“Good night,” Ali had said, grabbing pajamas from the top drawer. Her sister liked Pink boxers from Victoria’s Secret—so lame. But she’d dutifully pulled them on, feeling a rush of triumph. Her parents might have been a little confused at first, but they had bought it in the end. She was sleeping in her old room. Yes.
But this morning, with her parents staring at her and calling her Courtney, doubt crept into her mind. Maybe her panic had seemed too staged. Maybe she’d grabbed a pair of pajamas that her sister would have never chosen. Maybe they were hung up on that missing A ring. And she had heard them downstairs until all hours of the night, pacing, murmuring into the phone, opening the front door and shutting it again. She’d heard them moving around at midnight, and then two, and then four, and then five thirty. They might not have slept at all.
“Go upstairs, okay?” Mrs. DiLaurentis’s patience was wearing thin. “Spencer and the other girls are coming over soon. I’d like to ask them questions without explaining anything.”
Ali made her breathing quicken like she was afraid. “So Courtney did take off? See? This is why I didn’t want her back! She’s totally mental, Mom. That’s why you locked her up. Who knows what she’s going to do now! What if she tries to hurt me?”
Mrs. DiLaurentis gave her husband a plaintive glance. Mr. DiLaurentis just looked at her helplessly. She turned back to Ali. “Just go upstairs until we figure all this out.”
Sighing dramatically, Ali thumped up the stairs, trying to hold it together. Once in her old bedroom, though, she sank to her knees, her mind thrumming. Why wasn’t this working? Why didn’t they believe her? She needed an airtight alibi. If those girls were coming over, they were probably going to ask where she’d gone last night, and when. There were probably twenty minutes that were unaccounted for—her parents would ask where she was. Talking on the phone, she could say. Walking around, blowing off steam.
But they were supposed to just believe her. They weren’t supposed to shoo her away or question those girls without her around.
The doorbell rang. The door squeaked open, and the sounds of Mrs. DiLaurentis’s and the girls’ voices rang through the foyer. There were footsteps, and then the scrape of the chairs being pulled back for everyone to sit. Ali crept out of her room and slipped to the bottom of the stairs. All four girls sat around the table, staring at their hands. All of them were quiet, as though they were hiding something. Emily picked at her cuticles. Spencer drummed her fingers on the table. Aria inspected a pineapple-shaped napkin holder, and Hanna chewed voraciously on a piece of gum.
“Alison hasn’t come home,” Mrs. DiLaurentis said.
The girls all looked up, shocked. Ali clapped a hand over her mouth by the stairs. How was this happening?
“Now, I don’t know if you girls had a fight or what, but did she give you any hints as to where she might have gone?” Mrs. DiLaurentis continued.
Hanna twisted a piece of hair around her ear. “I think she’s with her field hockey friends.”
Mrs. DiLaurentis shook her head. “She’s not. I’ve already called them.” She cleared her throat. “Has Ali ever talked about someone teasing her?”
The girls glanced at one another, then looked away. “No one would do that,” Emily said. “Everyone loves Ali.”
“Did she ever seem sad?” Mrs. DiLaurentis pressed.
Spencer wrinkled her nose. “Like depressed? No.” But then a troubled look came across her face. She stared blankly out the window.
“You wouldn’t know where her diary is, would you?” Mrs. DiLaurentis asked. “I’ve looked everywhere for it, but I can’t find it.”
“I know what her diary looks like,” Hanna offered. “Do you want us to go upstairs and search?”
Alison scampered halfway up the stairs, picturing the diary in her mind’s eye. She knew where it was—somewhere very, very safe. But she wasn’t telling.
“No, no, that’s all right,” Mrs. DiLaurentis answered.
“Really.” Hanna scraped back her chair. There were footsteps in the hall. “It’s no trouble.”
“Hanna,” Ali’s mom barked, her voice suddenly razor-sharp. “I said no.”
There was a pause. Ali wished she could see the looks on everyone’s faces, but her view was obstructed. “Okay,” Hanna said quietly. “Sorry.”
After a while, the girls filed out. Mrs. DiLaurentis shut the door behind them and stood for a moment in the hall, just staring. Ali crouched behind the wall on the second floor, barely breathing. She had to think—and fast. She needed to convince everyone she was the real Ali.