, I want my own," Isabel scoffed.
"Hey, so, the plan's changed for tonight," Hanna explained, turning to Aria.
"It's not a plan, it's a suicide mission," Spencer said sarcastically.
"Okay, you know what, the church is gonna be crawling with people, so we're not gonna be able to figure out who 'A' is," Hanna huffed, putting up a hand to wave off Spencer. "Emily and I are gonna hide behind the organ and just see who shows up."
"I don't think that you should-" Spencer began, but Hanna cut her off.
"No, Spencer, it's not about confronting, okay?" she snapped. "I just want to see who it is so I'll know how to plan a real attack." Isabel stared at her, and she corrected herself. "We. When we attack.
"Just be careful. And wear sensible shoes," Isabel sighed.
"Hey, I wear three inches or I wear nothing," Hanna shrugged, getting up. "I would like me some cheese fries, too, so order that. Oh, and a side salad. To soak up the cheese." She left to the bathroom.
Aria was silent, obviously deep in thought.
"What's with you? You're acting like a pod person," Spencer frowned, looking over at her.
"Hmm?" Aria asked, looking up. "Oh. I..." She turned to Isabel. "I was just trying to remember how much reward money Jason offered."
"$50,000. Why?" Isabel replied, sipping her lemonade.
"And that was cash, right?" Aria added.
"Yeah," Isabel nodded.
"Did he just have all that money lying around his house?" Aria pressed, and Isabel looked at her funny. Why did she care?
"Well, I doubt it," Spencer said.
"Yeah, I know he's rich, but storing fifty thousand dollars in your house?" Isabel agreed. "That's just suspicious."
"But if someone did, would that be weird?" Aria kept on.
"If you had that much cash lying around, you'd probably also have a bomb shelter and like five years' worth of dehydrated meat," Spencer said, and Isabel laughed. "Or you're a criminal." She looked over at Isabel. "I do want my own cheese fries."
-
Later, after Toby took Hanna to the church party to trap 'A', Isabel went over to Spencer's.
"Look, Spence, if 'A's involved in this, then that whole April Rose thing might be a red herring," Isabel sighed as Spencer walked into her kitchen.
"Isabel-" She began, but there was a knock on the door, and Jason walked in.
"Hey, babe, what's up?" Isabel asked, walking over.
"Hey. Found April Rose," he replied.
"Did you talk to her?" Spencer asked, also walking over.
"It's not a 'her,'" Jason said, showing Isabel a book. It was an antique shop! "It's an 'it.'"
"You're driving," Spencer said as they rushed out.
-
When they arrived at the shop, there was an ancient lady sitting in a rocking chair, listening to music.
"Oh. Hi," Spencer said.
"Good evening," Jason added, looking a bit creeped out. Isabel resisted the urge to laugh, but only barely.
"Hello," she choked out, and Spencer stared at her.
"Good evening, folks," an old man smiled, walking up to them. "I'm getting ready to close. Uh... How can I help you?"
"We just came in to pick up something that might have been set aside?" Jason explained as Spencer wandered the shop. Isabel stayed glued to Jason's side, curious, yes, but not that curious.
"Uh-huh," the shop owner nodded.
"Were you asked to hold anything?" Isabel repeated.
"Half this shop," the shop owner chuckled, and Jason exchanged an exasperated look with Isabel. "But I'm not holding my breath anybody's coming back."
"Well, you see, a friend of ours dropped something off and asked us to pick it up," Isabel continued, nervously fidgeting with her hands.
"But we don't know exactly what it is, and our friend can't be reached," Jason added.
Spencer called them over after a while of this, and explained how some anklet she saw was once Ali's.
"You're sure this is it?" Isabel asked. Spencer had wrapped the thing in cloth as not to get her fingerprints on it.
"I'm positive," Spencer nodded. "She never took it off."
"Uh, how much do you want for this?" Jason asked the shop owner, who walked over.
"I don't know. I've never seen that before," the owner replied.
"I just found it on this mannequin," Spencer explained, holding it up.
"Must have been brought in here in the past couple of days," the shop owner shrugged.
"And you don't happen to know who dropped it off?" Isabel pressed.
"It's-" he started, reaching for it, but Spencer pulled it closer to herself. "There's no code, no tags. I can't sell it to you folks. It's a display piece."
"How about if I give you a hundred dollars?" Jason offered.
"It's not my decision to make," the owner sighed.
"Will two hundred make it your decision?" Jason asked. The owner was silent, and Jason added, "Four hundred." He pulled out his wallet, fishing out four hundred dollars, and Isabel's mouth dropped.
"How the hell does he just make money appear out of thin air?" Isabel whispered to Spencer.
"Beats me," Spencer shrugged as the shop owner took the money.
-
Isabel and Jason walked out of the police station, and up to Spencer.
"Hey. How did it go?" She asked, turning to them.
"As well as it could, I guess," Jason sighed. "I told 'em we got an anonymous tip and they seemed to believe us."
"So when will we know when...?" Spencer asked.
"He didn't say," Isabel replied, shoving her hands in her pockets. Why was it always freezing?
"What do we do now?" Spencer asked, turning to Isabel as if she knew everything.
"Now we wait," Jason answered for her.
"Um... Do you still have those letters?" Spencer gulped. "The ones that helped you figure out that my dad is our dad."
"Yeah," Jason muttered.
"May I see them?" Spencer asked, and Isabel stared at her. Why?
"Oh, Spencer. You don't want to do that," he said, shaking his head. "It'll just... hurt." Spencer smiled at him, and he added, "What?"
"Uh..." she laughed. "Nothing. I was... Just thinking about how different you are from Ali. I mean, the reason that you don't want me to see them is the very reason that she would want me to."
"I wonder what kind of person she would have turned into," Isabel muttered, and Jason turned to her.
"I mean, I see it with the kids I work with, and at first they're all attitude, but you peel back the layers and you usually find a person underneath," he explained.
"Yeah, but with Ali, I'd keep peeling, I just..." Spencer began, not able to find the right words.
"Always seemed to find new layers," Isabel finished.