“No, it’s true,” Spencer croaked. “She tried to kill us alongside Nick. They did this together.”
“She shot me,” Emily said. Aria watched as she touched her head. There was no wound. “At least I thought she did,” Emily said, after a moment.
Fuji sighed. “Girls, Nick drugged you with a dangerous mixture of toxins. You saw Alison because that was who you feared you’d see—and because her picture was all over those walls. Nick built a shrine to her. He was obsessed over her death, and he was trying to get revenge.”
“Nick and Alison were boyfriend and girlfriend,” Melissa Hastings, who was sitting by Spencer’s side, piped up. “He came after you because his girlfriend was killed. He knew Tabitha Clark—they were friends from the hospital as well—and clearly got her to impersonate Alison to scare you girls. And that’s where it all started.”
“But Iris said she hadn’t seen Tripp—Nick—in years,” Emily protested. “She just led me on a wild-goose chase to find his house.”
“People lie,” Fuji said. “And Iris isn’t exactly a healthy girl.”
Aria stared at her, blinking hard. “So what about that video from Jamaica? The one of Tabitha?”
Fuji shifted her weight. “A second video came in the same night you girls snuck out, proving your innocence. It’s more footage from the night Tabitha was murdered, and it shows one person acting alone, beating the girl to death—Nick. Our forensic and digital experts are certain it’s the real one. The other is a fake.”
A shock wave went through Aria. “Who sent that video?”
Fuji shook her head. “I don’t know.”
Aria looked at the others, and they seemed just as stunned. “What if Ali sent it?” Emily cried. “Don’t you see? She had it in her back pocket all along. She sent it to frame Nick when she knew they were caught!”
“And what about your theory of two people tying Noel up?” Aria asked. “If it wasn’t Ali helping Nick, who was it?”
“It could have been anyone,” Fuji said. “Nick had other friends. It’s possible he lied and said Noel pissed him off, or that he was doing this as a prank.”
Aria shut her eyes and thought of the night she, Noel, and the others had tried to trap Ali at the library. A blond girl had served as a decoy, clearly Nick’s helper. What if whoever was aiding in his crazy rampage wasn’t Ali at all?
But no. They’d seen her. Talked to her. Aria was sure of it.
Fuji stuck her hands in her pockets. “Let it go, girls. I know you wanted closure, but you really didn’t see Alison in there. Our experts are combing the basement, making sure, but I’m positive we’ll find no trace of her. She’s dead—and has been for a long, long time. Honestly. It’s better to just accept it and move on.” She looked around at all of them. “Just get some rest, okay? You’re going to have to answer a lot of questions from reporters soon enough.”
And then she walked out of the room and shut the door. Aria glanced at her best friends. Everyone stared at her blankly. But it wasn’t like they could talk about any of this now—not with all their family around. Of course everyone would think they’d hallucinated Ali, too. Maybe they should let it go, Aria wondered. Maybe this really was the end.
The door swung open again, and Aria turned her head, worried it might be a nosy reporter wanting to ask questions. But Noel stepped through instead. As soon as he saw Aria, his face crumpled. He ran to her bedside. Byron and Ella moved apart to let him get close.
“H-hey,” he said, trembling.
“Hey,” Aria said. All at once, the dream rushed back to her. Sinking underwater and finding Noel nowhere. Never getting to touch him again. She reached out and squeezed his hand, and he squeezed back. And then he leaned forward so that his face was close to hers. At first, Aria thought he was going to kiss her—and she wanted him to.
He moved toward her ear instead. “You saw her, didn’t you?” he whispered.
Aria’s eyes widened. She nodded, then glanced toward the door, where Fuji had disappeared. “But no one believes us.”
“I believe you. I’ll always believe you.”
He drew back, and Aria stared at him, half in shock, half grateful.
Thank you, she mouthed, her eyes full of tears.
But she wanted to tell Noel to forget about Ali. She wanted everyone to forget about her. Her mind went to a dark, terrible place. We won’t find a trace of her, Fuji had said. All at once, Aria knew they wouldn’t. No fingerprints on the gun she was holding. No blood on the floor. No long, blond hairs on the carpet. Not because Ali hadn’t been there.
Because Ali was smarter than all of them.